Unilever (NYSE: UL) has sold its Russian business to Arnest Group, it said on Thursday, becoming the latest multinational company to exit Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, following a “complex” sale process.
UK-based Unilever, owner of brands including Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, said the sale includes all of its business, four factories in Russia, and its business in Belarus.
While the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the FT reported the sale was worth 520 million euros ($568.41 million), citing unnamed sources.
Unilever (NYSE: UL), which declined to confirm the reported figure, had said the Russian business, including the four factories, had net assets of around 600 million euros, as of June 30.
“This work has been very complex and has involved separating IT platforms and supply chains, as well as migrating brands to Cyrillic,” Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher said in a statement, referring to the sale and translation from English to the Russian alphabet.
Arnest, headed by businessman Alexey Sagal, has scooped up other Western businesses since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, most notably Dutch brewer Heineken’s Russian operations for just one euro. Arnest also picked up Ball Corp’s beverage packaging business for $530 million in late 2022 and Swedish cosmetics company Oriflame’s Russian business.
Arnest Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Campaigners and Ukraine’s government have criticized Unilever for its continued presence in Russia following the invasion in February 2022, even though it was the first major European food company to stop imports into and exports out of Russia.
Last year, Unilever (NYSE: UL) said that it could abandon, sell or retain its operations in Russia but the “least bad” option was to “pursue our business but in a highly constrained manner”.
B4Ukraine, a coalition of civil society groups seeking to compel Western companies to sever ties with Russia, welcomed the sale on Thursday.
Last month, the RBC business daily reported that Unilever had received Russian government approval to sell assets valued at around 35-40 billion roubles ($359.5-$410.9 million).
The Kremlin usually demands a discount of at least 50% on exit deals involving firms from what it calls “unfriendly” countries, those that have imposed sanctions against Russia.
According to a Reuters analysis in March, foreign companies have incurred more than $107 billion in writedowns and lost revenues due to the exodus from Russia.
Earlier this year, Danone said it had received regulatory approvals to dispose of its Russian assets, taking a loss of $1.3 billion.
Unilever is expected to publish its third-quarter trading statement on October 24.
($1 = 97.3500 roubles)
($1 = 0.9148 euros)
(Source: Reuters)
Mary Lee is a freelance writer and journalist based in Toronto, Canada. She holds an M.S. degree in business and economic journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York and a certificate in digital marketing from the University of Toronto.
