*

Sale includes all business and four factories in Russia

*

Terms of deal not disclosed

*

CEO says divestment work has been very complex

(Recasts paragraph 1, adds value of assets in paragraph 3,4;

detail on Arnest in paragraphs 6,7)

By Yadarisa Shabong and Alexander Marrow

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Unilever ( UL ) has sold its

Russian business to Arnest Group, it said on Thursday, becoming

the latest multinational company to exit Russia since its

invasion of Ukraine, following a "complex" sale process.

UK-based Unilever ( UL ), owner of brands including Dove soap and

Hellmann's mayonnaise, said the sale includes all of its

business and four factories in Russia as well as its business in

Belarus.

While the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the

FT reported the sale was worth 520 million euros ($568.41

million), citing unnamed sources.

Unilever ( UL ), which declined to confirm the reported figure, had

said the Russian business, including the four factories, had net

assets of around 600 million euros, as of June 30.

"This work has been very complex, and has involved

separating IT platforms and supply chains, as well as migrating

brands to Cyrillic," Unilever ( UL ) CEO Hein Schumacher said in a

statement, referring to the sale and translation from English to

the Russian alphabet.

Arnest, headed by businessman Alexey Sagal, has scooped up

other Western businesses since Russia's invasion of Ukraine,

most notably Dutch brewer Heineken's Russian

operations for just one euro.

Arnest also picked up Ball Corp's ( BALL ) beverage

packaging business for $530 million in late 2022 and Swedish

cosmetics company Oriflame's Russian business.

Arnest Group did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

Unilever's ( UL ) continued presence in Russia following the

invasion in February 2022 has been criticised by campaigners and

Ukraine's government, though it was the first major European

food company to stop imports into and exports out of Russia.

Unilever ( UL ) said last year that it could abandon, sell or

retain its operations in Russia but the "least bad" option was

to "pursue our business but in a highly constrained manner".

B4Ukraine, a coalition of civil society groups seeking to

compel Western companies to sever ties with Russia, welcomed the

sale on Thursday.

Last month, the RBC business daily reported that

Unilever ( UL ) had received Russian government approval to sell assets

valued at around 35-40 billion roubles ($359.5-$410.9 million).

The Kremlin usually demands a discount of at least 50% on

exit deals involving firms from what it calls "unfriendly"

countries, those that have imposed sanctions against Russia.

The exodus of firms from Russia has cost foreign companies

more than $107 billion in writedowns and lost revenues,

according to a Reuters analysis in March.

Danone earlier this year said it had received regulatory

approvals to dispose off its Russian assets, taking a loss of

$1.3 billion.

Unilever ( UL ) is expected to publish its third-quarter trading

statement on Oct. 24.

($1 = 97.3500 roubles)

($1 = 0.9148 euros)