Russia seized control of the local assets of Swiss food giant Nestle SA and French supermarket chain Auchan, placing their stakes in Russian businesses under temporary administration.
President Vladimir Putin ordered stakes in the assets to be handed to a company called AO L.E.V. Menedzhment, according to a decree published Thursday on the country’s official legal portal. The little known entity was registered in 2024 in Moscow, according to Russian registry data.
Russia has used the temporary-management mechanism since 2023 to take control of assets belonging to companies from countries it considers “unfriendly.”
More than 1,000 companies have left Russia or scaled back their operations since the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine began in 2022, according to the Yale School of Management. Still, many multinational companies, including PepsiCo Inc. and Mondelez International Inc., continue to operate in the country.
The Russian authorities previously imposed temporary administration on assets belonging to foreign companies including Danone SA and Carlsberg A/S, with some of those businesses later sold to Kremlin-linked owners.
Nestle, which has operated in Russia since the 1990s, scaled back its business after 2022, suspending some brands and halting non-essential imports and exports, advertising and capital investment. Earlier this year, a little-known company, KS Logistics, asked Putin to place Nestlé’s local entities under temporary management, the Kommersant newspaper reported, a move that could potentially pave the way for a change in ownership.
Nestle told the outlet then it hadn’t received any inquiries from Russian authorities and that its offices and factories continued to operate.
Nestle wasn’t able to comment immediately on today’s developments, while an Auchan representative didn’t immediately have a comment on them.
Auchan was among the early wave of major Western retailers to expand into Russia, opening its first store there in 2002. The retailer went on to build a sprawling presence and now operates 230 supermarkets and hypermarkets across the country, according to its website.
With assistance from Angelina Rascouet and Fabienne Kinzelmann.
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