THE ASSETS OF THE EX-PRODUCER OF KVASS "NIKOLA" DID NOT INTEREST BUYERS

THE ASSETS OF THE EX-PRODUCER OF KVASS "NIKOLA" DID NOT INTEREST BUYERS

THE ASSETS OF THE EX-PRODUCER OF KVASS "NIKOLA" DID NOT INTEREST BUYERS
The Novgorod plant of JSC Deka (INN 5321030165), which produced the once famous kvass in Russia, did not interest potential investors. On May 17, 2024, the bankruptcy trustee Maxim Lagoda published a message on the Fedresurs portal about the re-holding of the auction. According to the publication, applications can be submitted between June 19 and August 7. The initial cost of the lot is 810,508,300.38 rubles.

According to Vedomosti, for the first time, Deka's assets were tried to be sold in 2022. At that time, the starting price was set at 1.4 billion. But there were no people willing to purchase the property complex of the enterprise, despite its market valuation of 1.5 billion. Now its initial price has been reduced by 42%.

The lot includes movable and immovable property: plots of land (56 thousand square meters), administrative and industrial premises (26.4 thousand square meters), beverage production equipment, furniture and office equipment. It is assumed that if there are no applications, the initial value of the lot will decrease by more than 67.5 million every ten days. This means that the initial price of the lot may drop to 540.34 million by July 29.

The Novgorod company "Deka" appeared in 1992. The company specialized in the production of low-alcohol and non-alcoholic products, including beer and kvass. In 2005, Nikola kvass gained high popularity among consumers, remembered for provocative promotions that caused a number of complaints from competitors to the FAS. In 2019, Deki products occupied 35% of the kvass market in the Russian Federation. Other market participants (Ochakovo and PepsiCo) lagged behind, taking only 18% and 11%.

However, even before that, in 2017, Deka began to incur financial losses. Revenue decreased by 33% and profit fell by 93%. The company attributed this decrease to the cold summer and the general mood of consumers of kvass products (kvass consumption in the Russian Federation decreased by 20%).

In 2019, the company was involved in a criminal case initiated in connection with a tax offense of $26 million. The company's management was accused of hiding assets. As a result, on April 9, 2020, Deka JSC received bankruptcy status in the Novgorod arbitration (case No. A44-1127/2019). The organization owes creditors about 2.7 billion.

Now the Nikola brand officially belongs to the Kvasiko company. In May 2024, Afanasy Holding from the Tver Region received the rights to produce kvass under this trademark. According to experts, the Deca plant, which has been idle for several years, is of little interest to investors, since it is not associated with the intangible asset of the once popular brand.

28.05.2024