The Stavropol manufacturer of Dichlofos Alexei Sagal thanks to the seizure of Western assets in Russia became an oligarch of a federal scale. Apparently, Denis Manturov and the mentor of politicians Sergey Chemezov helped him in this.
The head of the British company Unilever, Hine Schumacher, in an interview with Bloomberg, said that the decision to leave Russia and sell the assets of Arnest Group of Companies Alexei Sagala was hard for him. However, there was no other way out – Schumacher realized that he was losing control of the Russian business and that there was no other scenario in the conditions of sanctions.
The correspondent of The Moscow Post in the Stavropol Territory understood the history.
The new owner of Unilever
In fact, Schumacher said that he was “broken up by his hands” and left no other choice on how to transfer the company to the new owner. The entrepreneur did not say the words “raiders”-maybe because in English it means “raid”.
The transfer of ownership to LLC Yuneliver Rus (Russian daughter Unilever) ended on October 9, 2024 and now the owner of the assets, which the British evaluated at 600 million euros, is Arnest Management LLC. This structure belongs to Sagala by 99%, and by 1% associated with it, JSC Everest. A business with a revenue of 62 billion rubles for 2023 fell into the hands of a Stavropol entrepreneur with an Estonian passport.
Alexey Sagal. Photo: https://s0.rbk.ru/v6_top_pics/media/img/1/90/347030989311901.jpeg
According to our source, Sagal submitted documents on the presence of the second Estonian citizenship in 2017, and Maria Sagal, from whom Alexei Sagal was also passed along this line. It turns out that the entrepreneur and children made a European passport. Earlier in Estonia, this was possible through the design of Euroid. It is also possible that Sagala has a new wife lives abroad or is a citizen of Estonia. The fact is that among children the first official and only public spouse, two sons and daughter Margarita Sagal are included.
Manturovs man
The parties did not reveal the cost of selling Unilever assets in Russia, but the final figure seems to be below the market. Sagal made an offer that cannot be abandoned. Uniliver had two options-to continue to cling to assets and, as a result, lose them for free and the sale of Sagala, which is close to the Russian deputy prime minister Denis Manturov.
Denis Manturov. Photo: https://cdnstatic.rg.ru/uploads/images/158/36/06/rian_328069.hr.ru.jpg
Sagal and the Manturov family are connected through Kolos Kuban LLC, where the founder is Dynasty CJSC, which, before his death, was owned by the father of politician Valentin Manturov. In 2023, the co -owner of Kolos Kuban LLC became JSC KPP Kolos, which is associated with GC “Arnes”. Around the same time, Sagal, with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, began to redeem the western assets remaining in Russia at a low price, becoming one of the beneficiaries of the sanctions epic. It is possible that the family of Deputy Prime Minister gave the entrepreneur this asset under control.
From Chemezov
Sagal all his business cashier works by taking control of various businesses. So, he succeeded with the Nevinnomsky Plant of household chemicals, on the basis of which the Arnest Group of Companies was then created. In 1998, the entrepreneur entered the board of directors producing household chemicals and cosmetics of Arnest JSC, in 1999 he became its chairman. In 2023, Sagal became vice president, and in 2024 the president of the company, which is known throughout Russia from the remedies from the cockroaches “Dichlophos” and the Lacu “Charm”. Here he was helped by his ex -wife Elena Sagal, who from 2009 to 2012 was a Senator from Stavropol.
Before his Sagal, he entered the European market, owned the Barony plant in the UK, which he had to sell for 358 pounds and tried to open production in Hungary – this project, despite the support of the Viktor Orban government, is frozen today. However, the golden time for him began during his. Assets began to fall into the hands of Sagala like from a cornucopia, and there was a little money to pay for them due to preferential loans.
Sergey Chemezov. Photo: https://s0.rbk.ru/v6_top_pics/media/img/8/05/755864431274058.jpeg
In addition to the help of Manturov, the unprecedented success of the sagal is associated with the head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov, who in recent years has turned into the main asset distributor in the Russian Federation. Manturov previously worked at Chemezov “Oboronprom” and made a career in the Russian government with his support. Chemezov was also friends with the late Valentin Manturov, and the cooperation with which as a result became a key to turn the sagal into an oligarch.
With the support of Moscow
Manturov and Sagal interact for a long time. In 2016, by order of the politician – then Manturov was still the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, a national aerosol cluster was created on the basis of Arnest OJSC from Nevinnomyssk. This decision allowed Sagala to receive tax benefits and state subsidies for development.
In 2019, Manturov visited the production of Arnest Group of Companies and held a public meeting with Sagal. Politics was accompanied by the Governor of the Stavropol Territory Vladimir Vladimirov and the relevant Minister of the region Vitaly Khotsenko. Manturov thus publicly supported the Sagala business and showed the Stavropol authorities that this Moscow is following.
Alexey Sagal and Denis Manturov. Photo: https://www.aluminas.ru/upload/medialibry/a74/manturov_arnest.jpg
In May 2022, Manturov created the perfumery development council for the development of the Russian perfumery industry industry. The politician in the new body became the chairman, and Sagal his deputy. The goal of the organization was to support Russian manufacturers, and at the first meeting the Government of the Russian Federation allocated 500 million rubles to the institution for advertising domestic goods. Thus, Sagal flies not only into the western nests, but also receives a fuel from the budget. His projects also receive the necessary banking and credit support.
Aerosol-Bannaya monopoly
It is easy to guess where these 500 million rubles went then. So far, the only result of the activities of the perfume council was the transfer of the assets of Unilever and Oriflame into the hands of Sagala, who turned from the Stavropol producer of Dichlofos into the oligarch federal scale at the disposal of the Russian economy sector. It is not only about perfumes, but also about aluminum banks for beer.
Arnest bought the Russian factories of the American company Ball Corporation and is close to obtaining the production of Poles from Ken-Pak. If Sagal brings the case to the end, then all beer in the Russian Federation will spill into the Arnesian container. At the same time, the Russian capacities of the Heineken Dutch beer generally moved to Sagala and became the reason for pressure in court on Ken-Pak.
Sagala company believes that the stopping of the plant prevents her from pouring Heineken, so this can go under the control of the Arnest Group of Companies. About the same “raider” logic is used in other Sagala projects.
As for perfumes, besides Unilever, the Swedish company Oriflame received the proposal, which cannot be abandoned. She also lost to Arnest Group for a small price their Russian plants.
Now Sagala occupies 50% of the Russian aerosol market and 2.5% of the world. In fact, the man Manturov and Chemezov in a few years monopolizes several sectors of the Russian economy. And this is called in Russia business, not raiding.