After initially promising to do so about a and a half years ago, Heineken has finally fulfilled its promise to sell its Russian business for the equivalent of one euro, or 86 pence.
The Dutch brewer has said that the segment will result in a loss of €300 million for the company. The division will be sold to the Russian company Arnest, which manufactures aerosol cans.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year, a number of Western businesses abandoned their activities in that nation.
Dolf van den Brink, from Heineken, was quoted as saying, “It took much longer than we had hoped.”
The chief executive officer and chairman of the company added the following statement: “[But] this transaction secures the livelihoods of our employees and allows us to exit the country in a responsible manner.”
Arnest will buy seven breweries for one euro and take on 1,800 employees, promising to keep them all employed for the next three years if they are hired.
Along with the removal of Heineken lager, which the business stated occurred in 2022, the production of the Amstel beer brand would be discontinued over the course of the next six months.
“Recent developments demonstrate the significant challenges faced by large manufacturing companies in exiting Russia,” Mr. van den Brink added, referring to the situation in Russia.
In the past month, Russian assets that were owned by Carlsberg and the French yoghurt manufacturer Danone were seized by President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
This past week, the franchise owner of Domino’s Pizza in Russia gave notice that it intended to liquidate all of its locations there and declare bankruptcy on the company.
DP Eurasia stated that it would no longer attempt to sell the operation due to the “increasingly challenging environment” that it faced.
Since Russia’s military vehicles crossed into Ukrainian territory on February 24, 2022, it has been the focus of a variety of economic penalties.
In the moments immediately following the invasion, a great number of well-known companies made the decision to shut down their activities. Others, like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, were put under intense pressure to withdraw from the Russian market.
There has also been persistent criticism directed on those who have kept operating their businesses.
The School of Management at Yale University has been keeping tabs on which companies have left the industry and which ones have remained. Those that have survived include companies such as BT Group, a leading provider of telecommunications services in the United Kingdom, and Lacoste, a prestigious French clothing brand.
