News

Reckitt Benckiser, the British consumer goods group, has agreed to sell part of its Russian business to the Arnest group founded by Alexei Sagal. Reckitt announced the deal on its website.

The transaction covers its household cleaning products division, held through the local subsidiary OOO Reckitt Benckiser, whose brands include Air Wick, Finish, Vanish, Tiret, Calgon, Cillit Bang and Woolite. It concerns a plant in Klin, in the Moscow region, according to Kommersant. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed. Analysts, however, estimate it could have amounted to 12 billion to 14 billion roubles (USD 150 million to 180 million at the current exchange rate), of which 70 % is cash held on the company's balance sheet.

The business being sold accounted for about 1 % of the Reckitt Benckiser group's net revenue in 2025, according to its statement. The most recent available accounts for OOO Reckitt Benckiser show revenue of 12.26 billion roubles in 2023. Subject to customary regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026.

Reckitt stressed that it would retain ownership of its Russian health business — OOO Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare, which had revenue of 18 billion roubles in 2023 — and would continue to supply over-the-counter medicines and health items to Russia, including the fever medicine Nurofen and Durex contraceptives.

In 2024 the Arnest group acquired Unilever's former Russian cosmetics and household cleaning products business. Before that, in 2023, it took ownership of the Russian business of the brewer Heineken.