Kazakhstani company may purchase McDonald’s in Russia

McDonald’s built a huge business in Russia. However, after the invasion of Ukraine, the American company announced it is leaving Russia. Now the business community in the country expects that the chain might be purchased by somebody else. According to The Bell, the structures affiliated with Kazakhstani billionaire Kairat Boranbayev might be interested in a deal with McDonald’s over its business in Russia. As a result, the chain will be able to continue working under a new brand.

The «Regional Network of Catering Enterprises» (LLC SPP), which Boranbayev fully controls, runs McDonald’s restaurants in the Sverdlovsk, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Tyumen and Kirov regions. Also, the entrepreneur is a franchisee of McDonald’s in Kazakhstan and Belarus.

In 2021, Kairat Boranbayev was ranked fifth in Forbes’s list of the 50 most powerful businessmen in Kazakhstan.

As the E-gov data shows, he is linked with more than two dozen companies in Kazakhstan. These companies represent different industries such as commodities, industrial production, natural gas industry, vaccine production, oncology, fast food industry and premium class development. For example, he owns Esentai Mall, Almaly shopping center, Esentai Tower business center, McDonald’s restaurants, hotels, fitness centers and many other assets.

Boranbayev is a relative of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. The businessman was arrested after the authorities in Kazakhstan accused him of embezzlement in the quasi-state sector.