"A Deal with History" — interview with the Prime Advice team
In the Delovoy Peterburg ranking in the "Deal / Project of the Year" nomination, the Prime Advice Law Firm (St. Petersburg) won. In this case, the lawyers had a large and complex task, on which an entire team worked.
In December 2025, the merged company Wildberries & Russ (RVB LLC) bought the perfume and cosmetics chain "Rive Gauche" — the fifth-largest player in the segment by turnover — with a 30-year history and stores in 88 cities. Experts estimated its value at 5–6 billion rubles, taking into account the retailer’s debt burden. The legal interests of one of the key shareholders were represented by the St. Petersburg law firm "Prime Advice".
The shareholder history of Rive Gauche was complicated. The chain’s operating company — Aromalux LLC — through the Cypriot Rive Gauche Group Ltd, changed hands several times between different owners over various periods: founder of Finstar Financial Group Oleg Boyko, the family of former Yulmart co-owners Inna and August Meyer, and Larisa Karaban herself, who founded it together with her ex-husband Pavel. By the time of the transaction, she owned 25% of the company through the Panamanian structure Octapan Investments S. A. Her interests during the negotiations were represented by Prime Advice.
The deal was prepared in stages. Its official announcement was preceded by a move initially perceived by the market as marketing-driven. On September 26, 2025, Wildberries and Rive Gauche announced a strategic partnership: 252 chain stores were connected to the Wildberries Click&Collect pick-up service, and Rive Gauche received a separate section in the marketplace’s catalog. In October, RVB took a pledge over 100% of the shares in Aromalux LLC. On December 15, 2025, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the deal closed: RVB became the sole owner of the chain. From the partnership announcement to financial closing, about three months passed.
Prime Advice’s leading lawyer, Alsu Mukhametdinova, describes the transaction as follows:
This is not just an asset purchase — it is the embodiment of a new trend in beauty retail toward omnichannel, which involves the integration of offline and online platforms for selling goods.