On January 10, 2012, Dufry concluded the transaction to acquire 51% of a joint venture with Regstaer Group, which holds Regstaer's duty free operations at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport in Russia and generates annual sales in excess of USD 50 million. The transaction further includes a commercial and purchasing agreement for Regstaer Group's operation at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow.

Dufry has already significant operations at Sheremetyevo Airport as well as at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow. The acquisition of one of Dufry’s main peers in Russia operating at Sheremetyevo Airport as well as the possibility to develop together with Regstaer Group at Vnukovo Airport, the third airport in Moscow, will allow generating important synergies. Furthermore, Dufry can achieve a pre-eminent position in Russia thanks to the transaction, which will be the basis for further development of the business in the region.

On the operational side, the acquired business complements Dufry’s existing operations at Sheremetyevo International Airport and Regstaer will add nine duty free shops with a total retail space of 1’200 square meters in different terminals of the airport. The shops offer a general duty free assortment, including perfumes & cosmetics, accessories and wine & spirits. The acquired business, which employs a workforce of 200 persons, will be integrated into Dufry’s existing local organization and the new operations will be managed jointly with Dufry’s other business in Russia.

Sheremetyevo International Airport is Russia’s second busiest airport with 14 million international passengers per year. It is also one of the fastest growing airports in Europe and recorded a passenger growth of close to 20% in the last twelve months.

Julian Diaz, CEO of Dufry, commented: “This is an important transaction for Dufry as it substantially strengthens our position in the Russian airport travel retail market and sets the basis for developing other travel retail markets in the Region. We have been an important player in the country since more than ten years and with this transaction, we have established ourselves as the leading operator with a strong presence in the two largest airports in the country, namely Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo. Thanks to our partners, we will also be able to support them in their business at Vnukovo airport and we are very happy to team up with such a strong local competitor.

By combining the new businesses with our existing ones in the country, we will be further able to extract a substantial amount of synergies in the Region. ”