Corporate Expropriation and Sanctions Risk

Russia has placed the Russian operations of CANPACK, a global aluminum can maker owned by a Pennsylvania‑based holding company, under "external administration" by presidential decree, effectively stripping the U.S.-linked owner of control over a business valued at about $700 million. The Dec. 31, 2025 order signed by Vladimir Putin transferred 100% of the Russian subsidiary’s shares to state‑appointed managers, who took over in mid‑January and removed senior executives while barring the parent company from any direct access or communication. CANPACK’s Russian arm, which has operated in the country for nearly 30 years and controlled an estimated 35%–40% of its beverage‑can market, is now overseen by a government‑linked entity that company officials describe as a shell vehicle, and U.S. appeals have so far produced no formal response. The takeover uses a 2023 Russian legal framework that allows "temporary" state control of certain foreign‑owned assets, even as Putin’s investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev is in Washington pitching a Ukraine settlement and future economic cooperation to Trump administration officials — a juxtaposition that has analysts warning about heightened expropriation risks for Western firms that stayed in Russia. Russian business daily Vedomosti has reported that CANPACK’s Russian division donated about 500 million rubles (around $18 million) to a pro‑Kremlin fund backing Russia’s war in Ukraine, underscoring how seized Western assets can be repurposed to support the conflict.