Russia takes over management of Baltika, Danone's subsidiary
MOSCOW. July 17 (Interfax) - Two major food industry assets have been added to the list of assets placed under temporary management of the Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) under the presidential decree of April 25, 2023, which so far only included the two power generating companies (Fortum and Unipro ).
Under the decree of July 16, which was published on the official online database of legal information, the stakes in Baltika Brewing Company LLC and shares in Danone Russia JSC were transferred to Rosimushchestvo.
Therefore, 100% of Baltika, including 98.56%, which were owned by the Swedish legal entity Carlsberg, 0.09% by the German legal entity Carlsberg and 1.35% by Hoppy Union LLC, were transferred to Rosimushchestvo.
Previously, Carlsberg Group, which announced its plans to leave the Russian market in March 2022, said that it had signed an agreement on the sale of its Russian business, but the concern did not name the future owner of Baltika.
Baltika is the second largest Russian brewing company operating eight breweries throughout the country.
The company's revenue reached 100.7 billion rubles in 2022 from 82.6 billion rubles in 2021, while its net profit soared 1.9 times to 9.952 billion rubles. Last year, Baltika produced 197.42 million decaliters of products, which is 4.7% less than in 2021.
Additionally, 100% of Danone's Russian business (83,292,493,000 shares of Produits Laitiers Frais Est Europe and 85,000 shares of Danone Trade) were placed under Russia's temporary management.
France's Danone said last October that it would transfer control of its dairy products production business in Russia. The media reported many bidders for purchasing the business, including major Russian food producers, including Rusagro Group , Cherkizovo Group , Chernogolovka Group, EkoNiva Group, Rumelko, Tkachev Agrocomplex and AFK Sistema which owns the Steppe agricultural holding.
As Danone Russia (dairy products production) said in its financial statements, the company's net profit in 2022 dropped to 5.57 billion rubles from 8.85 billion rubles in 2021. At the same time, its revenue rose 9.1% to 92.9 billion rubles against 85.1 billion rubles in 2021.