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Putin Transfers Nestlé, Auchan Stakes to $177 Moscow Firm With One Employee
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Russia placed the local businesses of Swiss food giant Nestle and French supermarket chain Auchan under temporary administration on September 17, explicitly linking the move to European military support for Ukraine.
Bloomberg reported the seizure on the same day, describing it as the largest takeover of foreign corporate assets inside Russia since at least 2024.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov grounded the decision in the two companies' European origins. "One of the factors taken into account when making this decision was that this is an unfriendly country," he told reporters on September 18, according to Bloomberg.
He added that the country involved ranked among those most actively engaged in military action against Russia.
The Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, issued the decree late on September 17, ordering stakes in the firms' Russian operations transferred to a company called AO L.E.V. Menedzhment, the outlet reported.
Registry data cited by Bloomberg showed the manager was registered in Moscow in 2024 with a charter capital of about $177 and a single employee, carrying little public profile before the order.
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Nestle has operated in Russia since the 1990s, running six plants that employ more than 7,000 people, according to Bloomberg. Russia accounts for roughly 2% of the company's global sales, worth about $2.5 billion a year.
Auchan opened its first Russian store in 2002 and now runs 230 supermarkets and hypermarkets across the country, the report noted. Nestle shares fell as much as 1.9% on September 18, touching a three-month low before paring losses.
Nestle stated on September 18 that it had noted the decree and was weighing its options, Bloomberg reported. The company vowed to take "all necessary steps to protect its rights" and ensure continuity for its employees.
Auchan Retail Russia requested clarification of the order and pledged a fuller response once it obtained more information, the outlet added. The Swiss government was expected to comment later on September 18.
Russia has taken over dozens of foreign holdings since 2023, when it created a temporary management mechanism for assets tied to "unfriendly" countries, according to Bloomberg. The local units of Fortum, Danone, and Carlsberg were among them.
Danone and Carlsberg briefly recovered their assets before being forced to sell to Russian buyers at steep discounts. In August, Putin signed a law allowing courts to block departing foreign investors from buying back what they had sold.
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The order extends a run of Kremlin seizures targeting Western firms that stayed in the country.
In July, a decree placed the Russian operations of Dutch paint maker Akzo Nobel under a state-linked manager, following earlier takeovers of Danish insulation firm Rockwool and Polish-American packaging producer CanPack.
Days later, Reckitt, a British company, accepted a post-tax loss of about $232 million to offload its Russian hygiene unit under strict exit rules. That sale formed part of a wider exodus, with roughly 62% of Western firms holding major Russian assets having left since 2022.
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