The son of the head of OZK could get a share in the tea producer Beseda

The United Tea Company, which bought the capacity of the former Unilever factory with the Beseda and Saito brands, has a new co-owner. A 10% share was received by Stepan Sergeev, who may be the son of the general director of the United Grain Company and ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture Dmitry Sergeev. Experts do not expect an increase in tea consumption, but see opportunities for development in the market by entering new segments and contract production.

Stepan Sergeev, the namesake of the son of the general director of the United Grain Company (UGC) and ex-deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture Dmitry Sergeev, became the owner of 10% of United Tea Company LLC, which owns the Beseda and Saito brands. Changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities were made in January 2024. A Kommersant source who knows about Dmitry Sergeev’s family confirmed that he has a son, Stepan. Another 45% of the United Tea Company belongs to General Director Alexander Konov, 25% and 20% belong to Larisa and Alexander Pronin. Mr. Pronin is the ex-head of the Luzhniki sports complex and former vice-president of AvtoVAZ. Alexander Konov declined to comment.

Stepan Sergeev also owns 25% in Titan LLC, which, as reported by the Pole.RF portal, plans to produce Belarusian Gomselmash agricultural machinery at a plant in the Tambov region. Another 12.5% ​​of Titan is owned by Alexander Kichatov, general director of OZK Trading LLC, part of the OZK group. It was not possible to contact Stepan Sergeev. Questions sent to Kommersant to Titan and the OZK representative remained unanswered.

In 2023, the United Tea Company bought out the facilities of Ekaterra (Lipton brand) in St. Petersburg, which was previously part of the Unilever concern, where up to 16 thousand tons of tea were produced per year (see “Kommersant” dated March 15, 2023), also receiving brands “Conversation” and Saito. In 2023, the company launched a tea blending complex at its factory in St. Petersburg, including for selling services to other suppliers. In 2022, the company’s revenue tripled, to 411 million rubles, net profit was 21.1 million rubles.

Managing partner of Walnut Capital Artem Motorny says that the Russian tea market has grown significantly in volume terms during the pandemic, but today there is no incentive to increase sales. Investment banker Ilya Shumov also does not expect any surges in the tea market, other than a general rise in prices for all categories of goods. Given the stable demand, this segment can rather be called a safe haven for investment, he believes.

According to NielsenIQ, in 2023, tea sales in volume terms in offline and online channels decreased by 4.9% year-on-year, and in monetary terms increased by 0.8%. Russian suppliers are also negatively affected by rising logistics costs and rising exchange rates, although global tea prices are declining this year, adds Mr. Motorny. In addition, he points out, it is difficult to compete head-on with long-standing companies with well-known brands and it is necessary to look for new niches of tea-based products.

The general director of the Roschaykofe association, Ramaz Chanturia, says that in the Russian market in recent years, demand has stagnated, although players have opportunities for development through the redistribution of shares within the market. Thus, according to him, at the facilities purchased from Ekaterra, it is possible to increase contract production, including under the networks’ own brands. And when producing one type of product in large volumes, the cost may be lower than that of some competitors operating in this segment, the expert points out.

According to Roschaykofe estimates, in 2023 tea consumption should remain at the level of 2022 – 134 thousand tons. Tea accounts for 33.9% of all hot beverage dollar sales, according to NielsenIQ. This is second place after instant coffee, which occupies 46.2% of the market in monetary terms.

At the same time, manufacturers remain interested in the tea category. Milfoods (Poetti coffee) plans to launch its tea line in the first quarter of 2025. The company added that they expect to create a product that is significantly different from current offerings and is targeting premium segments.

Anatoly Kostyrev