Russian authorities have placed the assets in Russia of Nestlé, Auchan's Russian subsidiary and the former Leroy Merlin entity under "temporary administration," with the Kremlin justifying this on Friday by their belonging to "unfriendly" countries supporting Ukraine.

According to a decree issued by President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, these assets have been transferred under "temporary administration" to the Russian company "LEV Management".

"One of the factors that was taken into account for this decision is the fact that these are unfriendly countries (...) which are currently involved in the most active way possible in military actions against our country" and "have taken part in the strikes carried out by the kyiv regime against our civilian and economic infrastructure," said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian presidency, on Friday.

A few hours earlier, Nestlé had published a brief statement saying it was "taking note" of the decree and was "assessing the situation and its options".

The Swiss food giant intends to "take all necessary measures to protect its rights and ensure the continuity of its activities, in the interest of all stakeholders, and in particular its employees," its statement adds.

Auchan's Russian subsidiary, for its part, indicated that it had requested "clarifications" from the authorities. "Once we receive the relevant information, we will be able to provide a more detailed comment," its press service stated, as quoted by the TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies.

French authorities have denounced "the provisional administration without justification of the Russian subsidiaries of several French and European companies" and called on Moscow to "reverse" this decision, according to a joint statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Economy.

According to the Russian investigative media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europa, the Russian company LEV Management, founded at the end of 2025, is headed by Andrei Krayushkin, a general in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

- Risks to asset value -

Regarding Nestlé, the decree mentions the transfer of assets belonging to "Nestlé Deutschland AG" as well as to the "Société des produits Nestlé".

According to Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at Vontobel, the financial impact for Nestlé is "marginal" but the risks lie more in the "asset value and the possible terms of a sale" of these activities in Russia.

According to his estimates, Russia now represents just over 1% of his total revenue. In 2021, before the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the country contributed 2% of his revenue "according to the latest figures released," the analyst notes in a market report.

But since then, the Swiss group has "considerably reduced its activities" there, "suspending the vast majority of its sales, non-essential imports and exports, advertising and capital investments", with the remaining activities "focusing on essential food products", it emphasizes.

Nestlé has six factories in the country and employs around 7,000 people. It sells baby products, coffee, pet products and confectionery there.

"Historically, this practice has often been the prelude to a forced sale or expropriation," as "was the case, for example, for Danone and Carlsberg in 2023," Jefferies analysts point out in a stock market commentary.

They estimate Nestlé's turnover in Russia at "around 2%", but also consider that the financial impact remains "limited".

"A sale or expropriation" could force Nestlé to write down its cash reserves in Russia, they believe. The amount is "difficult to quantify," they acknowledge, "but we assume it could reach approximately 1 billion Swiss francs" (1.05 billion euros).

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the first economic sanctions decreed by the West, many multinationals have left Russia, others have suspended their activities there, and their assets have been seized and transferred to Russian companies.