Igor Kesaev, vice president of Mercury Group. The FAS will watch changes in prices his groups's Megapolis distributor makes on cigarettes.
Photo: PhotoXpress, PhotoXpress
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Megapolis Will Control 70% of Russian Cigarette Sales
After the contract expires with the last regional distributor for JTI in May, Megapolis will become the sole distributor for that company. Combined with its contracts with other tobacco companies, that will give Megapolis control about 73 percent of the tobacco sales in Russia. The total Russian cigarette market is valued at $12.2 billion. Megapolis already has sales agreements with JTI in all regions of Russia except Nizhny Novgorod.
Megapolis is also the exclusive distributor of Philip Morris International, Gallaher Liggett-Ducat, Imperial Tobacco and Altadis. It is also a distributor of beer and snack foods. Its turnover in 2007 was $5.5 billion. Megapolis is part of the Mercury group of companies, which is also involved in development, production and distribution of vodka and petroleum.
Before JTI and Gallaher merged in the spring of 2007, JTI had 11 regional distributors. Megapolis already controlled over half of the tobacco distribution market at that time. It began to consolidate JTI sales in September, when it negotiated the assignment of JTI contracts with distributors in Central Russia, Stavropol Territory, Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Russian Far East. JTI-Gallaher's share of the Russian tobacco market has been estimated at 31.7 percent. The Federal Antimonopoly Service approved Megapolis's last deal, the purchase of OOO New Tobacco Co., owner of distributor PMI, only with several conditions.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 04, 2008
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