News

Roztekh, the company operating the Wild Orchid and Defile lingerie retail chains in Russia, has changed its ownership structure. Until recently, the business was wholly owned by U.S.-based WOD Holding, but a 50% stake has now been transferred to Belaya Skala, a joint-stock company registered in St Petersburg in 2025, Kommersant reported, citing data from Russia’s state corporate registry.

The ownership structure of Belaya Skala has not been disclosed. According to company filings, Roztekh’s revenue rose 12% in 2025 to 1.6 billion rubles ($21.2 million), although it reported a net loss of 158 million, compared with a net profit of 51 million a year earlier.

Wild Orchid, positioned as a premium lingerie brand, currently operates seven stores in Moscow, St Petersburg and Krasnodar. Defile, which targets the mass market segment, runs about 80 stores across 35 cities. Roztekh also develops the Bustier lingerie brand.

Ekaterina Kushtrimovich, founder of advisory firm Kloto, estimates Roztekh’s share of the Russian lingerie market at no more than 2 %.

SPARK corporate registry data show that Roztekh was initially founded in 2012 by Evgeny Portenko and Andrey Plastinin. Ownership later shifted to Cyprus-based Kohuhu Enterprises, which was at one stage managed by Rustam Kadyrov, a former executive linked to perfume retailer Rive Gauche.

One of Rive Gauche’s previous owners was Avgust Meyer, an American-born Russian entrepreneur who co-founded Ulmart with Dmitry Kostygin.

WOD Holding acquired full ownership of Roztekh in 2021. Company filings list David Maria Mueller-Meerkatz as the ultimate beneficiary at the end of 2025. A retail industry source cited by Kommersant described Mueller-Meerkatz as a long-time business associate of Meyer. Sources cited by the newspaper suggested the transaction was likely an intra-group restructuring and that the business remains under the control of entities linked to Meyer. In 2024, Meyer, his wife Inna Meyer and Ulmart co-founder Dmitry Kostygin were convicted in Russia on charges related to bank fraud.

The transfer of a stake in a Russian legal entity from a company based in an “unfriendly” jurisdiction to a domestic structure required approval from Russia’s government subcommission overseeing foreign investment. According to Alexander Zaitsev, chief executive of Atomic Capital, the inclusion of a Russian shareholder may represent an effort to localise the asset and reduce regulatory risk. Some Kommersant sources also suggested the move could be preparation for a full or partial sale of the business. Entities linked to Avgust and Inna Meyer have been gradually reducing their Russian asset exposure in recent years, including the sale of Rive Gauche in 2025 and Ulybka Radugi in 2023.