Companies@UA: База компаний Украины

Moscow. Aug 3 (Interfax) - Russian businessman Oleg Tinkoff has announced he is selling the rest of his stake in the chain of Tinkoff beer restaurants.  Tinkoff said in his personal blog on August 1, "My restaurant business is eleven years old. I'm tired of it. I want to sell my stake of about 70%, including the brand."

The chain's employees were caught off guard by the announcement. The company's press service told Interfax that the head office is currently trying to contact Tinkoff and other shareholders so that an official statement can be made. Interfax was unable to obtain comment from Tinkoff himself.

The Tinkoff chain unites ten restaurant breweries in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Sochi, Kazan and Samara.

According to the SPARK database, Cyprus-based Edson Holdings Limited owns 100% of Tinkoff Private Breweries LLC, the operator of the chain. A fund owned by Troika Dialog owns most of the chain's real estate.

Tinkoff has been searching for a buyer for his restaurant business for several years. In 2007, he valued the business at $25 million. In August 2008, he sold a roughly 25% stake in the restaurant business to the Scandinavian fund Mint Capital for about $10 million. Prior to this deal, Tinkoff owned 100% of the chain.