Viciunai Group Fully Withdraws from Russia
After a nearly two-year-long divestment process, Viciunai Group has sold its factory operating in the Kaliningrad region of Russia as well as its logistics and trading companies active in seven Eastern countries. Consequently, the company has completely withdrawn from the Russian market and those of other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The deal has been signed with the Russian company Ocean Group, which has already transferred most of the agreed sum through a division of a European bank. Upon settling technical formalities, the buyer became the full-fledged owner of the Viciunai Group’s managed assets and took over the management of the companies. Ocean Group also acquired the right to use the VICI trademark within the territory of the CIS countries. To avoid confusion, the Lithuanian “VICI” will gradually be transformed by expanding the Viciunai Group’s portfolio of trademarks. The value of the transaction is not disclosed by mutual agreement.
The asset sale which required the approval of the Russian government’s Foreign Investment Control Commission took almost two years due to various obstacles. The commission’s permission for the transaction was granted to the Russian company Ocean Group, which presents itself as an investment group. The company’s shareholder, Marija Bucharova, signed the contract on its behalf. The portfolio aquired includes a total of 15 companies: 7 operating in Russia (Vichiunai-Rus, BaltKo, Fort Trans Logistika, LK Centrus, Frost logistics, RefTerminal, and ViciRusTrans), 3 in Belarus (EcoFort, Viciunai Bel, and Viciunai Logistik), Kazakhstan’s VICI-KAZAKHSTAN, Azerbaijan’s Vichiunai Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan’s Vicunai KG, Uzbekistan’s Viciunai Vostok, and Georgia’s Vichiunai Sakartvelo.
“We will not lie by saying that this was the most complex transaction as long as Viciunai group exists. It was not our game, it was played by obscure rules or without any at all, hence we can only state that we finally succeeded and I want to thank the team of advisors and company specialists who had the patience and determination to move consistently in the set direction. We hope to overcome the remaining part of the process smoothly and quickly, and then continue our rapid expansion in to Western markets,” noted Dainius Matijosaitis, a member of the Viciunai Group board.
When the divestment process began in the summer of 2022, preliminary proposals were submitted by 15 contenders, of which 8 were non-Russian companies. However, from the first days, it became clear that the divestment process would not be simple, as the position of Russian institutions, internal order, and decision-making structures changed during the process. As the process continued, contenders unexpectedly changed, and three potential buyers withdrew for various reasons, ultimately Ocean Group was declared as the one meeting all criteria.
“There was a time when we thought we were being tricked and that the sale of the companies would not succeed. We even considered factory closure options, but such a decision would have meant criminal prosecution for the company’s managers, destroyed relationships with international suppliers and creditors from the West. An agreement with the buyer was reached at the end of 2023, but the state commission’s permission was only granted this February. For now, I will just say that once we received the permission, we did everything to sign the contract as quickly as possible, but even this process was not smooth and without surprises. Today I can state that we no longer operate in Russia and the CIS. Period,” states D.Matijosaitis, a member of the VG board.
Viciunai Group plans to continue expanding its activities in the home markets of the Baltic countries and Western Europe, where in 33 years, the company has already successfully established itself among the largest players in its market segment. Products manufactured in factories in Lithuania, Estonia, and Spain are sold in 57 countries worldwide.