DLA Piper has advised Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, on its joint venture with Rambler Group and several other investors to create Foodplex, a united digital platform for the restaurant market. The stake of Sberbank in the JV will be 35% and Rambler Group will own 30%. Another 35% will be owned by GHP Partners and investors Grigoriy Gurevich and Evgeniy Malakhov.
According to DLA Piper, "the Foodplex platform will unite in a comprehensive solution the Plazius system of digital marketing and payment, Afisha Restaurants media and reservation service, Smart Reserve system of reservation and hostess work, as well as UCS, the developer of r_keeper, the largest system of restaurant automation. The guests of a restaurant will be able to pay their bill without waiting for a waiter, divide the bill among a group of guests, and automatically receive personal privileges and option of giving non-cash tips. The service users will be able to choose a suitable restaurant, make a reservation, as well as pre-order or order food in their home or office. Restaurants will be able not only to better understand and provide services to their guests, but also increase their client base, number of orders, and the size of the average bill."
The transaction was led for DLA Piper by Moscow-based Corporate Partner Feruz Fidaev, assisted by Senior Associate Irina Samoylova and Associates Evgenia Kudryashova and Anna Antonova.
DLA Piper did not reply to an inquiry about counsel for the Rambler Group or the other JV participants.
