Lenta negotiates purchase of Siberian retailer Maria-Ra, revenue at 127.5bn rubles

August 24, 2026 · adindex.ru

More than 3,000 stores across five Siberian regions make Maria-Ra the largest retail chain in the macroregion, and Lenta is now negotiating to buy it, Izvestia reports. The chain's operating company, Roznitsa K-1, posted revenue above 127 billion rubles in 2025 and ranks 18th in the sector. Alexander Rakshin's family owns the business, which operates in the Altai Krai, the Altai Republic, and the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Tomsk regions. Analysts put the asset's value at 40 to 60 billion rubles, or roughly 38 billion once Lenta assumes the company's debt. A purchase would give Lenta distribution centers already built in Novoaltaysk and Kemerovo, along with buying volume and store presence that would otherwise take years to establish organically.

Siberia has been the one major macroregion where Lenta trails X5 and Magnit despite already running its Monetka chain there, and folding in Maria-Ra would close that gap in a single move. Closing the deal would push Lenta from fourth place, with quarterly revenue near 307 billion rubles, past third-placed Mercury Retail Holding's 409 billion and into contention with the two market leaders. The acquisition follows Lenta's completed purchase of the O'Key hypermarket chain in August, approved by Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service in a deal structured with no cash, Lenta Group instead taking on O'Key's debt. Retail media and grocery advertising budgets built around regional footprint will need to account for a materially larger, more national Lenta network once both deals close.