16,533 companies with foreign shareholders have been registered in Russia in almost 2.5 years

16,533 companies with foreign shareholders from 143 countries have been registered in Russia in nearly two and a half years of full-scale war. Contributions to the authorised capital of companies during this period amounted to over 240 billion rubles or almost $2.7 billion. The largest investors in the Russian economy are individuals and legal entities from Belarus and China. Analysts at YouControl R&D Centre have analysed the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRUL) data and identified the top ten companies with foreign shareholders based on the size of their authorised capital. Read more in the latest YouControl research.

Foreign business in Mordor: Moscow, Smolensk and St. Petersburg regions are favourites

From February 24 to December 31, 2022, 5,541 legal entities were registered in Russia. In 2023, this number was 7,735, and in the first five months of 2024, it reached 3,257 legal entities with foreign participants.

The analysis considered Russian companies registered from February 24, 2022, with at least 10% foreign ownership in their authorised capital. Registration information was sourced from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities of the Russian Federation (EGRUL).

Moscow (8,771) and the Moscow region (1,231) lead among Russian regions in the number of registered companies with foreign capital, collectively accounting for over 60% of the studied enterprises. About 10% of the analysed companies (1,628) are registered in the Smolensk region, which borders Belarus, with participants predominantly Belarusian citizens. St. Petersburg is the registration site for nearly 6% of newly established firms (960) involving foreign companies and individuals.

Half of the studied companies — 8,598 legal entities — are engaged in the trade sector, while 1,950 firms are involved in construction. An additional 1,058 Russian companies with foreign participants provide administrative and related services. The manufacturing industry includes 1,048 firms from the analysed list.

How the world invests in the Russian economy

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, individuals and legal entities from 143 countries have become participants in 16,533 newly established Russian companies. Legal entities and individuals from different countries were also shareholders in some companies. Representatives from the Republic of Belarus were members of 5,131 companies. Chinese nationals and legal entities co-owned just over 22% of companies (3763).

Individuals and legal entities from Kyrgyzstan (1,695), Kazakhstan (1,063) and Uzbekistan (889) also actively participated in the establishment of Russian companies. Over 1000 companies were registered with the participation of representatives from Turkey (519) and Armenia (542). Although fewer in number, European investors have also contributed to over 700 companies, with significant representation from Moldova (120), Latvia (88), Germany (87), Italy (73), and Serbia (73). About 200 Russian companies are mainly legal entities from offshore zones, accounting for 120 firms from Cyprus.

Some foreign-invested companies later re-registered in Russia, particularly in special administrative districts on Oktyabrsky Island in Kaliningrad – referred to as “Russian offshore zones.” Notably, in the subsequent sections discussing the largest companies by capital size, some firms are excluded from the list due to the re-registration of foreign participants in these special zones. For instance, the participant in UFA-HOLDING LLC at registration was the Cypriot company Basola Investments Limited, later replaced by a similarly named Russian company registered in Kaliningrad. According to the Interfax report on May 23, 2023, titled “Another Company Associated with Malltech Developer Becomes a Resident of SEZ in Kaliningrad,” the Russian Basola Investments Limited is linked to Malltech Group, co-owned by Ilya Brodsky, a member of the supervisory board of Russia's Sovcombank, who is on the sanctions lists of the US, UK, and Ukraine.

Currently, access to information regarding the participants of certain companies, which originally included foreign participants, is restricted. As per a Russian government decree, data access is limited if the participant is under sanctions, the organisation is involved in defence contracts or is registered in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Such companies were not included in the ranking.

For instance, INTERNATIONAL LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY “CENTROFERVE LIMITED” has a statutory capital of 1.95 billion rubles. Its shareholder was the British company NORD GOLD PLC, which is included in the sanctions lists of the United States, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. Its beneficiaries are the sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov and his wife Marina.

The company's toxic ties to Mr. Mordashov can be seen using the YC World tool by YouControl. The international platform visualises Alexey Mordashov's business and family ties, which should be noted during verification.

Largest companies with foreign shareholders in Russia by authorised capital

In December 2023, NCG HOLDING LLC was registered with an authorised capital of RUB 169 billion. This company manages Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. According to the article by Korrespondent.net titled “Russia seizes control of St. Petersburg airport from foreign investors”, dated December 1, 2023, the airport had been managed by a consortium that included the German company Fraport, which was stripped of its management rights by a decree from the Russian President, expropriating the business from foreign investors. Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, commonly referred to as Fraport, is a German transportation company that oversees the operations of Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt am Main and is involved in the management of several other airports around the world. Another 24.99% of the authorised capital of BBSS Holding LLC is owned by Qatar-based FZ Holding LLC.

ALROU ILLC, registered in Kaliningrad with an authorised capital exceeding RUB 27 billion, includes a participant from the UAE, Neo Metals Holding Limited. As reported by Interfax in the article “Companies associated with GeoProMining registered in the Kaliningrad SAR” dated April 19, 2024, ALROU ILLC is associated with Russian entrepreneur Roman Trotsenko, who was sanctioned by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) in October 2022.

The Cypriot company Ratado Holding Limited is a participant in both IC LLC LOMNIA, which has an authorised capital of RUB 10.2 billion, and IC LLC STARGLANCE, with an authorised capital of RUB 4.2 billion. Ratado Holding Limited is one of the creditors of O1 Group Limited, which was previously central to the business operations of Boris Mints. This group owned shares in O1 Properties, which includes class A offices in Moscow, the White Square complex and other luxury real estate, as well as the Future Financial Group, whose main asset is the non-state pension fund Future.

INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER LOGISTICS LLC, with an authorised capital of RUB 2.7 billion, is a joint venture between the Russian state corporation Rosatom and the UAE-based DP World Russia FZE. In the Interfax article titled "Rosatom and DP World establish JV for transit container shipping along Northern Sea Route”, dated October 24, 2023, it is noted that DP World is among the world's largest logistics companies and is controlled by the UAE government. 

The owner of 100% of the authorised capital of the Russian company IC LLC CHAINLORD is the Cyprus offshore company GUNILLA LIMITED. According to the article by Interfax titled “New companies associated with the Voskhod developer became residents of SEZ in Kaliningrad region”, dated September 26, 2023, International LLC Chainlord is associated with the Moscow developer Voskhod. Vedomosti newspaper in its article "Moscow-based luxury real estate developer Voskhod has a project in St. Petersburg", dated February 1, 2023, notes that Voskhod was established by the shareholder of O1 Properties, the Cypriot company Riverstretch Trading & Investments, along with former CEO of the Future Group, Marina Rudneva, to invest in luxury real estate.

Grenaldi Limited from Hong Kong owns 99% of the authorised capital of AGROINVEST LLC, amounting to nearly RUB 1.5 billion. Karen Vanetsyan is associated with Agroinvest LLC as the company's founder. In 2023, Mr. Vanetsyan's Exoil Group acquired the assets of the American company Bunge in Russia, including the Oleina sunflower oil brand. Notably, Bunge left the Russian market following the onset of the full-scale invasion.

The Cyprus-based company PANALAND LIMITED owns 99.99% of the authorised capital of LLC "PANALAND". The latter, in turn, owns 9.99% of the authorised capital of PIRELLI TYRE RUSSIA LLC. This is the Russian representative office of the Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli. Since the outbreak of the full-scale war, Pirelli has suspended all investments in Russia except for those necessary for safety.

Western investors in Russia

In the past two and a half years, representatives from the USA have invested in 19 Russian companies, predominantly as individuals. In August 2023, American investor Calvin Marshall established SUPERSECRET SANCTIONED SNACKS RUS LLC, abbreviated as SSSR (USSR in Russian), in St. Petersburg. An article by Octagon.Media titled “American Establishes 'USSR' Company in St. Petersburg”, dated December 15, 2023, reports that he plans to export Russian snacks to the United States and import American snacks to Russia.

Austrian legal entities and individuals have also been relatively inactive as investors in the authorised capitals of Russian companies. However, during the same period, they registered 20 companies. Notably, in 2024, the Austrian firm SAATBAU GENETIK GmbH, a subsidiary of SAATBAU LINZ eGen specialising in plant breeding and seed production, founded three companies. This enterprise is also a participant in SAATBAU PROBSTDORFER UKRAINE LLC. 

In October 2022, another Austrian company within the EGGER group, known for manufacturing wood products, established a firm in the Ivanovo region of Russia — ASSET MANAGEMENT DREVPRODUCT VOSTOK LLC. also maintains a representative office in Ukraine – EGGER HOLZWERKSTOFFE LLC. Insights into the links between Ukrainian legal entities and international company groups that include entities registered under Russian law can be found in the Express Analysis factors provided by YouControl.

Afterword

A recent report by the international civil society coalition B4Ukraine estimates that foreign companies operating in Russia paid approximately $20 billion in taxes annually for 2022-2023.

An Interfax article titled “Number of Active Companies in Russia in 2023 Increased for the First Time Since 2015,” published on January 12, 2024, states that there were 3.2 million registered commercial enterprises in Russia by the end of 2023. During the full-scale invasion, newly established companies make up 0.5% of the total. The combined authorised capital of all analysed enterprises is nearly RUB 275 billion, with foreign investors holding an average share of 88%. Consequently, the contribution of foreign companies and individuals to the Russian economy through investments in authorised capital exceeded RUB 240 billion, equivalent to almost $2.7 billion, during the study period.

In an effort to mitigate the impact of sanctions, Russia is likely developing special administrative regions to attract companies from foreign offshore jurisdictions. This development also suggests that Russians maintain assets registered abroad that have not been frozen since the onset of the full-scale invasion. Furthermore, Russian media publications point to the involvement of foreign assets registered by Russian citizens, highlighting the connections between foreign participants and nationals of the Russian Federation.