An agreement on the sale of the Russian assets of the Swedish IKEA group may be concluded by the end of the year, Industry and Trade Minister Denys Manturov said on Wednesday, as quoted by Reuters and Agerpres.

IKEA made the decision to close its Russian stores after Moscow decided to invade Ukraine in February.

Meanwhile, many other Western companies, from fast-food chains such as McDonald’s to clothing chains, have left Russia.

In an interview with the TASS agency, Denys Manturov said that negotiations are currently underway regarding the sale of IKEA assets, but he did not want to reveal the identity of potential buyers.

“IKEA intends to reach an agreement in principle with the buyer or buyers by the end of the year,” said Denys Manturov.

The world’s largest furniture retailer closed its Russian stores in March and later said it would sell factories, close offices and lay off 15,000 Russian workers.

The Russians were also left without Ikea

Later, the Swedish group resumed online sales in Russia for a short period to liquidate stocks. In November, Ikea reached an agreement with the Russian company Yandex on the sale of products remaining in its warehouses in Russia.

“The sale of our activities and plants in Russia is going according to plan. We have agreed with potential buyers not to divulge any details in order not to harm the sales process,” the IKEA group said in a press release.

Ingka Group, which owns 90% of IKEA furniture stores worldwide, has 17 stores in Russia and a distribution center.

Russia was the tenth largest market for Ingka in the last financial year, with retail sales of 1.6 billion euros.