We are grateful to all 158 companies that, according to B4Ukraine and KSE, have completed their exit from Russia and are no longer funding the war against Ukraine and the free world!
Automobile corporations became the main newsmakers in December. At the end of November, Nissan sold its plant in the Russian Federation, and on December 13-14, Volkswagen-associated companies MAN Truck & Bus SE and Scania AB sold MAN Truck and Bus RUS LLC and Scania — Rus LLC in favor of local partners. Before that, MAN and Scania occupied 12% of the commercial vehicle market in the Russian Federation.
On December 8, the Swedish Group Volvo closed an agreement on the sale of some assets (it sold VOLVO FINANCE VOSTOK LLC, VOLVO COMPONENTS LLC and others). At the same time, the company Ferronordic, the official dealer of Volvo CE, sold LLC “Ferronordic machines”, which deals with industrial and special machines. Volvo still has a couple of legal entities in the Russian Federation. The exit was also partially completed by the Japanese Mazda Motor, which in mid-December closed an agreement on the sale of its share in the joint venture Mazda Sollers Manufacturing Rus (MSMR) in Vladivostok to a Russian partner. Mazda is still owned by MAZDA MOTOR RUS LLC.
In addition to automobile corporations, several packaging and printing manufacturers made a simultaneous exit in December. Mayr-Melnhof Group announced the sale of the Russian enterprises it owns, MM Packaging, producing cardboard packaging — MM Poligrafofromlennya Packaging and MM Poligrafofromlennya Rotogravyur. The buyer was the investment company Granelle. The amount of the agreement, approved by the state authorities, was 134 million euros. Amcor has announced that it has sold its three factories in Russia to Russian investor HS Investments after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals and cash proceeds. The value of the compensation without cash and debt is 370 million euros.
Furthermore, the American manufacturer of construction materials Owens Corning sold Russian assets to the structure of DK “Rosatom” Umatex. The largest independent oil trader Vitol Group sold a stake in Shkid Oil LLC, which implements one of Rosneft’s largest projects in the north of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory. And the Israeli military manufacturer Plasan sold the Russian subsidiary of LLC Orion Komposit, which was engaged in technical support, etc.
In fact, Russian revenue constitutes a comparatively small share of the revenue for global corporations and can be replaced by ethical business growth. Take the French bank Société Générale, one of the most exposed in Russia, which took a loss of €3.3 billion upon exiting the Russian market in May, but still managed to outperform its rivals. In a different sector, children’s favorite Lego pulled out of Russia in July but grew consumer sales by 13% and its revenue by 17%.
Nearly 1300 TOP public international companies still operating in Russia paid over 24 billion US dollars of taxes per year in 2020/21.
The B4Ukraine coalition calls on businesses that still operate in Russia to take a closer look at the example of the leavers and stop creating added value and jobs on the territory of the terrorist state. Moscow will use your tax dollars to build more missiles to kill innocent children in Ukraine.
Business leaders must put people before profit. Do the right thing and exit Russia now.