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Heineken completes sale of its Russia operations to Arnest Group

Arnest Group has taken responsibility for the 1,800 Heineken employees in Russia, providing employment guarantees for the next three years

MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. The Dutch brewer Heineken has completed the sale of its Russian business to Arnest Group, with the purchase price standing at 1 euro for 100% of shares, the company said in a statement.

"Heineken N.V. announces completion of the transaction to sell its Russia operations to Arnest Group. 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 €300 mln. The purchase price for the Heineken Russia business is €1 for 100% of the shares," the statement reads.

All remaining assets, including seven breweries in Russia, will transfer to the new owners, the company said. Moreover, Arnest Group has taken responsibility for the 1,800 Heineken employees in Russia, providing employment guarantees for the next three years. There is no call option to return to Russia stipulated by the transaction.

As a result of exiting Russia, Heineken expects total non-cash exceptional losses amounting to €300 mln, including cumulative foreign exchange losses relating to Russia currently recorded in equity, the company noted. "The transaction will have negligible impact on diluted EPS (beia) and Heineken’s full year 2023 outlook is unchanged from the sale," the statement said.

"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 CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Dolf van den Brink was quoted as saying.

Heineken announced its decision to leave Russia on March 28, 2022. Earlier this year the brewing company was criticized in the Netherlands for launching a whole number of new products on the Russian market after promising to leave the country. Heineken said that the intention to leave the Russian market remained in force, while the launch of new products was necessary for making business more attractive to potential buyers.

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