Carlsberg Assets Sold in Russia

By Alexander Marrow

LONDON (Reuters) – Russia's government has approved the sale of Danish brewer Carlsberg (CSE:CARLb)'s assets in Russia to VG Invest, a local firm with connections to brewery holdings, for 34 billion roubles ($320.75 million), as per a government document seen by Reuters.

In July 2023, Moscow seized control of Carlsberg's stake in Russia's Baltika Breweries, placing it under "temporary management." This led Carlsberg Group CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen to state that the company's business had been stolen. The assets were removed from temporary management on Monday.

As part of the agreement, Baltika's stakes in Carlsberg Azerbaijan, Carlsberg Kazakhstan, and another subsidiary in Azerbaijan will be handed back to Carlsberg in exchange for the Hoppy Union brewery asset in Russia.

Carlsberg has not commented immediately, and Baltika declined to provide a statement. Russia's finance ministry, overseeing the government commission on foreign asset sales, also did not respond immediately.

The sale price indicates a significant discount, as Carlsberg reported its net assets in Russia were valued at 7.52 billion Danish crowns ($1.06 billion) in a February 2023 report.

Since Western sanctions related to Ukraine, Russia has enforced strict exit requirements for foreign firms, demanding considerable discounts on foreign asset sales before approval and implementing an "exit tax" to support state revenue.

VG Invest, registered in August, is managed by Yegor Guselnikov, vice president at Baltika, according to Russian corporate filings. Guselnikov co-owns Brewery Development Centre (BDC) with Alexander Tolmachev, who has worked at Heineken and Demetra.

Neither Guselnikov nor Tolmachev provided comments.

BDC has launched various companies this year, including New Breweries and Project 650, the latter led by Alexei Pyatkin, CEO of Carlsberg-owned Hoppy Union.

Carlsberg's seized assets coincided with those of Danone (EPA:DANO), which had its sales forced to a pro-Kremlin businessman earlier this year.

Russia's Vedomosti newspaper reported Monday that Carlsberg had reached a private agreement to sell its Russian business, naming investor Taimuraz Bolloev, president of Baltika, though this detail could not be verified by Reuters.

($1 = 106.0000 roubles)
($1 = 7.1014 Danish crowns)