The Carlsberg case is discussed here:
MSN
From the link above:
"Carlsberg has pledged to take all possible action to protect its employees, assets and operations in Russia following the July 2023 seizure.
Baltika and Carlsberg have been locked in a dispute over licensing. Carlsberg's unit in Kazakhstan has filed an appeal with a Russian court after the Danish brewer was banned from selling the Baltika beer brand of its former Russian partner in some international markets."
Sounds like BS.
March 2022, right after the SVO started and many Western companies began leaving Russia
Established in 1847 by brewer J.C. Jacobsen, Carlsberg Group is one of the leading brewery groups in the world today, with a large portfolio of beer and other beverage brands.
www.carlsberggroup.com
On 9 March, we announced a strategic review of the Carlsberg Group’s presence in Russia. Based on this review, we have taken the difficult and immediate decision to seek a full disposal of our business in Russia, which we believe is the right thing to do in the current environment. Upon completion we will have no presence in Russia.
As a result of this decision, our business in Russia will no longer be included in the Group’s revenue and operating profit. (...)
We deeply regret the consequences of this decision for our 8,400 employees in Russia. Until the completion of the process, we will maintain the recently announced reduced level of operations to sustain the livelihoods of these employees and their families. Any profits generated during the humanitarian crisis will be donated to relief organisations.
Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and we call for peace to be urgently restored.
The previously Russian big brewing concern Baltika, fully owned by Carlsberg since 2012, was left alone.
On
23 June 2023, Carlsberg Group announced the signing of a contract with an unnamed buyer. The amount was also not named at the time of the announcement. The deal had to be approved by the regulatory authorities of Russia.
Three weeks later, on
16 July 2023, by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Baltika was transferred to the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency.
What follows, comes from various Russian sources.
In
October 2023, Carlsberg Group revoked Baltika's licenses that allowed it to produce and sell the Danish company's products, including international and regional brands, and called its actions a response to the July decision.
On
01 November 2023, The Russian Ministry of Finance denied the statement of Jacob Arup-Andersen, CEO of the Carlsberg brewing company, about the “theft” of business in Russia.
The Ministry of Finance noted that the Baltika brewing company is not state property. The department emphasized that the Federal Property Management Agency has been appointed temporary manager, which exercises the powers of the owner, with the exception of the powers to dispose of property. At the same time, the introduction of temporary management, the statement says, does not entail a change in the ownership structure.
On
16 November 2023, the Petersburg court sent the former head of the Baltika brewing company, Sherstennikov, and the former Baltika vice-president Rogachevsky to pre-trial detention. They were accused of fraud on an especially large scale. According to the investigation, these persons, using their official position, “on
17 July 2023, fraudulently acquired in favor of the foreign companies Carlsberg Kazakhstan and Vista BWay Co., affiliated with Carlsberg, an intellectual property right belonging to Baltika worth at least 295.6 million rubles. This right provided for the possibility of exporting Baltika products to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and Belarus.
In
January 2024, the court extended the arrest of the former head of Baltika until March 29 and seized his accounts and cars; the second defendant, who fully admitted his guilt, has been placed under house arrest. The investigators said, that Sherstennikov has strong business connections outside of Russia. “The accused is not officially employed, he was in the process of being hired for a managerial and highly paid position in the foreign company Carlsberg, in whose interests the crime was committed.”
TASS, January, updated version: According to the preliminary investigation,
from March 2022 to July 2023, the defendants entered into an agreement with Carlsberg to obtain rights to use its international beer brands within Russia and at the same time knew that in fact, representatives of the Danish side did not intend to transfer them to Baltika. The Russian company for 20 years (until 2042) transferred the right to sell products under the Baltika brand in six CIS countries and Mongolia to the Kazakh Carlsberg Kazakhstan LLP and the Belarusian Vista BiUi Co LLC. For the second part of the deal, Baltika was to receive 295.6 million rubles from its partners. As it turned out, the first part of the agreement was not fulfilled by the Danish company, and only the Russian side fulfilled the second - the rights to the popular brand “went” abroad, and the multimillion-dollar payment for this did not follow.
The saga continues...
As for AgroTerra, here is
RBC article via G-transl. The closing paragraph reads:
In April 2023, Putin signed a decree on the seizure of foreign assets in response to the confiscations in the United States and other states “aligned with them” of property of Russia, Russian citizens or companies. From that moment on, the assets of the Finnish energy concern Fortum , shares of foreign companies in the Russian subsidiary of Danone and Baltika , shares of the automaker Rolf and the network of Prime Print printing houses of the Norwegian Amedia came under the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency. In July 2023, the head of state said that Russia is generally friendly towards partners who do not want to leave the country, and “does not take anything away from anyone.”
