Dichlorvos maker Arnest bought Unilever’s Russian and Belarusian business

It included “the entire Unilever business” in Russia, including four factories in Yekaterinburg, Omsk, St. Petersburg and Tula, as well as the Belarusian business. The company has been preparing assets for sale over the past year, work including unbundling IT platforms, supply chains and transferring brands to the Cyrillic alphabet, Unilever said.

Arnest highlighted that the group’s choice as buyer is “the consequence of many years of effective cooperation.” They added that the company has been producing cosmetics and household chemicals for Unilever for the domestic market and for export for more than 17 years.

Unilever received consent from the Russian government to sell the local business in September 2024, RBC sources reported. One of them estimated the value of the company at 35-40 billion rubles. At the same time, Kommersant sources stated that Arnest could become the buyer.

Unilever announced the suspension of exports and imports of goods from Russia in March 2022. In June 2024, the company began to Russify the names of its brands. For example, Domestos became “Domestos” and Cif became “Sif”.

According to Rusprofile, in 2023 the revenue of Unilever Rus LLC (the legal entity of Unilever in Russia) amounted to 62 billion rubles and the net profit – 4.9 billion rubles.

Arnest produces, among other products, body antiperspirants, air fresheners, cleaning products and detergents, as well as dichlorvos. In 2023, JSC Arnest’s revenue amounted to 11 billion rubles, and net profit – 574 million rubles.