Denis Manturov and Sergey Chemezov are facilitating the purchase of Sagal’s foreign assets?

Unilever cosmetics joins Heineken beer and cockroach repellent Dichlorvos.

The company "Arnest" of the Stavropol businessman Alexey Sagal continues to buy up sanctioned goods. This time, the Dutch-British cosmetics company Unilever and its Yekaterinburg plant "Kalina" came under the sights of the manufacturer of "Dichlorvos". The government commission for control over foreign investments has already approved this deal. This is reported by BAKLAZHAN

Western buyer

Sagal built a business on the basis of the Nevinnomyssk Household Chemicals Plant, which produced Dichlorvos and Prelest hairspray during the Soviet era. In 1992, the company became known as OAO Arnest and gradually came under the control of the Sagal family.

The businessman’s ex-wife Elena Sagal was a member of the Federation Council from Stavropol Oblast in 2009-2012. This family was a prominent player in the region and the south of the European part of the country, but before SVO Sagal was not a first-rate entrepreneur in Russia, and now he has become one thanks to his energetic purchase of Western assets.

Alexey Sagal. Photo: https://www.forbes.ru/biznes/503588-bloomberg-ocenil-v-1-mlrd-priobretennye-sagalom-aktivy-usedsih-iz-rossii-kompanij

In the summer, Bloomberg estimated the value of the Western factories acquired by Sagal over two years at $1 billion. Among them are the Russian division of the Heineken beer company, the Ball Corporation can factories, and the Oriflame cosmetics factories. Sagal bought all of them at a reduced price, which apparently allowed him to triple his fortune.

A telling example is the story of the can factory of the Ken-Pak company, which was arrested in the summer following a lawsuit filed by United Breweries Holding LLC (former asset of Heineken Russia). Sagal’s company demanded that the factory be seized from its Polish owners because it was not supplying the company with the number of aluminum cans needed to conduct commercial activities.

The ultimate goal of this action is the transfer of Ken-Pak to Sagal’s ownership, in which case the businessman will become a monopolist in this sector of the Russian market.

Gifts worth billions

Sagal’s motivation is clear - he is consolidating his business at the expense of companies leaving Russia. However, there are many such people in the country, but all the factories are Sagal’s. Naturally, this is not a coincidence, at least because the transfer of ownership rights to Western assets is approved by a government commission. Apparently, someone authoritative is not against strengthening Sagal’s position.

Denis Manturov. Photo: https://runews24.ru/economy/15/04/2022/d826611270aa70c003e1d79b5581ab20?post

An interesting story happened with Heineken, whose capacities cost Arnest 1 euro and 100 million euros in debt. Sagal claimed that this was a normal price, but the Dutch had a different opinion - they believe that they lost 300 million euros here. There is no right of repurchase here, so 1 euro is the real cost of the deal.

The Oriflame business cost Sagal 28 million euros, while the Ball Corporation can factory cost a hefty 530 million dollars. Market price? Let’s look at some statistics: the former Ball Corporation facilities gave Sagal a profit of 8.69 billion rubles in three months, which covers 20% of the costs. Sagal will recoup his investment in the purchased production in a year and a half.

The only disappointment for Sagal was the loss of a modest UK production facility, but the £60m was nothing compared to what he had gained.

The entrepreneur received not just factories at a reduced price, but an economic cluster that immediately began to generate profit. We are not talking about assets, but about a machine for making money, because without cans, beer and cosmetics, society will not survive for long. Banks, under someone’s word, gave Sagal borrowed money and overnight turned him into a dollar billionaire.

Connection with the Manturovs

Sagal’s success is linked to the Manturov family name. In 2023, Sagal became a co-owner of the apple and strawberry producer Kolos Kubani. The enterprise was created in 2018, and one of the co-owners through ZAO Dynasty was Valentin Manturov, the full namesake of Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov’s father, who died in 2019. Interfax wrote in 2018 that he was indeed the politician’s father.

In 2013, instead of Vladimir Ponomarenko, the founder of Kolos Kubani was Sagal’s JSC SKHP Kolos, but on July 19, 2024, it transferred its share to the general director Denis Taran. Taran, like Sagal, is a Stavropol resident.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru

Sagal’s enterprise ceased to be a founder of Kolos Kubani after the media began writing about a connection between this organization and the Manturovs. Perhaps Sagal is covering his tracks, but it looks unconvincing.

In 2023, the company’s revenue increased by 487% to 119 million rubles, but net profit fell by one hundred percent and amounted to minus 126 million rubles. And all this with a relatively small debt - it seems that money was withdrawn from the organization. The company will probably be liquidated soon - due to publicity in the media, it has become toxic for Manturov.

Don’t forget about Chemezov

The decision to transfer assets of Western enterprises that left Russia to Sagal was supervised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which was headed by Manturov until the spring of 2024. Today, the politician’s position has become even stronger and Sagal’s business is growing following his example.

A probable friendship with Manturov gives Sagal access to the head of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, who in recent years has become a "mega-oligarch" in Russia, managing factories, enterprises and deposits.

Sergey Chemezov. Photo: https://www.rbc.ru/business/25/12/2019/5e0385549a794707920c810c

Manturov and Chemezov are family friends and have created one of the strongest alliances in modern Russia. Moreover, Manturov should be called Chemezov’s protégé. Valentin Manturov and Chemezov apparently had friendly relations.

Valentin Manturov, who legally links Denis Manturov’s son to Sagal, received 50% of the capital in Financial Systems in 2017, and his counterparty there was Stanislav Chemezov’s Financial Investments. Before that, Manturov Sr. was present in this company through Cypriot offshores, but two years before his sudden death, he legalized himself in Russia.

In addition to managing Russian industry, the Manturov and Chemezov families tried themselves in the restaurant business, taxis, grape production and many other areas. The results were not the best, so now the partners act not through wives, mothers and sons, but through allied businessmen who receive profitable assets.

The regulatory capabilities of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the special powers of Rostec allow businesses, contracts and government contracts to be handed out to the right people like Sagal.

Miracles do not happen, and in Sagal’s case, that is exactly what happened. A modest regional entrepreneur from Stavropol became an oligarch and monopolist in the aluminum cans market in two years, the importance of which is enormous. Without cans, it will be impossible to produce many goods that are vital to the population. The transfer of such assets could not have been accidental, but with friends like Manturov and Chemezov, this is not surprising.