Exchangeable will: the Western investment fund withdrew from the capital of the Russian logistics operator

The UFG Western investment fund has sold its stake in the Russian logistics operator Centance to its president Oleg Moiseyenkov. The deal amounted to $15-20 million, Izvestia learned. More than 40% of all drug imports pass through this group. Until 2022, UFG was one of the largest investment funds in the country, and its exit from the capital of a domestic company will increase the stability of supply chains of imported drugs to pharmacy chains, experts say. By the end of 2025, their share of sales in physical terms was 33.6%, the DSM Group estimated. The significance of this deal for the pharmaceutical market is described in the Izvestia article.

What is interesting about the deal

The fact that the Western investment fund UFG Private Equity sold its minority stake in the largest Russian logistics operator, Centance, to its president Oleg Moiseyenkov was told to Izvestia by two sources close to both sides of the transaction, and confirmed by a representative of the operator. The deal was worth $15-20 million, and it was closed at the end of 2025, said an interlocutor close to UFG. His representative did not respond to the editorial's request.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Yulia Mayorova

Centance is the largest national pharmaceutical operator in the Russian Federation, founded in 2000. According to its website, the group has seven terminals: Istra and four Leshkovo terminals in the Istra district of the Moscow Region, as well as a terminal in the Dmitrovskoye complex in Krasnogorsk and a TsKAD-YUG warehouse in the Podolsk district of the Moscow region. The total import turnover of the company's customers in 2023 (the latest available data) amounted to more than $5 billion, which is over 40% of the total volume of drug imports into the Russian Federation.

UFG (United Financial Group) is a large independent investment organization with assets of over $2.3 billion, founded in 1996. Since its foundation, the controlling partners have been Boris Fedorov, ex-Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, Charles Ryan, an American, and Florian Fenner, a German. Until 2022, it was one of the largest private equity fund management companies in the Russian market.

The investment fund became part of the capital of a domestic logistics company in 2014. UFG Private Equity's share was "more than 30%, but less than 40%," a source close to one of the parties to the deal told Vedomosti at the time. The Fund planned to invest at least $30 million in Centance.

Ivan Peshkov, Head of BGP Capital's M&A department, recalled that this was UFG's last business in Russia. According to him, the fund had mainly Western, including institutional investors, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). These structures cannot invest in Russian organizations, he noted.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

The exit from the asset is associated with the end of the "validity period" of the fund in the work of the logistics operator, explained the representative of Centance. According to him, Oleg Moiseyenkov decided back in 2021 to regain full control of the company. This was due to "purely commercial logic": The asset remains highly profitable, the source notes. The founder wanted to be the sole beneficiary of a reliable and growing business, he added.

Over the past few years, the businessman has been engaged in transferring his business entirely to Russian jurisdiction, his representative noted. According to him, this process is now being completed with the technical consolidation of the structure in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, where ownership passes to the entrepreneur directly in the Russian Federation. According to SPARK-Interfax, 99% of Centance Service JSC belongs to Danom, 1% belongs to Oleg Moiseyenkov. In turn, 100% of the shares of Danom belong to Grasilis Holding B.V., registered in the Netherlands.

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How does the deal affect the import of medicines

The withdrawal of a foreign investor from the operator's capital will simplify the company's operational decisions, according to an interlocutor of Izvestia in a large pharmacy chain. According to him, this will help maintain the availability of medicines on the market, increase the speed of customs clearance of foreign medicines and increase the stability of supply chains.

By the end of 2025, the share of sales of imported drugs in Russian pharmacies amounted to 33.6% (1.4 million packages), which is slightly more (0.2%) than a year earlier, the DSM Group estimated. At the same time, this figure was higher in monetary terms — 49.6% (917.7 billion rubles).

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

UFG left our market because any investment fund has certain cycles of investing in a project, says Nikolay Bespalov, Executive Director of RNC Pharma. According to him, institutional investors do not need to "keep the business for a long time." This is a standard practice to record profitability and profit from previously invested funds, he noted. The exit of the American fund from the Russian company will not have critical consequences for the market, the expert is sure.

After 2022, Western funds are faced with the need to curtail active asset management in the Russian Federation due to the risks of sanctions and difficulties in repatriating profits, Nikolai Bespalov explained. In April 2023, the American venture fund Domain Associates left the market. He transferred his share (17.99%) in NovaMedica pharmaceutical group to Rusnano, the industry publication Vademecum wrote. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed. Later, the state corporation sold this business to an unknown company, Sinmedex.