Business
Investment in SuperStroy
Investment in SuperStroy.
About this update from Aurrigo International Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Aurora Russia Limited\n21 December 2007\n\n\n\n21st December 2007\n\n Aurora Russia Limited invests £16.1 million for a 24.3% stake in SuperStroy,\n the largest DIY retailer in the Urals region\n\nAurora Russia Limited ('Aurora Russia'), the AIM-quoted investment vehicle\nestablished to make equity or equity-related investments in small and mid-sized\nprivate companies in Russia, announces an investment of £16.1 million in cash\nfor a 24.3% stake in Grindelia Holdings Limited which owns 99.5% of the retail\nchain which operates under the brands 'SuperStroy' and 'StroyArsenal'\n('SuperStroy' or the 'Company'). Superstroy is the largest DIY retailer in the\nUrals region of Russia, home to approximately 20 million people. Aurora Russia's\ninvestment will take the form of new equity and will be used to redeem certain\nexisting loans and finance the further expansion of the Company's retail chain\nin and beyond the Urals region.\n\nSuperStroy is the fourth company that Aurora Russia has invested in since its\nadmission to AIM in March 2006. Aurora Russia's three other investments are OSG\nRecords Management, the leading records management company in Russia,\nKreditmart, a leading Russian mortgage broker and Unistream, Russia's leading\ninternational money transfer company. Of the £71.5 million net funds raised by\nAurora in March 2006, £56.8 million has now been committed. Aurora retains a\nhealthy pipeline of potential investment opportunities in the business, consumer\nand financial services sectors in Russia.\n\nAbout SuperStroy\n\nSuperStroy opened its first store in 1994 and is now the largest DIY retailer in\nthe Urals. The Company has successfully expanded its retail network and\ngeographical presence with strong and well-recognised brands. By the end of\n2007, the Company will be operating 34 stores comprising 31 SuperStroy stores\nand three StroyArsenal hypermarkets with a total selling space of more than\n53,000 m2. The SuperStroy stores are generally 500 to 2,500 m2 in size with the\nlarger StroyArsenal hypermarkets ranging between 7,000 and 12,000 m2. SuperStroy\nis a market leading DIY brand in the major Russian cities of Yekaterinburg which\nis Russia's third largest city, Ufa, Tyumen and Perm.\n\nFor the year ended 31 December 2006, the Company generated revenues of\napproximately 2.7 billion Roubles (£54 milli...