Page 22 - bne Magazine Apri20

22 I Companies & Markets bne April 2020
In 2016 the current online leader Wildberries posted
a turnover of RUB45.6bn ($620mn), overtaking Ulmart with RUB38.8bn in turnover to claim the title of Russia’s largest online retailer. In 2016 Ulmart was country's 40th largest retailer overall.
However, things went wrong in 2017 when its co-owner Dmitri Kostygin was detained in St Petersburg on accusations of credit fraud by Russia's largest bank, Sberbank. The charges came
on the back of reports of a shareholder conflict within the company between Kostygin and US citizen Avgust Meyer, and their partner Mikhail Vasinkevich, a wealthy St. Petersburg businessman who invested in the company in 2010.
Allegedly Kostygin took a RUB1bn renewable credit line from Sberbank "with no intent to comply with the conditions of the deal," and provided the country's largest lender with "misleading information on Ulmart's financial situation,"
the prosecutors claimed at the time.
Romanian independent game developers merge
bne IntelliNews
Bucharest-based game developer Amber will merge with Scorpius Games, another local independent game studio in the country, Amber announced on its Facebook page on March 11.
The Scorpius Games team will come with experience in Unreal Engine, a graphics engine that provides a suite of development tools for video game development, allowing Amber to consolidate its expertise as a multi-platform game developer.
“We're thrilled to officially announce our merger with Scorpius Games! We're sure this is the beginning of an exciting partnership!” said the post from Amber.
“Last year, we worked together on advanced technologies based on Unreal Engine and we are pleased to take this relationship to the next level,” said Eugen Udrea, CEO of Scorpius Games, Profit.ro reported.
“This mutual partnership develops our technical expertise, while also offering Scorpius Games access to our production capabilities. We will continue to develop their new video
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Kostygin was placed under house arrest as the two sides went to court. Kostygin hit back in November 2017, accusing Sberbank of corporate raiding with the intent of taking Ulmart over.
In the meantime the business deteriorated. In January 2018 Kostygin filed a bankruptcy lawsuit against his business partner Vasinkevich.
Kostygin claimed that Vasinkevich owed him RUB405mn ($7.1mn) and refused to repay the debt or reach an out-of- court settlement. Vasinkevich, in turn, said that Kostygin's lawsuit was an attempt to exert pressure on Ulmart's management.
Now the entire company has collapsed and has filed for bankrupcy, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN) after three years of internal fighting amongst the shareholders.
The Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World Resort. Amber has developed games such as Disney's Cinderella Free Fall.
game, PositronX,” added Mihai Pohontu, CEO of Amber. Amber was launched with the aim initially of providing services to the international gaming industry, and later to develop its own games.
The company has partnerships with Disney, NBC Universal, Paradox Interactive, Rovio, That Game Company, Raw
Fury and many others. Some of the most popular gaming companies Amber has worked with or are still working with are Disney, Paradox Interactive, Rovio, NBC Universal, Kixeye, Glu, Kabam and That Game Company. Amber has developed games such as Rumble Heroes, Link Twin, and Cinderella Free Fall and contributed to the development of successful titles such as Sky: Children of Light, Gorogoa and others.
Amber is one of the largest of the local game development studios in Bucharest, which has become an important destination for this segment. Not only have big international firms set up in Bucharest to take advantage of the talented (and relatively cheap) workforce, but there are also a growing number of mid-size players like Amber as well as the small indie game developers that are now springing up in increasing numbers in Romania.