MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ingka Group, which runs most IKEA stores globally, has sold its last asset in Russia, a warehouse near Moscow, it said on Friday, completing its exit from the country.
Ingka sold its 14 MEGA-branded shopping malls in Russia to Gazprombank Group in September 2023, joining scores of Western companies abandoning the Russian market after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“We can confirm that we have sold Esipovo Distribution Center outside of Moscow, as well as remaining land plots,” Ingka Group said in a statement. “We no longer hold any assets in Russia.”
Russian business daily RBC, which first reported the news on Friday, said Russian businessman Robert Uzilov was the buyer. Ingka Group did not confirm the buyer. Uzilov could not immediately be reached for comment.
When finalising the shopping malls sale, Ingka Centres, a unit of Ingka Group, said the deal would leave the company with no more operational business in the country. Ingka Group had been in Russia for more than 20 years.
Ingka is the biggest franchisee of IKEA, with its stores in 31 countries accounting for 88% of IKEA retail sales worldwide. Inter IKEA, the franchisor, owns the brand and supplies product to IKEA retailers.
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Olga Popova; Additional reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Jan Harvey and Rod Nickel)
