Last month e96.ru, a major Russian online store with a strong presence in the Urals and Siberia, was sold back by its owner Samfar Group to its founding team, Boris Lenpinskikh and Dmitry Pivovarov. The deal was reported by the business publication RBC based on exchanges with both parties.
In 2014 e96.ru merged with the Sferiq Group (IQ One Holdings) in a bid to create a major e-commerce group, combining its assets with those of Sotmarket.ru and Utinet.ru, two other Sferiq properties. However, the merger plan failed with Sotmarket and Utinet ultimately shutting down and e96 being acquired, in 2016, by Tehnosila, another e-commerce company owned by Samfar.
At that time, e96’s value was estimated at 500 million rubles at least (a little less than $7 million, based on the 2016 exchange rate), a modest estimate by e-commerce expert Fedor Virin, who took into account the company’s significant debt.
e96’s valuation might have been similar in the latest deal, believes Virin, as reported by RBC.
In 2016 e96.ru was ranked #40 in Data Insight’s annual Russian e-commerce company ranking, with sales revenues nearing 3 billion rubles (approximately $45 million at the average 2016 exchange rate)
Samfar also owns M.Video and Eldorado, two major retailers of electronic appliances with a strong online presence. The group is owned by the Gutseriev family — one of the richest families in Russia — which also invests in tech startups via its venture arm Larnabel.
According to EWDN’s Russian E-Commerce Report, online sales in 2016 exceeded $26 billion, growing more than 20% year-on-year. Included in this figure are some $16 billion for physical goods and $10 billion for online travel, according to Data Insight. The cross-border segment is the fastest growing, up 26% by value and 80% by the number of parcels and small packages, and exceeded $4 billion for physical goods alone, according to Russian Post and industry association NAMO.
