McDonald’s agrees to sell Russian business to current licensee Alexander Govor

McDonald’s said on Thursday that it had found a local buyer.

“Following its announcement that it will exit the Russian market and has initiated a process to sell its Russian business, McDonald’s Corporation announced today that it has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with its existing licensee Alexander Govor,” McDonald’s said in a statement.

McDonald’s said that Alexander Govor, the owner of 25 restaurants in Siberia, has agreed to purchase all the company’s restaurants with the view to operating them under a different name. Govor agreed to keep on all 62,000 employees of the chain for at least two years.

McDonald’s didn’t mention the sale price in the statement.

Since 2015, Mr. Govor has served as a McDonald’s licensee and has operated 25 restaurants in Siberia, McDonald’s said.

The agreement remains subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approval, with closing expected to occur in the coming weeks, According to McDonald’s.

The sale and purchase agreement provides for employees to be retained for at least two years, on equivalent terms, McDonald’s said.

The buyer has also agreed to fund the salaries of corporate employees who work in 45 regions of the country until closing, as well as fund existing liabilities to suppliers, landlords and utilities, added in the statement.

Three decades after the famous golden arches first appeared in Moscow, a sign of the Soviet Union’s opening up to the West, the fast-food chain is exiting entirely from Russia.

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