In 2022, the French company Danone announced its exit from the Russian market and began searching for a buyer for its assets — 12 factories across the country. The business was valued at 1 billion euros.
However, a civilized exit did not occur. In July 2023, Vladimir Putin took away Danone's shares of its Russian subsidiary and transferred them to the management of the Federal Property Management Agency. Two days later, the new CEO of «Danone Russia» was appointed, 34-year-old nephew of Ramzan Kadyrov, Yakub Zakriev.
In March 2024, Putin canceled the nationalization of the Russian Danone and approved the sale. According to media reports, the asset was to be acquired «50-50» by Kadyrov's nephew and the dairy holding «Vamin» from Tatarstan. In May of the same year, the deal for the sale of the Russian division of Danone was closed.
At the same time, as discovered by «Systems», the new owners essentially did not have to pay anything for a business worth 1 billion euros. The deal was financed with money provided to Kadyrov's circle by former structures of Danone.
The price of the deal for the sale of the Russian Danone was not disclosed. But from the reports, it follows that for the deal, the business was valued at 40 billion rubles ($440 million). Taking into account a 56% discount requested by the buyers, the final price of Danone amounted to 17.6 billion rubles ($194 million).
Of the 17.6 billion rubles, 7.7 billion were intended to service the debt, and the remainder — directly for the purchase of the factories. The debt payment was assumed by the company «H and N» (as «Danone Russia» was renamed), according to the reports. The remainder (9.9 billion rubles) was paid by the buyers' firm «Vamin R» using a loan, which was repaid with a loan from the same «H and N» subsidiary. That is, the buyers essentially paid Danone with its own money.
At the end of 2024, «Vamin R» transferred the former Russian Danone to Zakriev's deputy.
Meanwhile, in 2024, the accounts of «H and N» depleted by 18.6 billion, and the company's subsidiary began regularly issuing large loans (1 billion rubles in 2023 and 1.6 billion in 2024) to certain individuals among the management. Another suspicious operation appears to be the withdrawal of the logistics business from the company.
Before the arrival of Kadyrov's people, Danone in Russia had its own transport company. Its staff exceeded a thousand people, the fleet had more than 400 vehicles, and the partner was the American logistics giant GXO Logistics. Almost immediately after the Russian Danone was transferred to the new owners, the Americans exited the joint logistics business, and its director was appointed Shamil Vagapov, a native of Grozny. In November 2024, he became the sole owner of the transport company, which previously belonged to Danone and GXO.
In February 2025, Vagapov decided to distribute the accumulated profit from previous years and paid himself 400 million in dividends.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent» and «undesirable» organization.