Proactive Investors - Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) has sold off its business in Russia for €520 million after facing criticism for not ditching operations in the country following the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
The sale to Arnest Group was confirmed to have been completed on Thursday, with this also including Unilever’s four factories in Russia and its business in Belarus.
"Over the past year, we have been carefully preparing the Unilever Russia business for a potential sale,” a statement said.
“This work has been very complex, and has involved separating IT platforms and supply chains, as well as migrating brands.”
Unilever had drawn backlash for not exiting Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, with the latter’s government labelling the consumer goods giant as a sponsor of the war last year.
The FTSE 100 giant, which has been operating in Russia since 1991, was reported to have received at least €200 million from its business in the country since early 2022, where it reportedly owned eight large Russian enterprises, including a margarine factory in Moscow, a sauce factory, a tea-packing factory and a perfume and cosmetics factory in St Petersburg, a food factory and an ice cream factory in Tula, as well as ice cream factories in Novosibirsk and Omsk.