NewsU.S. and the World

Actions

Owner of former Russian McDonald's stores to buy another western firm, signaling new business trend

Western companies have been pulling out of Russia amid its conflict with Ukraine
Russia After McDonald's
Posted at 2:51 PM, Sep 01, 2022
and last updated 2022-09-01 16:59:10-04

A Siberian businessman that bought Russia's McDonald's locations as the Western company pulled out of the country amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine offered to buy a packaging company from Finland, signaling a trend of flipping Western companies into Russian-owned enterprises.

Russia's Alexander Govor offered $151 million to buy the Finnish packaging company business Huhtamaki, Reuters reported.

Govor said earlier he paid a "symbolic" amount of money for McDonald's Corp restaurants in Russia in June and then relaunched the restaurants renaming them Vkusno & tochka, which translates to "Tasty and that's it" in Russian.

He will buy Huhtamaki's Russian businesses using a loan from state bank Sberbank along with a Cyprus-registered company called Espentina Limited, according to Reuters, citing documents for the closing.

Huhtamaki has been operating in Russia since 1993 and produces paper and plastic cups, along with lids and food containers. The company's customers have included Yum Brands' KFC and Restaurant Brands International Inc's Burger King and Nestle, and IKEA.