Europe’s biggest companies reported a combined €100 billion loss from leaving Russia, report says

If energy and utilities were excluded from the survey, the largest writedowns come from Germany’s chemical and automotive industries.

Not all companies decided to cut ties. According to an ongoing Yale study, just over half of the 1,000 companies that pledged to leave Russia have managed to make a clean break with the country. The tracker was last updated August 7.

“Even if a company lost a lot of money leaving Russia, those who stay risk much bigger losses,” Nabi Abdullaev, partner at strategic consultancy Control Risks, told the FT. “It turns out that cut and run was the best strategy for companies deciding what to do at the start of the war. The faster you left, the lower your loss.”

After the Kremlin’s seizure of Danone and Carlsberg’s assets last month, experts fear that President Vladimir Putin could make it even more difficult for companies to exit Russia. The state is in the process of approving a new rule that puts the Kremlin first in line to seize the shares of strategic companies whose shareholders exit the country.

This law may add to the increasing number of punitive measures that Putin’s regime has introduced to combat companies seeking to cease operations in his country.

Source: Business Insider