German Douglas Holding AG yesterday announced the sale of a Russian business — the Douglas Rivoli perfume chain, owning 32 stores. As [Kommersant] reported on December 8 citing references to sources, the buyer is the chain “Rive Gauche” (holding company: Rustiset Holding Limited, 126 stores), controlled by Oleg Boyko’s investment holding Finstar. The sum of the agreement was not publicized.

Douglas entered the Russian market in 2003, founding a joint venture with the “Rivoli” chain, belonging to Vladimir Voronchenko. In 2009 the businessman traded his 50% stake in “Douglas Rivoli” for a minor package in Dougas Holding. Annual sales by Douglas Rivoli are assessed at over 2 billion rubles, and “Rive Gauche” at 18.6 billion rubles.

As explained to the press by Mr. Boyko, his company’s policy has always been toward opening proprietary stores, and also the appropriation of other market players. In his words, Douglas Rivoli will continue to work in the “luxe” segment, as “Rive Gauche” is leveraging the mass market. “The financial indicators of the acquired firm are very good, and at this time our shareholders do not plan to change anything,” was quoted in the press.