“Auchan” is leaving Russia due to the pressure of sanctions

The French chain of “Auchan” hypermarkets is preparing to leave the Russian market, because it cannot work normally in the country due to sanctions against the Russian Federation.

Le Figaro and La Lettre write about it.

“Auchan” put its subsidiary in Russia up for sale and selected two potential buyers. “Auchan” is already in the final stage of negotiations.

According to one of Le Figaroʼs sources, “Auchan” adheres to sanctions against Russia (has not invested there and has not withdrawn profits), which puts the chain in a very unfavorable situation compared to local distributors.

However, “Auchan” cannot simply sell the company. The chain needs to get approval for this from the Russian authorities to avoid incidents similar to those that happened with “Danone” or “Carslberg”, whose assets in the Russian Federation were nationalized in a day.

As noted by the French media, despite the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, “Auchan” remained in the country, because during the 20 years of activity there, among other things, it bet on entering the Chinese market.

Officially, “Auchan” declared that leaving Russia would be inhumane to the civilian population.

• Last year, The Insider published an investigation into the fact that “Leroy Merlin” and “Auchan”, which belong to the same holding, supply goods to the occupied territories of Ukraine. In a December video from Mariupol, you can see members of the Young Guard of United Russia unloading identical pallets with the “Leroy Merlin” brand. “Auchan” denied supplying goods to the Russian military.
• In March 2023, the French chain of building materials “Leroy Merlin” announced that it plans to sell its Russian business to local management.

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