Alcohol Producer Amber Talvis Files Claim Against Former Luxembourg Shareholder
Amber Talvis JSC, one of Russia’s largest alcohol producers, has filed a claim in the Arbitrazh Court of the Tambov Region against its former owner, Luxembourg-based Amber Beverage Group Holding. The claim was lodged on 28 April, according to the court’s online case register. The statement of claim has not been published.
Third parties listed in the claim include Rosimushchestvo, Rosspirtprom JSC, the General Prosecutor’s Office, Ruzsky Blending Plant LLC, AS Amber Latvijas balzams, and Voronezh Customs.
Amber Beverage is controlled via SPI Group Holding Limited by entrepreneur Yuri Shefler, who was added to Russia’s list of terrorists and extremists at the end of last year. Two of his companies, including Amber Beverage Group Holding, were also designated extremist organisations. Shefler previously owned the vodka brands Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya.
In summer 2024, the Amber Talvis distillery in Tambov Region was nationalised and placed under Rosimushchestvo’s management at the request of the General Prosecutor’s Office. According to Amber Talvis’s 2024 financial statements, 72.87% of its shares are now held by Rosimushchestvo and 25.5% by Rosspirtprom, Kommersant reports. The publication notes that Amber Beverage and Amber Talvis had outstanding debt obligations, which had previously been settled via set-off arrangements. However, this mechanism ceased functioning once the assets were seized.
According to Vadim Drobiz, director of analytics firm TsIFRRA, quoted by Kommersant, these obligations may have included supplies of alcohol to Latvia, where Amber Latvijas balzams – controlled by Amber Beverage – is based. Until recently, Amber Talvis was one of the few Russian companies still exporting food-grade alcohol abroad, he said.
Ilya Zharsky, managing partner of the Veta expert group, did not rule out that the primary aim of the legal action could be to prepare Amber Talvis for sale to new owners by clearing it of debts to its previous owners. Investment banker Ilya Shumov estimated the value of 100% of Amber Talvis’s shares, factoring in its debt burden, at around RUB 3-4 billion. According to SPARK data, the company’s total debt in 2024 was approximately RUB 1.88 billion, up 17.42% from the previous year.