OREANDA-NEWS Finnish Paulig Group has completed the sale of its business in Russia, according to a statement on the company's website. This is also evidenced by the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.

«The transaction includes the sale of shares of LLC Paulig Rus to private investor Vikas Soy. Thus, Paulig's operations in Russia, including the coffee roasting plant in Tver and 200 employees of the company, will be transferred to a new owner. Paulig brands and recipes are not included in the sale», the message says.

Rolf Ladau, CEO of Paulig Group, noted that doing business in Russia after the start of the military special operation in Ukraine ceased to be «responsible and viable». «Taking into account the interests of our employees, customers and local legislation, the sale of the business was the best solution to exit», he said.

The Paulig brand will leave the Russian market in the coming months, but the company will continue to supply coffee beans to the new owner during the transition period, which will last «no more than three months», the Paulig Group noted. The sale of the business will not have a noticeable impact on the company's future performance: Russia accounted for less than 5% of its revenue in 2021, they also said.

The Indian businessman Vikas Soy bought the Paulig business and has been living in Russia for more than 30 years, writes Russian media RBC. According to Soy's LinkedIn profile, since 2000 he has been in charge of the Grocery business in the Megapolis company of billionaire Igor Kesaev and Sergey Katsiev. Since 2016, Soy has become the managing director of the coffee producer Milagro Beverage Company. The company sells instant coffee in Russia under the Milagro, D'arte and Belagio brands.

After the sale of Paulig Rus Soy, the company changed its name to LLC Milfoods, follows from the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.