Days after fast-food company McDonald announced plans to leave the Russian market amid the lingering war with Ukraine, it reached a deal to sell all its restaurants to one of its licensees in the country.
The company has been acquired by ace businessman Alexander Govor, who will operate them under a new name.
McDonald temporarily closed hundreds of outlets across Russia in March after Vladimir Putin launched an attack on Ukraine, a decision that has cost McDonald’s about $55m a month.
On Monday, it announced it would sell those stores and leave Russia, saying the humanitarian crisis caused by the war and the unpredictable operating environment meant continuing running restaurants there was “no longer tenable” or “consistent with McDonald’s values”.
Govor, which operates 25 restaurants in Siberia, has agreed to buy its 850 Russian restaurants and run them under different branding, McDonald’s said on Thursday.
McDonald’s did not disclose how much the outlets were sold for. Last year, its Russian operations contributed 9% of the company’s total annual sales, or about $2bn.
Govor, a licensee since 2015, has agreed to retain McDonald’s 62,000 Russian employees for at least two years on equivalent terms and to fund existing liabilities to suppliers, landlords, and utilities. He also agreed to pay the salaries of McDonald’s corporate employees until the sale is completed.
The sale is subject to regulatory approval but is expected to close within a few weeks, McDonald’s said.