Heineken completes exit from Russia by selling its business for one euro

This is stated on the Heineken website.

"The transaction has received all the required approvals and concludes the process HEINEKEN initiated in March 2022 to exit Russia, incurring an expected total cumulative loss of €300m," the statement says. 

Arnest Group, to which the company sold its business, is Russia's largest producer of cosmetics, household goods and metal packaging for the consumer goods sector.

The purchase price for Heineken's business is EUR 1 per 100% of shares. All other assets, including 7 breweries in Russia, will be transferred to the new owners.

The company added that Arnest Group took responsibility for 1800 employees in Russia and guaranteed them employment for the next three years.

As a result of its withdrawal from Russia, Heineken expects total non-cash extraordinary losses of EUR 300 million, including foreign exchange losses.

"We have now completed our exit from Russia. Recent developments demonstrate the significant challenges faced by large manufacturing companies in exiting Russia. While it took much longer than we had hoped, this transaction secures the livelihoods of our employees and allows us to exit the country in a responsible manner," Heineken's CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Dolf van den Brink said. 

• The Heineken brewing concern announced that it would leave Russia in March 2022, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.