Factbox: Companies sell their businesses in Russia

UNIQA Insurance AG

19/09/2023 12:32

(Adds International Paper, updates Mondi in 'Forestry &
packaging' section)
       Sept 19 (Reuters) - Some Western companies have agreed
to sell their Russian assets or hand them over to local managers
as they take action to comply with sanctions over the war in
Ukraine and deal with threats from the Kremlin that
foreign-owned assets may be seized.
    The moves, part of a broader corporate exodus from Russia,
are likely to prompt concerns that Russian companies and
institutions are snapping up prize assets at bargain prices.
    Below are some of the companies by sector that have secured
deals to sell their businesses in Russia:

AUTOS
    CONTINENTAL  CONG.DE  
    The car parts manufacturer said on May 22 it had sold its
Russian tyre plant to Russian holding company S8 Capital.
    RENAULT  RENA.PA 
    The French carmaker sold its majority stake in Avtovaz
 AVAZI_p.MM  to the Russian state in 2022, reportedly for only
one rouble but with a six-year option to buy it back.
    VOLKSWAGEN  VOWG_p.DE  
    The German carmaker said on May 19 it had completed the sale
of its Kaluga production plant and its local subsidiaries to
Art-Finance LLC, supported by autodealer group Avilon.

BANKS & INSURERS
    SOCIETE GENERALE  SOGN.PA 
    The French bank sold its Russia business Rosbank in May of
last year to Russia's Interros Capital, taking a 3.1 billion
euro ($3.38 billion) hit.
    UNIQA INSURANCE GROUP  UNIQ.VI  
Uniqa and Raiffeisen Bank  RBIV.VI  will sell their stakes in
Raiffeisen Life to Russian insurer Renaissance Life, the
Austrian insurer said on Aug. 24.

ENERGY
    BASF  BASFn.DE 
    The German chemicals group said in January it would take a
7.3 billion euro writedown as its Wintershall Dea energy
business pulls out of Russia. BASF owns 67% of Wintershall
voting rights, while the rest is held by Letter One, a company
controlled by Mikhail Fridman.
    SHELL  SHEL.L 
    The British energy and petrochemical company last year
completed the sale of its Russian retail and lubricants business
to Russia's Lukoil  LKOH.MM . 
    Russia's government approved the sale of Shell's former
27.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 energy project to Russian energy
firm Novatek  NVTK.MM  for 94.8 billion roubles, a government
order showed in April.

FOOD & BEVERAGES
    AB INBEV  ABI.BR 
    The brewer said in April 2022 it would sell its
non-controlling stake in Russian joint venture AB InBev Efes,
taking a $1.1 billion impairment charge.
    HEINEKEN  HEIN.AS 
    Dutch brewer Heineken said on Aug. 25 it had completed its
exit from Russia by selling its operations there to Russia's
Arnest Group for a symbolic one euro.

FORESTRY & PACKAGING
    HUHTAMAKI  HUH1V.HE 
    The Finnish maker of packaging for food and beverages sold
its operations in Russia in September last year for 151 million
euros to Espetina, a holding company of the owner of former
McDonald's restaurants in Russia.
    INTERNATIONAL PAPER  IP.N  
    The renewable fibre-based products manufacturer sold its 50%
stake in a Russia-based joint venture to Russian shareholders,
its JV partner Ilim Group said on Sept. 18.
    MONDI  MNDI.L  
    The British paper and packaging firm said on July 3 it had
completed the sale of three Russian packaging converting
operations to Gotek Group for 1.6 billion roubles.
     Mondi said on Sept. 18 it had agreed to sell its largest
plant in Russia to Sezar Invest for 80 billion roubles.
    STORA ENSO  STERV.HE  
    The Finnish forestry firm completed its exit from Russia
with the sale of three corrugated packaging plants to local
management in May 2022.

MINING
    KINROSS  K.TO 
    The Toronto-based miner in June last year sold all of its
Russian assets to Highland Gold Mining Group for $340 million,
half of the previously announced price.

RESTAURANTS & RETAIL
    AMREST  EATP.WA 
    The restaurant operator said in May it had completed the
sale of its KFC restaurant business in Russia to Smart Service
for 100 million euros. 
    AUTHENTIC BRANDS GROUP  AUTH.N 
    The Russian business of Authentic Brands Group-owned Reebok
was taken over by Turkey's FLO retailing, Kommersant daily
reported in May 2022.
    INDITEX  ITX.MC 
    Russian government in April approved a deal for Spain's
Inditex  ITX.MC  to sell its Russian business to a UAE-based
buyer. Inditex had more than 500 stores in the country and
agreed to sell them in October.
    MCDONALD'S  MCD.N 
    The U.S.-based restaurant chain sold last year its business
in Russia, taking a charge of $1.28 billion.

TOBACCO
    BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO  BATS.L  
    The maker of Camel and Lucky Strike cigarettes said on Sept.
7 it would sell its Russian and Belarusian businesses for an
undisclosed sum to a consortium led by members of BAT Russia's
management team. It did not disclose whether the terms of the
deal, expected to close within a month, allowed BAT to buy the
business back at a later stage.
    IMPERIAL BRANDS  IMB.L 
    The British tobacco group transferred its Russian business
to investors based in Russia in April 2022.
    
OTHERS
    ESSITY  ESSITYa.ST 
    The Swedish hygiene company said on July 17 it had completed
the divestment of its Russian operations for about 1.2 billion
Swedish crowns ($117.34 million) to New Technologies LLC, whose
principal owner is Igor Shilov.
    HENKEL  HNKG.DE  
    The consumer goods company said in April it had sold its
business in Russia for around 600 million euros to a consortium
of local financial investors.
    MAERSK  MAERSKb.CO 
    The shipping and logistics group said in February it had
agreed to sell its two logistics sites in Russia to IG Finance
Development Limited.
    In August last year, Maersk sold a 30.75% stake in Russian
port operator Global Ports Investments  GLPRq.L  to Russia's
largest container operator Delo Group.
    SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC  SCHN.PA 
    The French electrical equipment maker closed the sale of its
operations in Russia to local management in September last year.
    YIT  YIT.HE 
    The Finnish builder completed the sale of its businesses in
Russia to Etalon Group in May 2022. 

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FACTBOX-Moscow takes control over assets of Western companies   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N39D6O7
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 (Compiled by Augustin Turpin, Agnieszka Gosciak, Matteo
Allievi, Tristan Veyet, Praveen Paramasivam, Paolo Laudani and
Victor Goury-Laffont; 
Editing by Jane Merriman, Christina Fincher and Milla Nissi)
 ((paolo.laudani@thomsonreuters.com))