MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has transferred shares in brewer AB InBev’s Russian joint venture into temporary management, according to a decree published on a Russian government website on Monday.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s biggest brewer by volume, said in April 2022 it would sell its interest in the venture to its JV partner, Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes, in order to exit Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the deal was rejected by Russian authorities earlier this year.
Putin has been able to place companies in temporary management under a decree published in April 2023. It grants the manager full control of the assets, except for the ability to dispose of them.
The decree said 15,831,786,776 ordinary shares and 92,943 privileged shares in the AB Inbev/Anadolu Efes venture were placed under the management of the Vmeste group of companies, an entity incorporated in Moscow last August.
AB InBev is among several Western companies whose efforts to exit Russia has been scuppered by Russian authorities.
(Writing by Felix Light; Editing by David Goodman and Susan Fenton)
