Putin seizes Russian assets of Auchan, Nestlé and Leroy Merlin

Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has signed a decree nationalising the Russian assets of Auchan, Nestlé and the former Leroy Merlin chain.

Source: Russian propaganda agency Interfax, citing the text of the decree posted on Russia's official legal information portal

Details: Under the 17 September decree, the assets of international corporations Auchan and Nestlé will be forcibly transferred to the management of L.E.V. Management joint-stock company. The same entity has also taken control of the assets of logistics operators FM Logistics and Bati Logistics, as well as LLC Le Monlid, the former Leroy Merlin chain.

In effect, the Kremlin has legalised the theft of the businesses of international companies that for years refused to leave the Russian market and continued contributing to the budget of the aggressor state.

According to Russian company registers, L.E.V. Management is a typical shell entity. The company was registered in Moscow only in October 2024. Andrei Krayushkin is listed as the company's general director, but information about its ultimate beneficial owners has not been disclosed, and the company has not conducted any commercial activity.

For reference: Swiss company Nestlé has operated in Russia since 1994 and owns six large production sites in different parts of the country. The combined revenue of its main Russian legal entities in 2021 amounted to almost 30 billion roubles (about US$355.04 million). The company has kept its financial data for subsequent years, following the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, confidential.

French retailer Auchan has operated in Russia since 2002 and currently has 230 stores in 100 cities. LLC Auchan is almost entirely owned by French company Sogepar.

French company Leroy Merlin, which had operated in the Russian market since 2004, also refused to leave the country for a long time. The retailer later changed its name to Lemana PRO and operated a network of 112 stores and 11 dark stores. In December 2023, UAE-based Scenari Holding LP acquired a 99.99% stake in Russian legal entity Le Monlid LLC. French group Adeo formally retained only 0.007% of the shares.

Background:

• Russian authorities have repeatedly publicly threatened Western countries with the confiscation of their companies' assets, calling it a "reciprocal response" to international sanctions and the freezing of Russian state funds abroad.
• In May 2024, Putin signed a decree allowing US property in Russia to be used to compensate for losses resulting from the seizure of Russian assets.
• In autumn 2025, amid EU decisions to provide loans to Ukraine using proceeds from frozen Russian assets, the Kremlin leader issued a decree that significantly accelerated the procedure for nationalising foreign companies in Russia, reducing the asset valuation period to 10 days. All transactions involving confiscated property were assigned to Promsvyazbank, which provides banking services to Russia's Defence Ministry.
• Putin himself has previously openly described the use of Russian funds and the detention of commercial vessels linked to Russia as "robbery" and "piracy". He said Russia would have to respond in kind to any actions by Western countries by seizing their property.

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