Valio, a well-known Finnish dairy producer that announced its withdrawal from Russia amid the military operation in Ukraine, is looking for buyers for its assets. According to Kommersant, one of the possible contenders is Rusagro Group (MCX:AGRODR) of ex-senator Vadim Moshkovich. In addition to the plant near Moscow with a capacity of 15,000 tons of products per year, the deal may include the rights to the Viola cheese brand.

Valio announced its withdrawal from the Russian market in early March in connection with Russia’s special operation in Ukraine.

In 2021, the revenue of Valio’s Russian division grew by 8.78% to 8.14 billion rubles, net profit increased by 29.25% to 320.47 million rubles. In March, the company’s Russian office said that the company’s operational activities continue, Valio maintains the functioning of production and logistics operations.

“Rusagro is one of Russia’s largest producers of sugar, meat and oil and fat products. The group also produces dry mixes for the food industry, cheese and butter under the Milieu, Cheese Culture and Maslava brands.

The main owner of Rusagro, Vadim Moshkovich, fell under EU sanctions in March. After that, the Cypriot Granada Capital CY Ltd controlled by him reduced its stake in Rusagro to 49%, transferring 7.22% to Yuri Zhuravlev. Moshkovich himself resigned from the group’s board of directors.

According to Sergey Glandin, head of Pen & Paper’s sanctions and compliance practice, if Valio makes sure that the buyer is not owned or controlled by Moshkovich, the deal is highly likely to go through.