Unilever completes sale of Russian business to Arnest Group

MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - Consumer goods multinational Unilever has announced the closure of a deal to sell its Russian assets.

Russian subsidiary Unilever Rus has been sold to Arnest Group, the largest producer of perfume, cosmetics and household aerosols in the CIS, the company said in a press release. The details of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal includes Unilever's whole business in Russia and its four factories in the country, as well as its business in Belarus.

"The subject of the deal was the company's assets, including four production facilities in Yekaterinburg, Omsk, St. Petersburg and Tula," Arnest said in a statement.

Arnest and Unilever had worked together for more than 17 years. "The expertise acquired over this time will enable us to efficiently develop the business, increasing production volume and the visibility of the company's products in retail," Arnest president Alexei Sagal said in the press release.

"We intend to ensure the implementation of the investment program and fulfil all social obligations, which are an important component of the deal," Sagal said.

Unilever, which began working in Russia in 1991, had about 3,000 employees in the country and four large manufacturing clusters. The company produced cosmetics and household chemicals in St. Petersburg, cosmetic products in Yekaterinburg, and ice cream in Tula Region and Omsk.

Unilever's Russian business accounted for 1.4% of its total sales of 60.1 billion euros and 2% of its net profit of 8.3 billion euros in 2022. The group's Russian assets were valued at 900 million euros at the end of 2022. In 2023, the Russian business had declined to 1% of the group's sales and net profit for the year, which totalled 59.6 billion euros and 7.1 billion euros, respectively, and the valuation of its assets in the country had dropped to 600 million euros.