Freedom Holding Acquires Majority Stake in Online Supermarket Arbuz
20 June 2023 - 10:00PM
Business Wire
Purchase Will Bring e-Commerce Grocery Sales to
the Freedom Group
Freedom Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: FRHC), a diversified
multi-national financial services firm, today announced that it has
completed the acquisition of an 82% ownership interest in
Kazakhstan company “Arbuz Group” Limited Liability Partnership
(“Arbuz”) from a group of private investors. The acquisition took
place in several stages starting in March 2023.
Arbuz is an online supermarket and fresh food delivery service
with operations in Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan. It has become a
flagship marketplace in Kazakhstan's food-tech industry.
“As one of the largest domestic Internet websites in Kazakhstan,
the Arbuz startup is also a major contributor to the development of
the e-commerce sector in our country,” said Timur Turlov, Chief
Executive Officer of Freedom Holding. “Through the Freedom24 app
which Freedom provides to its customers in Kazakhstan, Arbuz
customers will now have enhanced service quality and advantageous
bonus programs. This will enhance the entire Freedom ecosystem in
Kazakhstan and strengthen our market position.” Mr. Turlov has
personally been an investor in Arbuz since 2019. Mr. Turlov has
retained an 18% ownership interest Arbuz following completion of
the acquisition.
"I am proud of the achievements of our team, which was able to
create and be a pioneer in the online supermarket industry in
Kazakhstan within a few years,” said Alexey Lee, the founder and
general director of Arbuz. “We have been able to maintain a unique
position in the market and an understanding of its future
potential. We actively planned the next phase of our development
and consciously chose the offer made by Freedom out of several
available options. Our future is bright as part of the Freedom
ecosystem, which is close to us in culture, spirit, and
quality.”
About Freedom Holding Corp.
Freedom Holding Corp., a Nevada corporation, is a financial
services holding company conducting retail securities brokerage,
investment research, investment counseling, securities trading,
investment banking and underwriting services, mortgages, insurance,
and consumer banking through its subsidiaries, operating under the
name Freedom Finance in Europe and Central Asia. Through its
subsidiaries, Freedom Holding Corp. employs more than 2,900 people
and is a professional participant in the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange,
the Astana International Exchange, the Republican Stock Exchange of
Tashkent, and the Uzbek Republican Currency Exchange and is a
member of the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock
Exchange.
Freedom Holding Corp. is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan,
and has a presence through its subsidiaries in 15 countries,
including among others Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan,
and the United States.
Freedom Holding Corp.'s common shares are registered with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission and are traded in
the United States on the Nasdaq Capital Market, operated by Nasdaq,
Inc.
To learn more about Freedom Holding Corp., visit
www.freedomholdingcorp.com.
About Arbuz
The Arbuz.kz online supermarket was launched in 2011, and since
then 205,000 customers have made purchases on the platform. In
2018, the Arbuz.kz project was led by a new team, headed by CEO
Alexey Lee and COO Ruslan Pogorelov, who restarted the project and
increased sales significantly. The current average number of
deliveries per day is 2,500 - 3,000. The business operates using
the supermarket model for delivery of food, drinks, household
chemicals and household goods. The company has its own warehouses,
assembly line and courier service. Arbuz plans to maintain and
develop Arbuz.kz as the market leader in Kazakhstan in terms of
quality, service and assortment.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230620439865/en/
Deborah Kostroun (US) – deborah@zitopartners.com Tel.: +1 201
403-8185
Ramina Fakhrutdinova (KZ) – ramina.fakhrutdinova@ffin.kz Tel.:
+7 727 311 10 64, ext. 640 Mob.: +7 777 377 88 68
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