Vygidna Pokupka LLC (Opishnya, Poltava region), Ukraine’s largest one dollar store chain Aurora, may acquire West Gate Logistics LLC (Stoyanka, Kyiv region), one of the largest warehouse complexes near Kyiv with an area of approximately 97,000 sq m controlled by Dragon Capital, which was almost completely destroyed by Russian troops in 2022 and partially restored.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) said in a statement on Thursday that it had granted Vigorous Purchase permission to acquire the integral property complex owned by West Gate Logistics.
“Aurora was founded in 2011 by Lev Zhidenko, Taras Panasenko and Lesya Klymenko and is headquartered in Poltava. Today, the chain has more than 1400 stores in Ukraine and 25 in Romania.
According to Opendatabot, the owner of Vyhidna Pokupka LLC, which develops the chain, is listed as Auroritail Investments Limited of Cyprus, with Zhydenko as its beneficiary. The Cypriot company also owns Prior Development LLC, Seven A LLC, Industrial 9 LLC, and Tak LLC.
“Prior to the full-scale Russian aggression, West Gate Logistics was a class A logistics center located on the international highway E40 at km 21 of Zhytomyr Highway with a total area of about 97 thousand square meters. It was constructed in 2008 and consisted of two buildings, including offices, warehouses, cold storage and mezzanine space. In August 2016, Dragon Capital received the AMCU’s approval to buy East Gate Logistics and West Gate Logistics, which manage the eponymous Class A warehouse complexes, from GLD Invest Group (Vienna, Austria), a development company.
Three months after the Russian troops were driven out of Kyiv, the front building with an area of about 7,700 square meters was repaired and reopened. Nova Poshta and Watsons Ukraine became its tenants.
Currently, West Gate Logistics LLC is owned by New Ukraine PE Holding (NUPEH), a member of the Dragon Capital group of companies, whose main shareholder is the Dragon Capital New Ukraine Fund, and whose beneficiary is the founder and chairman of Dragon Capital, Tomas Fiala.
