United Tea Company (ORC)

History

2024: Stepan Sergeyev bought 10% of the company

On February 19, 2024, it became known that Stepan Sergeyev, the son of the general director of the United Grain Company (OZK) and the ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture Dmitry Sergeyev, became the owner of 10% of United Tea Company LLC (Beseda and Saito brands). There is no information on the estimated amount of the transaction as of the specified date.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, after the transaction, the shares in the United Tea Company are distributed as follows: 45% belongs to its general director Alexander Konov, 25% and 20% - Larisa and Alexander Pronin, respectively. It is noted that Pronin previously served as head of the Luzhniki sports complex and as vice president of AvtoVAZ.

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Sergeyeva, in addition to 10% in the United Tea Company, as of February 2024, also owns 25% in Titan LLC, which plans to produce Belarusian agricultural machinery Gomselmash at a plant in the Tambov Region. A 12.5% share in this enterprise is owned by Alexander Kichatov, general director of OZK Trading LLC, which is part of the OZK group.

Market participants say that for Sergeyev, the acquisition of a stake in a tea producer may be an investment in a "quiet harbor." The fact is that after a noticeable increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, demand in this segment actually stagnates. In 2023, tea sales on the Russian market in physical terms in offline and online channels decreased by 4.9% on an annualized basis, while money recorded an increase of only 0.8%. Domestic suppliers are negatively affected by the rise in logistics prices and the growth of exchange rates. At the same time, according to NielsenIQ, tea in Russia accounts for 33.9% of all sales of hot drinks in money. This is the second place after instant coffee, which occupies 46.2% of the market in monetary terms.^[1]

2023: United Tea Company buys Unilever tea assets in Russia

The United Tea Company (OCHK) bought tea assets from Unilever in the Russian Federation. This became known on August 17, 2023. Read more here.

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