The plant of processed cheeses “Karat” bought the manufacturer of yogurt and kefir “Ego”

Moscow producer of processed cheeses "Karat" has completed a deal to buy Pavlovsk dairy plant, which produces dairy products under the brand "Ego", as well as cheeses Cremeitali. This was reported by RBC in the press service of Karat. The amount of the transaction is not disclosed.

The cost of the production complex of the Pavlovsky Dairy Plant can be 1.5-2 billion rubles, estimates the source of RBC in the warehouse and industrial real estate market. A similar assessment is given by the general director of INFOLine-Analytics Mikhail Burmistrov. According to him, the value of the business, most likely, did not exceed 400 million rubles, which, together with net debt, corresponds to an estimate of about 1.5 billion rubles.

Pavlovsk dairy plant is located in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The company specializes in the production of cottage cheese, brine cheeses (feta and brynza), as well as in the production of milk, fermented meat, yogurt and kefir. Products under the Ego brand are also sold in federal retail chains. According to the representative of Karat, the total area of production shops of the acquired asset is 5.7 thousand square meters. The plant processes up to 200 tons of milk per day. In 2022, the company launched a new line for the production and packaging of cream cheese, its productivity is 20 tons of cheese per day.

The purchase of a new asset will allow Karat to continue development and increase sales in the main categories of production, said the company's CEO Yevgeny Grebnev. At the facilities of the Nizhny Novgorod site, the company plans to develop the production of grain cottage cheese "Karat Home", cheeses for Delissir salads and cottage cheese Violette. The new owner plans to maintain and develop the current range of the plant: dairy products under the Ego brand and cream cheeses.

The purchase of a prominent regional manufacturer with a recognizable brand is of interest to Karat primarily from the point of view of expanding its product portfolio and production capacities, says Artem Suvorov, Head of Consumer Sector and Agribusiness Practice Projects at Strategy Partners.

How else was planned to expand "Karat"

Back in 2021, Karat planned to significantly increase its production capacity: then the company began construction of a new plant in the zone of advanced economic development in Togliatti. It was planned that the volume of milk processing at this enterprise will reach 800 tons per day, which is four times more than at the purchased plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region. At the plant in Togliatti, Karat wanted to focus on the production of semi-hard cheeses, as well as produce grain cottage cheese and cottage cheese.

The project in Togliatti was suspended due to geopolitical events, now it is under redesign, said the representative of “Karat”. The launch was originally scheduled for the second quarter of 2023. The volume of investments at that time was more than 10 billion rubles, and the planned area of the production complex was 27.4 thousand square meters.

The acquisition of the plant will allow Karat to strengthen its position in the segment of traditional dairy products, expand its presence in the Volga region and increase the coverage of retail chains, explains Suvorov. Additional potential is associated with the optimization of procurement of raw materials, logistics and increased utilization of production capacities. At the same time, the low net profitability of the enterprise - about 0.8% - makes improving operational efficiency one of the key conditions for successful integration of the asset.

General Director of INFOLine-Analytics Burmistrov clarifies that in the current conditions, the Nizhny Novgorod plant is a low-yielding asset: with revenues of 3.66 billion rubles, net profit for 2025 amounted to 29.3 million rubles. Therefore, the economic sense of the purchase, according to the expert, is to increase sales, combine procurement and management, as well as to improve financing conditions. For the seller, exiting a capital-intensive business with such profitability is a rational solution and an alternative to the need to finance a business that is unprofitable in 2026, the expert concludes.

What is "Karat"

Moscow "Karat" has been operating since 1934 and, according to its own data, is one of the three largest manufacturers of processed and cottage cheese in Russia. The manufacturer produces about 27 thousand tons of finished products per year, working at the only production site in Moscow. In his portfolio - melted cheeses "Friendship", "Amber", "Chocolate", as well as cottage cheese Violette, grain cottage cheese "Karat Home", cheese for Delissir salads. The share of the Moscow plant in January-August of this year accounted for 10.8% of sales of processed cheeses in the largest retail chains, follows from the data provided by Karat by the research company Nielsen. In the category of cottage cheese, Karat provided 8.8% of sales in physical terms, feta and brynza - 2.4%, grain cottage cheese - 6.6% (within Moscow and the region - 21%).

At the end of 2025, the revenue of JSC Karat amounted to 10 billion rubles (+9.4% year-on-year), follows from the company's accounting statements. Net profit in the same year amounted to 275 million rubles. against 2 million rubles. in 2024.

The owner of JSC “Karat” since December 2024 through the legal entity of LLC “Karat Investments” is a closed mutual investment fund (ZPIF) “Formula of Trust”, follows from the data of the USRUL. The management company of this ZPIF is JSC "Solid Management".

Before the “Formula of trust” the owner of “Karat” from September 2023 was an entrepreneur Alexander Voznesensky, follows from the data of the SPARK database. The Moscow plant sold him the structure of billionaire Alexander Klyachin - "Gleden Capital", which at that time was part of Gleden Invest Klyachin. According to SPARK, Voznesensky was also a member of the board of directors of the structures of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, which has been in trust management with VTB since 2023.