Karat Acquired Pavlovsky Dairy Plant in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Pavlovsky Dairy Plant manufactures cottage cheese and brined cheeses, including feta and bryndza, as well as milk, fermented baked milk, yogurts, and kefir. Ego products are sold in nationwide retail networks. According to a Karat representative, the acquired plant's production area is 5,700 square meters.
The plant's capacity allows for the processing of up to 200 tons of milk per day. In 2022, a new production and packaging line for cream cheese with a capacity of 20 tons per day was launched at the facility. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed by either party.
According to an RBC source in the warehouse and industrial property market, the production complex is valued at 1.5–2 billion RUB. Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of INFOLine-Analytics, presented a similar valuation, estimating the business itself at a maximum of 400 million RUB; with net debt, this equates to approximately 1.5 billion RUB.
Karat plans to use the Nizhny Novgorod facilities for producing Karat Domashny cottage cheese, Delissir salad cheeses, and Violette cream cheeses. The company also intends to maintain and develop the existing product range of the Pavlovsky plant, including Ego products and cream cheeses. Karat's CEO Yevgeny Grebnev stated that the acquisition is expected to support the company's development and increase sales in key categories.
In 2021, Karat began construction of a new facility in the special economic development zone in Tolyatti. The projected milk processing capacity at this site was set to reach 800 tons per day, with plans to produce semi-hard cheeses, cottage cheese, and cream cheeses. The project has been halted due to geopolitical events and is currently undergoing redesign, a company representative reported. Its launch was initially planned for the second quarter of 2023, with investments estimated at over 10 billion RUB, and the complex area was expected to be 27,400 square meters.
Artyom Suvorov, project leader of the Potrebitelskiy sektor i APK practice at Strategy Partners, assessed that the acquisition of a regional producer expands Karat's product portfolio and production base. He also linked the deal with the opportunity to increase presence in the Povolzhye region and reach in retail networks. Meanwhile, the net profitability of the Pavlovsky plant, according to his data, is around 0.8%.
Pavlovsky Dairy Plant's revenue in 2025 was 3.66 billion RUB, with a net profit of 29.3 million RUB, reported Burmistrov. Karat has been in operation since 1934, producing approximately 27,000 tons of finished products annually at its Moscow site. From January to August 2025, the Moscow plant accounted for 10.8% of processed cheese sales in major retail chains, 8.8% of cream cheese sales, 2.4% of feta and bryndza sales, and 6.6% of cottage cheese sales. In Moscow and Moscow Oblast, the share in the last category reached 21%.
By the end of 2025, AO Karat's revenue increased by 9.4% to reach 10 billion RUB. Net profit amounted to 275 million RUB, compared to 2 million RUB the previous year. Since December 2024, the company has been owned by ZPIF Formula Doveriya through LLC Karat Investments, with Solid Management JSC as the fund's management company.
