Vladimir Putin canceled the transfer of shares of the French company Danone to the management of the Federal Property Management Agency. This is stated in decree President of Russia.
The reasons for the decision are not indicated in the document. Lawyers associate the measure with the approval of a transaction to sell the business to a suitable buyer, as well as with the desire to avoid a claim from the company in international investment arbitration, writes Kommersant.
Foreign shares in the Russian structure of the company were transferred to the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency in July last year. Prior to this, Danone announced its intention to reduce its presence in Russia and curtail investment projects.
83 billion ordinary shares of Danone Russia and 85 thousand shares of Danone Trade were transferred under the management of the Federal Property Management Agency. After this, Russian enterprises were headed by the deputy chairman of the Chechen government, Yakub Zakriev, the son of the sister of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, Zargan Kadyrova.
See also the EU is preparing sanctions for the nationalization of Danone and Baltika in Russia
According to the Financial Times, Danone planned to sell the Russian business to the Vamin company from Tatarstan. It belongs to 29-year-old Mintimer Mingazov.
- Danone is a well-known French manufacturer of dairy products and other food products that operates in more than 140 countries. Danone came to Russia in 1992.
- After the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine at the end of February 2022, more than 1,200 organizations curtailed their activities in Russia, of which over 500 completely left the country. According to calculations “Important Stories” publicationsthis is about 20% of foreign companies that operated in Russia before the war.
- The transfer of company assets to the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency is actually considered nationalization. Russian authorities don’t think so. They explain this by the fact that formally the owner of the assets remains the same, but cannot dispose of the assets.
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2024-03-13 18:20:36
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