The ownership of Imperial Brands’ Russian subsidiary changes again, but with familiar faces.
Interfax reports that Russian businessman Sergei Katsiev, a beneficiary of the Red & White and Bristol retail chains, purchased a 15% share in International Tobacco Group LLC, the former Russian subsidiary of Imperial Brands, according to information from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE).
Imperial announced in March that it was ceasing all operations in Russia, including sales and marketing as well as production at its factory in Volgograd. In April it stated that it had sold its Russian operations to Russian investors. Imperial Tobacco Sales & Marketing and Imperial Tobacco Volga, which were later renamed International Tobacco Group and International Tobacco Group Volga, were acquired by four people at the end of April, two of whom worked for organizations connected to the Mercury Group of Katsiev and Igor Kesayev.
Later, Imperial Brands' Russian business saw another change in ownership. According to the USRLE, Nikolai Tyaka now owns 75% of International Tobacco Group and International Tobacco Group Volga. Tyaka is one of the partners of Russia’s largest tobacco distributor, Megapolis. Other partners included Igor Kesaev and Sergey Katsiev.
Tyaka and Katsiev also hold a 37.3% and 7.7% stake, respectively, in the operating firm of the Viktoria grocery chain. Katsiev, Kesayev, and Sergei Studennikov also hold 7.69%, 37.25%, and 45%, respectively, of the direct ownership holdings in the businesses that run the Red & White and Bristol franchises.
In August, Imperial transferred exclusive rights to several cigarette brands, including West and Maxim, to International Tobacco Group LLC. The Russian company also received the rights to several dozen trademarks related to the Maxim and Parker & Simpson (P&S) brands.