United Tea Company (ORC)

History

2025: Change of Ownership

In December 2025, one of the founders and long-term head of the United Tea Company, Alexander Konov, completely sold his stake in the company. At the same time, he left the post of CEO.

According to Konov, his share passed to other co-owners of the enterprise. According to the estimates of the head of the analytical agency "Infoline-Analytics" Mikhail Burmistrov, the purchase cost could be 300-350 million rubles. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, as of December 2025, the founders of the company are Alexander and Larisa Pronin, as well as Stepan Sergeyev.

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Фото: Freepik

According to RBC, a significant asset of the United Tea Company is one of the modern tea factories in the world, acquired in 2023 from the international company Ekaterra. The factory had production facilities in St. Petersburg, which produced teas under the brands Lipton, Saito and Brooke Bond.

The factory's capacity, according to RBC, allowed it to produce up to 19 thousand tons of products per year in 2019. Ramaz Chanturia, General Director of the Rosschaikofe Association, suggested that the purchase of Ekaterra could provide the company with more than 10% of the share of the Russian tea market, the total volume of which in 2023 was about 140 thousand tons per year.

Alexander Pronin, one of the new main owners of the United Tea Company, previously served as head of the Luzhniki sports complex and first vice president of AvtoVAZ. Since March 2024, he has been the head of Technopromexport, which is part of the Rostec state corporation.

According to research company NTech, the Russian tea market is showing stability. In the 12 months to June 2025, retail sales in physical terms increased by 1.1%. At the same time, consumer spending on tea, according to NTech analysts, increased by 8%.^[1]

2024: Stepan Sergeev 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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Фото: Pexels

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.^[2]

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.

Notes