Putin Decrees Transfer of Nestlé, Auchan, and Leroy Merlin Assets to Russian Firm

According to a presidential decree published on September 17, 2026, Russian President Vladimir Putin transferred the local assets of Swiss multinational Nestle, French retail giant Auchan, and hardware chain Lemana Pro—formerly known as Leroy Merlin—to a single Russian entity named L.E.V. Management.

The Bottom Line

• Management, a firm reportedly linked to state oversight.
• Scale of Operations: Auchan alone operates over 240 stores in Russia with numerous employees, representing a massive slice of the domestic grocery market.
• Precedent of Expropriation: This mirrors the 2023 state seizure and resale of Danone’s Russian subsidiary, signaling ongoing consolidation of foreign-held corporate infrastructure.

The Anatomy of L.E.V. Management and Temporary Administration

The decree places the Russian subsidiaries under temporary state-managed control via L.E.V. Management. Management was founded in late 2025 and is directed by Andrei Kraiushkine, an official identified as a general in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Financial filings reviewed by investigators indicate the firm reported zero activity through the close of 2025, operating with a single employee and opaque ownership structures.

Here is the math on the corporate entities involved. For Auchan, the decree targets shares held via the French entity Sogepar. For the hardware network formerly operating as Leroy Merlin, the transfer covers shares held by the UAE-registered Scenari Holding LP and shares held by French parent group Adeo, which had initially announced a transfer to local management in March 2023 before the business was rebranded as Lemana Pro in 2024. Meanwhile, Lemana Pro representatives stated via the TASS news agency that they had received no official notification and requested regulatory clarifications.

Weighing the Retail Footprint of the Mulliez Family Assets

Both Auchan and the former Leroy Merlin network are anchored in France by the Mulliez family industrial holdings. Auchan has historically maintained a deep physical footprint across Russia, boasting numerous employees across 241 stores, including 62 hypermarkets, according to company disclosures. Back in 2019, Forbes recognized Auchan as the largest foreign-backed enterprise operating inside Russia.

Other consumer goods heavyweights have met similar fates since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022. While Decathlon—another Mulliez-backed retail format—halted operations entirely in March 2022 due to supply chain and logistical frictions, food conglomerates like Nestlé maintained scaled operations. The latest decree explicitly targets assets owned by Nestle Deutschland AG and the Societe des Produits Nestle. This follows the playbook established when the Russian state seized the local subsidiary of food producer Danone in 2023 before auctioning it to a relative of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Company	Parent / Holding Entity	Asset Scope in Russia	Action Taken
Auchan	Sogepar (France)	241 stores, numerous employees	Transferred to L.E.V. Management
Lemana Pro (ex-Leroy Merlin)	Scenari Holding LP (UAE) / Adeo (France)	Nationwide DIY store network	Transferred to L.E.V. Management
Nestle	Nestle Deutschland AG / Societe des Produits Nestle	Local manufacturing and distribution units	Transferred to L.E.V. Management
FM Logistic	Three Russian operating subsidiaries	Supply chain and warehousing infrastructure	Included in the September 2026 decree

Supply Chain Fallout and Logistics Realignments

Beyond retail storefronts, the decree also hits vital logistics infrastructure. The text explicitly encompasses three Russian subsidiaries belonging to French logistics operator FM Logistic. But the balance sheet tells a different story about how Western multinationals navigate ongoing compliance risks.

Photo: ouest-france.fr

Market Realities and Investor Sentiment

For multinational executives, the takeaway is absolute.