The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service granted Unilever (UL) permission to acquire 100 percent of Russia's biggest cosmetics manufacturer—Kalina, which is likely to close before the end of the year.
Unilever already owned 82 percent of the company, and is expected to offer a buyout to Kalina's remaining minority shareholders within the next six weeks. TKB Capital analyst Natasha Kolupaeva reported the buyout price should not be less than the highest deal price or the market's six-month weighted average. Based on the current benchmarks, Kulopaeva predicts a 9-percent upside for current Kalina shareholders.
Kalina trades on the Russian Trading System (RTS) stock exchange but is sadly unavailable to U.S. retail investors; however, Unilever has been investing heavily in emerging markets, including a recent $600 million commitment to expand its factories in Indonesia.
In an interview with Reuters earlier this year, CEO Paul Polman said, "Soon we will have 75 percent of our turnover in emerging markets, 70 to 75 percent by the end of decade."
The markets seem to like this strategy as Unilever stock has been rising steadily since March, and is now trading at a five-year-high.