Georgi Kantchev and Saabira Chaudhuri of The Wall Street Journal tell us the Seizures of Danone, Carlsberg’s operations sound a warning shot to Western companies looking to exit Russia. They write (abridged):
Russia has unexpectedly seized the local operations of Carlsberg CABGY 0.10%increase; green up pointing triangle and Danone DANOY -0.24%decrease; red down pointing triangle, two of the world’s largest consumer-goods companies, in a move that escalates economic hostilities with the West.
In a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, Russia placed Danone and Carlsberg’s local operations under temporary management, putting them under the control of the federal state property management agency, Rosimushchestvo.
The move is the second time Russia has seized Western assets in the country since the Kremlin unveiled a decree in April that allows the state to take temporary control of assets of companies or individuals from what Moscow calls “unfriendly” states. Russian officials have said that the seizures are in retaliation for similar moves by Western countries. In April, Russia took control of utilities owned by Germany’s Uniper and Finland’s Fortum.
Read the full story here.