The owner of Rostic's bought KFC restaurants in Russia from a Polish franchisee

The owner of 215 KFC restaurants in RUSSIA, the Polish holding AmRest, has announced the sale of its business to the Russian company Smart Service, which develops the Rostic's brand.The deal amounted to €100 million

The owner of the KFC franchise in Russia, the Polish holding AmRest, has closed a deal to sell the business to the Russian company Smart Service, according to a message on the AmRest website.

“The transaction has been closed and registered today with the relevant local authorities in accordance with the provisions of the applicable regulations. The final amount of the transaction, which has already been received by AmRest in full, amounted to €100 million,” the press service said.

They also noted that the transaction tax for AmRest could be up to €4 million, after which any presence of the company on the Russian market would be terminated.

AmRest is one of the largest restaurant holdings in Europe, founded in Poland, in 2017 its headquarters was transferred to Spain. In Russia, the company operated 267 establishments under the KFC and Pizza Hut brands.

In March last year, against the backdrop of a special military operation in Ukraine , the owner of the KFC brand, the American company Yum! Brands announced the suspension of investment and development in Russia, as well as the closure of its restaurants there. Nevertheless, out of more than 1.1 thousand open KFC establishments in Russia, Yum! Brands owned only 66 outlets, the rest being franchised by its local partners.

AmRest announced a temporary suspension of activities in Russia following Yum! Brands. The company operated a franchise of 215 KFC restaurants in Russia. Last May, Kommersant's sources reported that the Polish holding was trying to sell the Russian division that manages 267 Pizza Hut and KFC establishments to the VTB Capital investment fund, but the deal did not go through.

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Last October, Yum! Brands announced the sale of ownership of its KFC restaurants, as well as the right to a master franchise in Russia, to Smart Service, which is owned on a parity basis by businessmen from Udmurtia Konstantin Kotov and Andrey Oskolkov. Franchise partners have developed about 40 KFC restaurants in Udmurtia, the Kirov region, Tatarstan and the Perm region. The deal was closed last April.

One of the conditions for the sale was the rebranding of the restaurants: the KFC brand leaves Russia, and the new owner receives, as part of the deal, the rights to Yum! Brands trade mark Rostic's (a network under this name existed in Russia in the 1990-2000s and will now be developed instead of KFC). The first restaurant under the new brand opened in Moscow on April 25. In total, the new owners of Rostic's plan to open about 1,000 new restaurants within five years.

“I am glad that we have signed a deal, and another 212 KFC restaurants owned by the AmRest franchise partner will become part of the Rostic's network,” Konstantin Kotov, co-owner of Smart Service, told RBC.