We are shocked and deeply saddened to watch the war in Ukraine continue to unfold and intensify, an official statement of the world's most international brewer, HEINEKEN, reads.
Earlier the management of the company announced that HEINEKEN stopped new investments and exports to Russia, ended the production, sale and advertising of the Heineken® brand, and announced that they will not accept any net financial benefits or profit from their business in Russia.
Following the previously announced strategic review of its operations, the company have concluded that HEINEKEN’s ownership of the business in Russia is no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment. As a result, they have decided to leave Russia.
"We aim for an orderly transfer of our business to a new owner in full compliance with international and local laws. To ensure the ongoing safety and wellbeing of our employees and to minimise the risk of nationalisation, we concluded that it is essential that we continue with the recently reduced operations during this transition period," reads the statement.
In all circumstances the management guarantees the salaries of its 1,800 employees will be paid to the end of 2022 and will do its utmost to safeguard their future employment.
"We will not profit from any transfer of ownership and we expect an impairment and other non-cash exceptional charges of approximately €0.4 billion in total," says the company.
Upon completion of the transfer HEINEKEN will no longer have a presence in Russia.
"We continue to hope that a path to a peaceful outcome emerges in the near term," concludes the statement.
