Russia is to sell Poroshenko’s confiscated factory in Lipetsk
The decision to include the factory in the privatisation plan was signed on 24 July by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The company is currently owned by Russia through the Federal Agency for State Property Management.
A 99.9 per cent stake in JSC ‘Lipetsk Confectionery Factory “Roshen”’ has been included in the sale programme. Inclusion in the privatisation plan means that the Russian authorities may put the asset up for auction by the end of 2028.
The starting price, terms of sale and possible auction date have not yet been announced.
How Russia seized the Roshen factory
In February 2024, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Lipetsk upheld a claim by Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General and transferred the factory’s shares to the state.
The court also ordered the transfer to Russia of 94.9976 per cent of the share capital of the local limited liability company ‘Roshen’, which belonged to the Ukrainian ‘Central European Confectionery Company’, as well as a further 5% held by the company’s director, Oleg Kazakov.
As part of the same case, the Russian court banned the fifth President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, his son Oleksiy Poroshenko and Oleg Kazakov from operating within the country.
The inclusion of the factory in the privatisation programme does not mean that production will resume. According to Interfax, the company had no revenue in 2025 either.
Why the factory has not been operating since 2017
The Lipetsk factory was part of the Ukrainian confectionery corporation Roshen. From 1 April 2017, production was completely halted and the facilities were mothballed.
Roshen attributed the closure to a fall in sales, a reduction in the product range following the ban on imports of Ukrainian goods into Russia, pressure on retail chains and a decline in purchasing power.
The sale of the enterprise was complicated by the seizure of assets imposed by the Russian authorities as part of criminal proceedings.
In March 2016, Russian security forces and OMON blocked Roshen’s production sites in Lipetsk. The factory’s director at the time, Konstantin Bakulin, described the security forces’ actions as a de facto hostile takeover.
On 15 September of that year, the sites in Lipetsk and the village of Sentsovo temporarily suspended operations due to a fall in sales. Production was subsequently resumed, but in January 2017 the corporation announced the permanent closure of the plant.
Who owns Roshen
Petro Poroshenko announced the transfer of his stake in Roshen to an independent ‘blind trust’ in January 2016, and not in January 2015, as is sometimes mistakenly stated in publications.
In 2019, Oleksiy Poroshenko became the beneficial owner of the “Central European Confectionery Company”, which owned Roshen’s key assets. He is also listed in public Ukrainian registers as the ultimate beneficial owner of the corporation’s companies.
Consequently, the term “Poroshenko’s factory” refers to the company’s historical links with Petro Poroshenko and the corporation he established. At the time of the Russian confiscation, the Lipetsk assets belonged to Roshen entities linked to his family.
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