The Spanish leader in restaurant franchises Amrest has joined the companies that are divesting of their assets in Russia, by closing an agreement with the firm Almira to sell the business in the country for at least 100 million euros.
The divestment affects the business of the KFC chain in the country and is still pending the approval of the international owner of the brand, Yum! Brand. The Spanish group, which is based in Madrid and which has more than 4,300 million euros in capital on the stock market, is leaving Russia without great joy, since the income from the sale will not be very different from the accounting impairment that it already had to undertake.
The decision of the owner of La Tagliatella and franchisor in several countries of brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King or Starbucks, is also pending the approval of the Russian authorities, as reported last night to the CNMV. Amrest, which has the Mexican businessman Carlos Fernández González as its main shareholder, operates in a dozen European countries, including Spain, France, Germany and Poland.
His departure from Russia adds to the disconnection that, since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Spanish companies have been carrying out. Inditex, the largest of them all, closed an agreement with the Emirati Daher group in October to sell it its business in Russia, a strategic market for the Spanish group before the conflict, on a par with the US and Spain.
The agreement of the owner of Zara partly leaves the door open to his return. It includes the transfer of all the premises and, with them, a staff of 10,000 workers. The group was already forced to provision 216 million euros due to the deterioration of its business in the country. Its 515 stores in Russia will now operate with brands outside the group.
In the textile and consumer business, other Spanish groups such as Mango, Tendam or Tous have already closed their stores and left the business in hibernation. Some of them have been paying the salaries of the staff or some kind of help for months.
There have also been factory stoppages, such as those of Roca, which had 2,800 employees in Russia, which placed it in second position among Spanish companies, only behind Inditex. In the automotive sector, Spain has a significant industrial presence in Russia through the suppliers Gestamp, Cie and Antolin, which work for brands such as VW, Toyota or Nissan, which have decided to disconnect from the country.
Gestamp has stopped its four factories in Russia, while Cie has done the same with the aluminum plant that it had installed in the area since 2015. Antolin, specialized in vehicle interior parts, has stopped activity in its two factories.
In the food industry, Grupo Fuertes is very prominent, at least indirectly, since it has had an 11% stake in the country's largest meat producer, Cherkizovo, for nearly a decade.
Spanish investments in Russia are around 2,000 million euros in cumulative terms, according to data from the Secretary of State for Trade. Before the war, the Icex reports also included the activity in the country of other Spanish groups such as Amadeus, Teka, Lladró, Mayoral, Acerinox, Fagor, Maxam, Técnicas Reunidas, Tubacex, Talgo, Pamesa, Gonvarri, Orona, Puig, Viscofan or Mondragon. The relationship of practically all of them had been barely commercial before the war.
Of the energy groups, Repsol had assets in the country, but sold them to Gazprom. Iberdrola worked decades ago on combined cycle projects, while before the conflict Naturgy had some intermediation contract in the midstream, that is, in the transport of methane tankers.
