Russia seizes control of Danone and Carlsberg assets after announcing its flight from the country

Russia has taken control of assets in the country of French group Danone and the Danish Carlsberg. Both companies had announced their intention to leave the Russian market on the occasion of the war in Ukraine, according to a decree published today.

According to the letter, signed by President Vladimir Putin, 98.56% of the shares of the Russian brewery Baltika, belonging to Carlsberg since 2008, and tens of thousands of shares belonging to Danone become “temporarily” under the control of the Russian state.

After signing the decree 83,292,493,000 shares of Danone Russia – owned by the Produits Laitiers Frais Est Europe group – remain under the control of the Russian State, as well as another 85,000 shares belonging to the Danone Trade group.

[Inditex pone fin a su negocio en Rusia y vende la mayor parte de sus tiendas a Daher]

Danone reported in October that it was looking for a buyer for its dairy food business in Russia – with an agreement that could lead to a cancellation of up to 1,000 million euros (1,120 million dollars) -. While the Danish beer warned, at the end of June, that it had found a buyer – without mentioning who – for its Russian activities.

This move comes after the Russian subsidiaries of the German company Uniper UN01.DE and the Finnish Fortum FORTUM.HE will come under state control in April. Following this, the Kremlin warned that it could seize more Western assets, in what it said was a temporary base in retaliation for foreign moves against Russian companies abroad.