Mondi Group, despite its announced exit from Russia, still hires and promises to replace Tetra Pak

Author

Julia Danilenko

Mondi Group, one of the world’s largest paper and packaging producers, has deferred its exit from Russia, where it owns a paper mill and three plants, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Finally, on May 5, 2022, the company announced that it had decided to stop its business activities in the territory of the terrorist state and planned to divest all its Russian assets. These assets were valued at €680 million.

Despite its declarations, the company hasn’t demonstrated any actual effort aimed at exiting operations in Russia — on August 4, 2022, Mondi is still hiring, and the company's plant in Syktyvkar keeps increasing its capacities.

Moreover, on June 15, 2022, the financial director of the Mondi Syktyvkar LPK plant announced that the plant was planning to experiment with packaging products to be able to replace Tetra Pak, which caused significant problems with packaging in Russia by exiting its operations there.

On August 4, Mondi Group presented its financial results for the first half of the year. joined the livestream to ask the company’s CEO, Andrew King, about Mondi Group’s Russian business, plans, and deadlines for the complete cessation of operations.

In his speech, King talked about the state of operations — according to him, all business processes in Russia have been given the "discontinued" status, and the company is planning to finalize the sale of its Russian assets in the coming 12 months.

The assets are planned to be sold at their net worth. King says that the company expects Russian regulatory authorities to allow such a deal. He also noted that there’s a considerably high interest in their assets.

For reference, Mondi Group’s Russian business accounted for 12% of its total turnover.

In his presentation, King said that underlying EBITDA from the group’s continuing operations amounted to €942 million (excluding Russian operations). Total EBITDA, including Russian business, reached €1.17 billion.

The Mondi Group’s CEO didn’t answer the question about the increase in the Syktyvkar plant’s capacities and didn’t comment on Mondi Syktyvkar pulp and paper mill supporting the bike rally "We are Russia! We are together".

As of August 4, Mondi Group is still hiring in Russia.

Ukrainians responded to the company’s actions with the Twitter hashtag #MondiBloodyPackaging to show the world that Mondi Group continues to make money in Russia and helps the aggressor evade sanctions.