South Korean car giant Hyundai Motor is planning to sell its plant in Russia for token RUB7,000 ($78) and make a loss of $219m as a result.
The carmaker is the latest globally to sell its Russian assets after Moscow launched an unprovoked invasion against its smaller neighbour Ukraine in February 2022.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Hyundai reported in a company filing that it expects to make the loss. Operations at the plant, located near Sankt Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, halted in March 2022.
“Hyundai is currently making final arrangements with Art-Finance for details of the deal,” the company said. “To support Hyundai vehicle owners in Russia, Hyundai will continue to provide after-sales services and other customer care businesses.”
The foreign direct investment (FDI) landscape in Russia has changed significantly since February 2022. As a result of the war in Ukraine, greenfield investments in the country dropped from 128 in 2021 to just 9 in 2023, according to GlobalData’s FDI Projects Database. Three of them came from South Africa this year, while China, Italy, Netherlands, India, the United Arab Emirates and Iran each came up with one.
Glenn Barklie, Head of FDI Services at Investment Monitor’s parent company GlobalData, notes that foreign investors in Russia tend to come from regimes that are either neutral or friendly to the country.
