Unilever exits Russia with sale of all assets to local company

LONDON: Unilever 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 and four factories in Russia as well as 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, 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.

Unilever’s continued presence in Russia following the invasion in February 2022 has been criticised by campaigners and Ukraine’s government, though it was the first major European food company to stop imports into and exports out of Russia.

Unilever said last year 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.

The exodus of firms from Russia has cost foreign companies more than $107 billion in writedowns and lost revenues, according to a Reuters analysis in March.