Danone and Carlsberg in Russia are under state administration

Russia puts the Russian business of the French food company Danone and the Danish brewery group Carlsberg under state administration. President Vladimir Putin today signed a decree giving a government agency control over Danone and Carlsberg stakes in Russia’s largest brewing group.

The Baltika Group, in which Carlsberg recently owns a 27 percent stake, has recently been brewing foreign brands such as Warsteiner, Holsten and Tuborg under license. Carlsberg announced in June that it would sell the block of shares to an unnamed buyer, but that would require approvals. Danone announced its withdrawal from Russia in October, which could result in a writedown of up to €1 billion.

In a move similar to the decree now signed by Putin, Russia brought the national energy companies Uniper of Germany and Fortum of Finland under state control in April. Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine last year, many Western companies have either partly or completely pulled out of Russia. Still others are active in Russia.