Shares in Coca-Cola HBC fell sharply on Thursday (5 November) on reports a Russian company wants control of its local assets.
According to Russian business daily Kommersant, Russia-based brewer and soft-drink maker Bochkari has called for the external management of Multon JSC and Multon Partners, Coca-Cola HBC’s subsidiaries in the country.
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Altai-based Bochkari filed the proposal in mid-October, proposing it should act as interim manager, reported the publication, citing “several sources familiar with the situation”.
The request has been sent to the Russian government for consideration and received partial backing from a deputy prime minister, according to one of the sources.
Multon Partners told Kommersant a local management team runs the business and that it has received no notification of the reported measures.
In a stock-exchange filing issued after 6pm UK time yesterday, London-listed Coca-Cola HBC said: “Coca-Cola HBC has received no notification from the Russian government of any changes to its operations in Russia, which have been operated locally on a self-standing basis since 2022.”
The Coke bottler added: “Coca-Cola HBC does not rely on income or capital from its Russian business to fund the group’s operations outside Russia or to service the group’s indebtedness.”
Coca-Cola HBC’s shares plunged following the news, falling 17.88% to close at 4,052p. The shares have edged higher this morning, standing at 4,106p at 09:10 GMT.
Coca-Cola HBC’s 2025 annual report showed the company stated net sales revenue from external customers of €1.61bn ($1.8bn) in Russia last year.
Until 2022, Multon Partners (then operating as Coca-Cola HBC Eurasia) bottled international Coca-Cola brands in Russia before renaming its local operations and pivoting to domestic juice and soft drink lines like Dobry and Rich following Coca-Cola’s suspension of business in the country.
In September, Russia placed Nestlé’s operations in the country under “temporary administration”.
The interests, held by Société des Produits Nestlé and Nestlé Deutschland, will be managed by Russian joint-stock company LEV Management.
The Nescafé owner insisted the move did not “constitute nationalisation of the company or a change of ownership” of its Russia business.
Speaking to analysts a month later, Nestlé CFO Anna Manz said the move did not affect the company’s underlying sales but would impact its reported sales and underlying operating profit.
After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the presence of western multinationals in Russia was scrutinised. Some companies left but others, including Nestlé, remained. At the time, Nestlé faced criticism from Ukraine’s President Zelensky.
Russia seized Danone’s local assets in 2023 before the French group sold them the following year, recording a €1.2bn loss. Carlsberg’s stake in Baltika Breweries was also seized in 2023.
