A Russian court approved the scandal-hit Wilbers merger

Open the editor’s digest for free

FT editor Rula Khalaf picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

A court in Russia has upheld a scandal-plagued merger with the country’s biggest online retailer that could end a bitter feud between the Kremlin and Chechen warlords.

The controversy began with Tatiana Kim’s decision last year to merge retailer Wildberry out of Billboard advertising group Russ. In September, two people were killed and seven wounded in a shooting outside Wilberry’s headquarters.

Kim’s co-founder Vladylav Bakalchuk asked the court to annul the agreement on the transfer of Wildberries assets to RWB – the company created as a result of the merger – which was intended to harm him and Wildberries.

Kim, who announced last summer that she filed for divorce from Bakalchuk, was rated domestically by Forbes magazine. RussiaThe richest woman with an estimated fortune of $7.4 billion before the controversy.

The merger will give Russ a 35 percent stake in the joint venture, though its sales are smaller than Wilberry’s.

According to a court document cited by Russian news agency RIA, the court ruled on Friday that “no evidence was presented that these transactions caused harm or were intended to harm Wildberries and the plaintiff.”

Bakalchuk, who was left with a 1 percent stake in Wildberry, said on his Telegram channel that he plans to appeal the verdict, calling it “unfortunate, illegal and completely unsatisfactory.”

The Kremlin said in July 2024 that the merger had received President Vladimir Putin’s approval after Kim and Russia’s Robert Mirzoyan wrote that the deal could create the world’s largest digital banking network and payments system. To reach 5.8 billion customers.

Bakalchuk then shocked the Russian public by calling on Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to block the deal.

Bakalchuk, who Kadyrov says is an old friend, complained that Kim tried to kick him out of the company after he spoke to the Chechen leader in a video posted on social media.

Weeks later, the media reported that Bakalchuk and his associates shot dead two security guards at Wildberry’s headquarters. Bakalchuk was arrested on various criminal charges, including murder. He was later released and said he was not charged.

Dozens of other people are reportedly awaiting trial in the shootout, including several mixed martial artists linked to Kadyrov and the deputy chief of the Chechen National Guard.

Western sanctions, not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, have led to a brutal scramble for assets among Russia’s elites.

Kim and Bakalchuk