Carlsberg has agreed to sell its shares in Russia's Baltika Breweries to longstanding Baltika employees in a management buyout, the group said on Tuesday.
The deal is due to close in the next few days
The news comes after a presidential decree on Monday showed that the government removed the Danish brewer's assets from a list of western assets under the management of the Russian state.
Moscow seized control of Carlsberg’s stake in Russia’s Baltika Breweries in July 2023.
It then placed it under “temporary management,” prompting Carlsberg Group CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen to say that his business had been stolen.
The decree voided the previous move to put Carlsberg’s Russian assets under the temporary control of the country’s federal property management agency Rosimushchestvo.
It was signed by President Vladimir Putin.
It did not say who would assume control of the assets.
Russia’s Vedomosti’s sources named one of the investors as Taimuraz Bolloev, the president of Baltika.
Sources expect the deal to conclude at the end of the year.
Carlsberg said it was aware of the announcement from the Russian authorities but had no immediate comment.
Baltika, Russia’s largest brewery, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Carlsberg’s assets were seized at the same time as those of Danone.
Moscow forced through the sale of the French yoghurt maker’s assets to a pro-war businessman earlier this year.
Bolloev – who ran Baltika from 1991 to 2004 – was appointed its president without Carlsberg’s approval after the state took control.
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