Unilever sells Russian subsidiary

British consumer goods giant Unilever on Thursday said it has completed the sale of its Russian subsidiary to Arnest Group, a Russian manufacturer of perfume, cosmetics, and household products.

The sale includes all of Unilever’s business in Russia and its four factories in the country, along with the business in Belarus.

“Over the past year, we have been carefully preparing the Unilever Russia business for a potential sale. This work has been very complex, and has involved separating IT platforms and supply chains, as well as migrating brands to Cyrillic,” Hein Schumacher, chief executive of Unilever, said.

“The completion of the sale ends Unilever Russia’s presence in the country.”

Last year, Unilever has come under fire from Kyiv, which placed the group on Ukraine's “International Sponsors of War” list, claiming it continues to profit from operations in Russia.

Unilever, whose major brands include Dove soap, Magnum ice cream and Cif surface cleaner, said at the time that the company was supplying “everyday food and hygiene products made in Russia to people in the country”, adding that “exiting is not straightforward”.

However, It also maintained it had ceased imports and exports of its goods into and out of Russia.

The terms of the deal with Arnest Group, which last year snapped up Heineken’s business in Russia, for a symbolic one euro, have not been disclosed.

Arnest Group owns a major can packaging business and is the largest Russian manufacturer of aerosols, as well as selling cosmetics and household goods.

Many multinational companies flocked to leave Russia after the West imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, but the Kremlin has retaliated by seizing some assets.