Nestlé, the Swiss food group behind KitKat and Nescafé, is assessing its options after Russia seized control of its local business and placed its assets under temporary administration.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree late on Thursday transferring control of Nestlé’s Russian assets, alongside those of French supermarket group Auchan, in what appears to be one of the Kremlin’s largest seizures of foreign corporate assets since at least 2024.
Nestlé said on Friday that it was “assessing the situation and its options” as it sought to determine the implications for its Russian operations.
The company said: “Nestle is committed to taking all necessary steps to protect its rights and ensure continuity of business operations in the interests of all stakeholders, particularly its employees.”
The seizure comes as relations between Moscow and European governments remain strained following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. More than 1,000 foreign companies have withdrawn from Russia since the start of the war, although several major consumer businesses, including Mondelez and PepsiCo, continue to operate there.
Moscow has introduced legislation allowing the state to take control of assets belonging to companies designated as “unfriendly”. The authorities have previously intervened in the Russian operations of international groups including Carlsberg, Danone and AB InBev, the brewer behind Stella Artois and Budweiser.
Nestlé has operated in Russia since 1995 but has reduced its activities there since the invasion. The group still has six manufacturing facilities and about 7,000 employees in the country.
Its Russian operations are estimated to generate roughly two billion Swiss francs (£1.81 billion) in annual revenue, equivalent to about 2 per cent of Nestlé’s global sales.
The intervention highlights the continuing risks facing multinational companies that have retained operations in Russia, where corporate assets can become vulnerable to state intervention amid deteriorating relations with the West.
For Nestlé, the immediate challenge is to protect its legal and commercial interests while determining how its Russian operations can continue under state-imposed control.
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