Russian assets by two major European firms get seized by Moscow

The Kremlin has seized the Russian assets of Polish-American aluminium packaging producer Canpack and Danish insulation manufacturer Rockwool after placing both companies under what authorities described as “temporary external management.”

Russia’s industrial metals firm Stalelement took control of all shares in Can-Pack LLC and the Can-Pack Packaging Plant in accordance with a decree issued on December 31, Polish media outlets reported.

Meanwhile, the newly created company JSC Razvitie Stroitelnykh Aktiv (Development of Construction Assets) assumed ownership of 100% of Rockwool LLC and 68% of Rockwool-Volga LLC.

Founded in 1992 in Kraków, Canpack is one of the world’s largest producers of aluminium containers and accounts for roughly 30% of Russia’s domestic market. The company has operated manufacturing facilities in Russia’s Moscow and Rostov regions since 2010.

Rockwool, the world’s largest producer of mineral wool insulation, entered the Russian market in the mid-1990s and built several factories across the country, including in the Moscow and Leningrad regions, the Chelyabinsk region, and Tatarstan.

The Danish group disclosed this week that Russian authorities had taken control of its four factories in the country and that it no longer exercises control over its local assets. In a statement, Rockwool said the factories would be de-consolidated from its accounts and that the net value of its Russian operations would be written down, noting that total equity stood at €469 million as of December 31.

“We will defend our legal rights under the bilateral investment treaty,” the company said, while adding: “We are not optimistic about reversing the decision to place our Russian subsidiaries under forced external administration.”

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has increasingly moved to take over private companies under the banner of temporary administration. The practice is widely viewed as a means of offsetting budget shortfalls caused by Western sanctions and financing Moscow’s war effort against Kyiv.

By Nazrin Sadigova