Moscow, Sept 10 - Finnish retailer Kesko is set to introduce its food operation to Russia next year and is considering acquisitions in the country, a senior company official told Reuters on Thursday.
Russia's consumer sector had enjoyed a big boom for much of the past decade and a recession this year has not deterred foreign retailers from seeing potential in the country.
'The decision about bringing Kesko-Food to the Russian market has already been taken. We are looking at two methods -- acquiring one of the existing players on the Russian market or opening shops ourselves,' said Mikko Pasanen, the Russian head of Kesko's building materials hypermarkets division K-Rauta.
'We are ready to invest significant funds into this.'
The comments come on the same day as French supermarket group Carrefour opened its second Russian store and pledged further expansion.
Kesko also plans to develop the K-Rauta brand in Russia and is looking to buy land in Moscow on which it hopes to open building material hypermarkets in late 2010-early 2011, Pasanen said on the sidelines of a Retail-in-Russia conference.
The company currently has 10 K-Rauta stores in Russia.