In July 2023, the shares of Baltika, its activity in Russia, were placed “temporarily” under the control of the Russian state, with the CEO of the Danish group Jacob Aarup-Andersen believing that Carlsberg had been “stolen”.
“Since announcing our intention to leave Russia in 2022, we have exhausted all possible options to find a way to completely withdraw from Russia while protecting our employees, our assets and the value of the Carlsberg company” , declared the CEO of the Carlsberg group quoted in Tuesday’s press release.
“Given the circumstances, we believe this is the best possible solution for our employees, our shareholders and the continuation of our activities,” he added, specifying that this agreement put an end to any litigation. Carlsberg will receive an undisclosed amount of cash, as well as Baltika’s shares in operations in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
The sale announced on Tuesday of Baltika Breweries was authorized in advance by the Russian government commission responsible for the sale of Russian assets held by companies from so-called “unfriendly” countries.
If the amount of this sale was not revealed by Carlsberg in its press release, Russia had strengthened its criteria concerning these operations at the beginning of October.
The discount on the sale price in relation to the value of the asset has thus increased from 50 to 60% and the exit tax to be paid to the federal budget has been increased to 35% (compared to 15% previously), a means of dissuading Western companies to sell.
Finally, any transaction worth more than 50 billion rubles (around 445 million euros at the current rate) must be approved directly by Vladimir Putin, in addition to the government commission.
ef-bur/abx
CARLSBERG
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