Henkel completes sale of its Russian assets for 54 billion rubles
The German company Henkel has finalized the sale of its Russian assets, with a total transaction value of 54 billion rubles, approximately 616.6 million euros, according to its first quarter 2023 financial statements.
On April 20, 2023, Henkel announced that it had signed an agreement to transfer its Russian business operations to a consortium of local investors. The deal has now closed, setting the selling price at 54 billion rubles, the company confirmed.
The portfolio included well known cleaning and detergent brands such as Laska, Persil, Losk, Pemox, Pemolux, Vernel, and Moment, as well as adhesive lines like Methylan, and beauty and haircare products including Syoss shampoos and Schwarzkopf brands.
Henkel previously operated 11 factories in Russia, located in the Perm, Engels, Leningrad, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Saratov, Ulyanovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, plus facilities in the Stavropol Territory. The company also maintained 12 offices across the country. In 2021, Henkel Rus reported revenue of 95.14 billion rubles and net profit of 7.48 billion rubles, with roughly 2.5 thousand employees on its payroll at that time.
The buyer group includes investment structures led by Viktor Kharitonin’s Augment Investments, Ivan Tavrin’s Kismet Capital Group, and Dmitry Kryukov’s Elbrus Services. Henkel announced the signing of the agreement with these investors on April 20, noting that the new asset holders have no sanctions exposure and have established ties with Western markets. Reuters reporters cited the possibility of a future repurchase by Henkel, though no exact timetable was provided by the company’s CFO at this stage.
There was media reporting in late March that other notable bidders may have shown interest. A source cited by Vedomosti mentioned that Roman Abramovich and developer FSK had discussed acquiring the assets, though they could not reach terms for the deal.
Augment Investments operates as a pharmaceutical-backed group led by Viktor Kharitonin, who is listed among the top Russian billionaires and is known for his role in Pharmstandard. Kismet Capital is Ivan Tavrin’s investment firm, while Elbrus Services is Dmitry Kryukov’s vehicle connected to the Elbrus Capital group.
After Russia’s military actions in Ukraine in 2022, Henkel said it would pause investments and advertisements in Russia before deciding to exit the market. The company estimated potential losses from exiting the Russian market at around 184 million euros. In December 2022, Simone Bagel-Traub, chair of Henkel’s Supervisory Board, described Russia as a significant market for the company, noting the business generated substantial annual turnover there. By 2022, Henkel Rus LLC ranked among the largest foreign companies in Russia, while assessments from the Financial Times suggested that Russia accounted for a minor share of Henkel’s total revenue.