12 Oct 2024 Unilever exits Russia

Unilever has become the latest Western company to exit business in the country since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022….

Unilever has sold its Russian business to Arnest Group, according to numerous reports – the same Russian company that has snapped up various properties and business units from Western-based companies as they’ve looked to exit following its invasion of Ukraine.

Unilever said in a Reuters report that the sale includes all of its business and four factories in Russia along with its business in neighbouring Belarus. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Reuters cited an FT report that said the transaction was valued at $568.41-million (€520-million).

Unilever valued the business at €600-million in June, the report said.

Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher said: “Over the past year, we have been carefully preparing the Unilever Russia business for a potential sale. This work has been very complex and has involved separating IT platforms and supply chains, as well as migrating brands to cyrillic.”

The Unilever business adds to the list of Russian food and beverage acquisitions for Arnest since the Ukraine invasion, with the company having snagged Ball Corp’s beverage packaging business in late 2022 and Heineken’s Russian operations for one euro in August 2023.

Danone and Carlsberg weren’t so lucky to get one euro for their subsidiaries, however, as the Russian government seized those operations in July 2023.

Unilever had stopped imports and exports out of Russia, but continued to operate and sell products, citing that move as the “least bad” option for its operations in the country and facing significant criticism for continuing down that path.

Source: Reuters, FoodProcessing.com