Putin has confiscated the russian assets of Auchan, Nestlé and Leroy Merlin

This was reported by the russian propaganda agency "Interfax", citing the text of the decree on the regulatory and legal information portal.

According to the decree dated 17 September, the assets of the international corporations Auchan and Nestlé are being forcibly transferred to the management of the joint-stock company "L.E.V. Management". The same entity has gained control over the assets of the logistics operators FM Logistics, Bati Logistics and "Le Monlid" LLC (the former ‘Leroy Merlin’ chain).

In effect, the Kremlin has carried out a legalised theft of the businesses of those international companies which, for years, refused to withdraw from the russian market and continued to line the pockets of the aggressor state’s budget.

According to russian registers, "L.E.V. Management" is a typical shell company. The company was only registered in Moscow in October 2024. Andriy Krayushkin is listed as the managing director of the legal entity; however, information about its actual beneficial owners has not been disclosed, and the company has not engaged in any commercial activity.

The Swiss company Nestlé has been operating in russia since 1994 and owns six large production sites in various regions of the country. The combined turnover of its main legal entities in the russian federation in 2021 amounted to almost 30 billion roubles. The company has withheld data for subsequent years, following the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The French retail chain Auchan has been operating in the russian federation since 2002 and currently has 230 stores in 100 cities. Auchan LLC is almost entirely owned by the French company Sogepar.

The French company Leroy Merlin, which had been operating in the russian market since 2004, also refused to leave the country for a long time. The retailer subsequently changed its name to "Lemana PRO" and managed a network of 112 shops and 11 dark stores. In December 2023, Scenari Holding LP, a company from the United Arab Emirates, became the owner of 99.99 per cent of the russian legal entity Le Monlid LLC. The French group Adeo formally retained only 0.007 per cent of the shares.

It later emerged that one of the reasons why the russian assets of Auchan, Nestlé and other foreign companies were “placed under temporary administration” was that their owners are based in European countries which russia considers unfriendly.

This is how Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s decision was explained by his press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, according to RBC.

“We are talking about European companies, about companies from unfriendly countries. And, of course, one of the factors taken into account when making this decision was that these are unfriendly countries,” he said.

According to Peskov, these countries’ involvement in military actions against russia was also taken into account, in particular “strikes against civilian economic infrastructure”.

However, he added that, for the time being, the focus is specifically on the introduction of external administration. No other decisions regarding these assets have been taken – there are currently no plans to sell or transfer them.

Peskov declined to comment on the selection of the company JSC “L.E.V. Management” as the temporary administrator, but noted that it “best met the necessary criteria”.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda, Ekonomichna Pravda