Russia takes Western assets: Auchan, Metro and Nestlé come under external management

Russia has transferred some of the largest European retail chains and industrial assets under external management, while retaining a lever of pressure on the West through the threat of full nationalization.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Pit1233, https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/pdm/

Auchan

Major Western retailers will no longer control their businesses in Russia

In September, Russia placed the assets of French retailer Auchan, German Metro Cash & Carry, Swiss company Nestlé and US distribution group Aptar under external management.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov directly linked the measures to the actions of European states. The Kremlin said Germany, France and other EU countries were "actively involved in military operations" against Russia by supporting Ukraine and approving strikes on Russian economic infrastructure. The introduction of external management has been presented as a reciprocal response to the seizure of Russian state and private assets in the West.

Russian authorities are also seeking to prevent major retail chains from closing down without oversight, given their role in food security and employment. Until recently, for example, Nestlé had seven production facilities in Russia employing 7,000 people. Metro operated 91 stores across the country with 10,000 employees, while its turnover in 2025 was estimated at €2.5 billion. That represented about 9% of the company's overall business.

Moscow takes Western companies' desire to remain in Russia into account

Before the restrictions were introduced, French retailer Auchan had attempted to arrange the sale of its Russian subsidiary to a Russian buyer, Kama Capital. However, the government commission blocked the deal, after which the assets were seized.

Although the cases involving Auchan and Metro are linked by the same political logic, the management mechanisms are fundamentally different. Control of Auchan was transferred to an outside entity with no connection to the French parent company, leaving the local management without effective leverage. The German group had stated that it had "zero desire" to leave Russia, so Moscow effectively transferred control to the local team at JSC UK Torg RUS while keeping operational processes under German management.

Russian authorities previously used exactly the same mechanism to place the assets of Denmark's Carlsberg, France's Danone, Finland's Fortum and German energy giant Uniper under external management.

Several other European groups continue to maintain significant operations in Russia. They include French companies TotalEnergies, Sanofi and Lactalis, as well as German food producers Hochland and Ehrmann and pharmaceutical companies Merz and Bayer. These are only the best-known examples.

In principle, Western companies have two possible responses: they can attempt to challenge the forced management arrangement in a Russian court or international arbitration and fight to retain the right to operate in Russia, or they can leave the Russian market permanently.

Russia could follow the example of the Soviet Union

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and leader of the ruling party Dmitry Medvedev, commenting on Europe's reaction to the transfer of Nestlé and Auchan assets under temporary management, advised European countries to remember the Soviet experience:

"Ideally, temporary management of foreign assets should be followed by further steps. It would be worth remembering the first acts of the Soviet government, under which foreign plants and factories were forcibly and without compensation transferred into state ownership."

In other words, Russia is not confiscating European assets but merely placing them under temporary management, leaving this option as a potential threat to Europe. Moscow is effectively signaling that, for now, it is not nationalizing European assets under its jurisdiction, but could do so immediately if the EU confiscates Russian assets frozen there, whose total value exceeds €200 billion.