Half of the largest French dairy company Danone Russia will go to Kadyrov's relatives

50% of the shares of the largest dairy products manufacturer, the French company Danone, will come under the control of relatives of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. The other half will be sold to the Vamin dairy holding from Tatarstan.

As experts note, Danone's Russian assets will be sold by French owners at a large discount. If the market value is estimated at 60–80 billion rubles, then buyers will pay only 17.7 billion rubles. At the same time, 7.7 billion rubles will be used to pay off the company’s debt.

Let us remind you that Danone Russia was actually nationalized in July 2023. Vladimir Putin signed a decree transferring its assets to the management of the Federal Property Management Agency. Immediately after this, Yakub Zakriev was appointed the new general director of Danone Russia. Previously, he was deputy chairman of the government and minister of agriculture of the region. His father Salman Zakriev is the first deputy chairman of the Chechen parliament. In March 2024, the President of the Russian Federation canceled the decree on the transfer of shares to the Federal Property Management Agency.
 
The second owner of Danone will be the Vamin dairy holding from Tatarstan. It belongs to 29-year-old Mintimer Mingazov, the son of Vagiz Mingazov, a former member of the Federation Council and deputy of the City Council of Tatarstan. The family reportedly has long-standing ties to the Chechen elite.

Danone is one of the first foreign companies to be effectively nationalized and will go into private hands. According to observers, as a result of the redistribution of assets of foreigners leaving Russia, the owners of many of the largest enterprises became businessmen close to the authorities who have no experience in managing such assets.

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