OREANDA-NEWS The Russian division of British American Tobacco (BAT), which ranks third in Russia among cigarette suppliers, has been transferred to a company from Abu Dhabi. It is owned by three former top managers of BAT and two people who may be associated with the distributor of GC SNS, writes Kommersant.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, BAT-SPb JSC and MUMT JSC transferred to BFI Holding from Abu Dhabi. According to the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) register, which the publication refers to, BFI Holding is owned by Faruk Ener, Oleg Barvin, Elena Zavarzina, Andrey Osavolyuk and Sergey Kudinov. Ener was the general director of BAT for Russia, Turkey, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Belarus, Barvin headed the Department of Legal Affairs. Osavolyuk and Kudinov may be associated with the BAT distributor in Russia GC SNS.

The shares of the founders of BFI Holding in the ADGM register are not disclosed.

BAT did not add anything to the statements made earlier about the deal. ITMS stated that the owner of the group is BFI Holding, a consortium of Russian investors and top management of the company, "none of whose representatives work in the global BAT." The SNC said that the group is not involved in the deal.

A source of Kommersant in the industry said that the presence among the founders of BFI Holding of persons who may be associated with the SNA probably indicates the attraction of funds for the transaction. The former management of BAT controls ITMS, which will allow BAT to return to ownership of assets when the situation stabilizes, he added.

In September 2023, BAT announced the sale of its business in Russia and Belarus, including a factory in St. Petersburg, to a consortium of investors led by management, whose composition was not disclosed. Now the former BAT structures operate as an ITMS group, whose portfolio includes Dunhill, Kent, Vogue, Rothmans, Lucky Strike and Java cigarettes, glo tobacco heating systems and Vuse disposable vaporizers.

In 2022, BAT occupied 23.6% of the Russian tobacco market, JTI (Winston, Camel, etc.) had 35.6%, and Philip Morris (Marlboro, Parliament) had 31.1%.

BAT opened a representative office in Russia in 1991, and started manufacturing tobacco products in 1994.

According to the SPARK-Interfax analytical system, the revenue of International Tobacco Marketing Services LLC (MUMT, engaged in wholesale sales) in 2022 amounted to 247.2 billion rubles against 225.4 billion rubles in 2021, net profit - 12.1 billion rubles against 6.2 billion rubles, respectively.

Earlier, another large tobacco company, Imperial Brands, left the Russian Federation, which transferred the business to Russian investors associated with Megapolis (the largest cigarette distributor in the Russian Federation, whose beneficiaries are Igor Kesaev and Sergey Katsiev). The new owners changed the names of the companies owned by Imperial Brands to "International Tobacco Group" and "International Tobacco Group Volga" (production site).

Tobacco concern Philip Morris International has stated that it is considering restructuring its business in Russia, including the transfer of assets.

Japan Tobacco International, the largest company in the Russian tobacco market, announced the suspension of new investments and marketing activities in Russia.