Kazakhstan’s Meloman changes owners

No financial details of the deal have been revealed / Photo: Yandex.kz, photo editor: Milosh Muratovskiy

In late 2024, Alexander and Igor Deriglazov, the founders and owners of the Meloman holding, sold about 50% of their assets to Aqniet Group, whose majority stakeholder is Kairat Itemgenov, according to Forbes Kazakhstan.

Reports about the potential sale of Meloman first emerged about a year ago. However, the Deriglazov brothers and Aqniet Group entered into serious negotiations only in late spring and began preparing for the deal in the fall. As a result, Aqniet Group has acquired three businesses in Moscow and four in Kazakhstan from the Deriglazovs.

«The deal covers our stores but not those located in buildings we own. For instance, the Meloman store at 58 Gogol Street in Almaty isn’t part of the deal. We have sold our brands Meloman and Marwin; active contracts with giants such as Lego, Sony Pictures and Sony PlayStation; contracts with shopping malls; our product stocks in warehouses and stores; and our technologies,» Forbes.kz reported, citing Alexander Deriglazov.

The deal also does not include the holding’s film distribution division, the Comfort retail network and Sunrise resorts. Deriglazov declined to disclose the financial details of the agreement.

The Deriglazov brothers decided to sell half of their business due to the high costs of servicing their bank loans. According to Alexander, the company grew from a small business into a large enterprise, relying heavily on bank loans to finance its projects. In recent years, operational costs related to loan servicing have been too high, while net profit remained below the desired level.

Alexander plans to use the funds raised from the sale to pay off his debt and then focus on developing the remaining projects. He has no intention of launching any new businesses any time soon.

Aqniet Group stated that the deal was closed with support from private investors. The company plans to open new stores in popular tourist destinations across the country, expand its product assortment and support domestic authors.

In 2024, Alexander Deriglazov was ranked 57th among the richest businessmen in Kazakhstan with a fortune of $110 million, according to Forbes.kz. He controls the Arsenal movie theater in Astana and the Comfort retail network through First Kazakhstan’s Music Publishing Company and Firm Sting, both of which he owns.

Kairat Itemgenov is ranked 18th among the richest people in Kazakhstan, with a fortune of $518 million. His company, Aqniet Group, manages Europharma and ArzanPharm, two pharmacy networks. He also owns Greenhouse-Qaztomat, an agricultural complex; two hotels in Moscow — Mövenpick and Pana; and a hotel complex in Almaty operating under the Novotel Living and Ibis Style brands. Additionally, he holds a stake in Globaltrans, which specializes in railway shipping.