Trust Bank has agreed to sell the Molodezhny department store

The name of the buyer has not been disclosed. As Kommersant notes, the only application in the August 2024 auction was submitted by the owner of the microfinance organization (MFO) Zaimer, Sergei Sedov. Trust Bank, the owner of the property, declined to comment.

The department store previously belonged to the shareholder of the PIK Group of Companies, Sergei Gordeev, who sold the property to the former co-owner of Safmar Group and Binbank Mikail Shishkhanov.

As a result of the bankruptcy of B&N Bank, many assets were transferred to the Trust, which has repeatedly tried to sell the Molodezhny department store since 2021. At the last auction, the initial price of the property was 1.29 billion rubles, with the possibility of reduction to 792.4 million rubles.

According to Stanislav Bibik, a partner at NF Group, the value of Molodezhny is 1.1 billion rubles. The founder of the Finmodul.com consulting service, Artem Tsogoev, believes that, given the low interest in the auctions, its price could rise to 500-600 million rubles. Due to the outdated state of the department store, the new owner will have to invest in its renovation and redevelopment, which also affects the amount of the possible discount, agrees Anton Belykh, general director of DNA Realty.

Experts note that street retail, unlike large shopping centres, remains more attractive for investors due to the constant demand for retail space. In the first half of 2024, the share of vacant space on Moscow’s shopping streets fell to 7.9%, which is lower than before the pandemic. Large shopping complexes are in less demand from both tenants and buyers: retailers are reducing the number of stores in such centres due to lower buyer interest.

Street retail spaces are in demand among tenants, including supermarkets, cafes, pharmacies and hairdressers. However, in the first half of this year, the volume of investments in street trade in Moscow decreased by 34% compared to last year, amounting to 506 billion rubles, according to data from the Magazin Magazin company. However, the decline is not as significant as in the segment of shopping centers, where the volume of investments fell by 72%, to 37 billion rubles.

Sergey Sedov is the owner of the Zaimer microfinance company, which in 2023 made a net profit of 6.1 billion rubles. He is also actively involved in the real estate market. In 2007, the businessman founded the Taleon group of companies, which deals with long-term rental of commercial premises. In the summer of 2024, Sedov acquired a stake in the flexible office operator ASPACE, which manages 32.6 thousand square meters. m.