Lithuania-based surimi producer Viciunai Group has found a buyer for its Russian business nearly two years after announcing it was leaving the country, Russian media outlet Kommersant has reported.
Kommersant reported that Russian authorities have approved a transaction giving 100 percent of the ownership of Viciunai-Rus LLC – the company’s Russia-based business arm – to the Ocean Group Management Company, which was established in June 2023. Kommersant reported that Ocean Group may be acting for Unifrost, a large Russian importer of fish and seafood.
Viciunai Group confirmed to SeafoodSource that a sale will be coming, but could not give any further details.
"We are in the process of sales, and until it is completed, we cannot comment on either its details or progress," Viciunai Group said.
Viciunai Group announced it was going to sell off all of its Russian business on 20 June 2022, four months after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the time, the company said that a buyer for the business would be selected “by the end of the summer.”
“The sales process is going smoothly and intensively. Meetings with candidates are extremely time-consuming,” Viciunai Group Board Member Dainius Matijošaitis said at the time. “Prospective buyers check the data provided by us, and we regularly meet with them to clarify various details and exchange information.”
The company clarified in July 2022 that the sale of its business was a direct response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and that it would sell its factory in Kaliningrad.
"We are confident that we will be one of the first manufacturers to withdraw from the Russian market – not only those who have announced their intentions or started the withdrawal process but also those who have actually left Russia and completely terminated all business relations with Russia,” Matijošaitis said. “The sales process usually takes about a year, so we are pleased that we started this process a long time ago and are moving confidently toward the final stages."
In August 2022, the company said it had a “shortlist” of five potential buyers for the company’s operations in Russia.
“Considering the circumstances of the sales process and taking into account the request of the parties to the transaction, the candidates will not be named,” the company said.
Since that time, the company has made no updates about its potential sale and reportedly has been still operating its Russian business.
In January 2024, Ukraine’s National Agency of Corruption Prevention (NACP) added Viciunai Group to its list of international war sponsors in response to its continued operations in Russia.
“After the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, representatives of Viciunai Group promised that the company would leave the Russian market; nevertheless, Vici continues to operate its facilities in Russia, looking for new employees and paying significant taxes to the aggressor's budget,” the NACP said.
The NACP said that after it claimed it was going to leave Russia, Viciunai Group continued to defend its trademarks in court and recruit staff for its subsidiaries in Russia, increasing its net profit to USD 20 million (EUR 18 million) in 2022.
Kommersant reported Viciunai’s Kaliningrad production facility can process 120,000 metric tons of surimi a year and that its revenue from product sales increased 11.2 percent in 2023 to RUB 18.2 billion (USD 198 million, EUR 182 million), while its net profit increased to RUB 1.26 billion (USD 13.7 million, EUR 12.6 billion).
Viciunai Group could not be reached for comment on the sale.
