VG Invest became owner of Baltika

The registry indicates that 98.5% of the assets of Baltika Brewing Company LLC now belong to VG Invest JSC, whose general director is the vice president of the brewing giant, Egor Guselnikov. A further 1.35% of the company belongs to Hoppy Union, formerly owned by Carlsberg’s Swedish subsidiary Carlsberg Sverige Aktiebolag. Currently, Hoppy Union LLC is also controlled by VG Invest JSC.

VG Invest was registered in August 2024. Guselnikov, together with Alexander Tolmachev, is also the owner and director of the Brewery Development Center. Tolmachev previously worked at the Heineken brewing company.

Vedomosti wrote on December 2 that Carlsberg had agreed with private investors to sell its Russian business. Two interlocutors said that one of the investors is the president of the Baltic, Taimuraz Bolloev. Baltika declined to name the beneficiaries of the agreement.

Carlsberg announced about the sale of Baltika’s Russian plants on December 3 of this year. By data Reuters, the amount of the transaction was 34 billion rubles. In addition to the money, the Danish company will receive Baltika shares in its subsidiaries in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan (Carlsberg Azerbaijan and Carlsberg Kazakhstan). Previously, Baltika officially returned to the Kazakh market, having signed an agreement for the distribution and supply of several new brands of beer and energy drinks to the republic.

Carlsberg’s deal with VG Invest came on the heels of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree, which removed assets previously owned by the Danish company from the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency. At the same time, Carlsberg intended to leave the Russian market in March 2022, but the sale did not occur until recently. The Danes estimated the losses from the cessation of activities in Russia at 7 billion dollars.