Lithuanian beneficiary sold Belarusian SWOODS Export plant to Russians despite the ban. What we know about the deal

Following the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, VMG Group, a Lithuanian holding company and one of IKEA’s largest suppliers that had invested in Belarusian sawmills and wood-processing enterprises, announced the suspension of its operations in Belarus. In early 2023, Egidijus Mockus, the CEO of the group, told the Lithuanian publication Atvira Klaipėda that its Belarusian assets had been prepared for sale. For the time being, however, they were operating at a minimum level “to survive.” Of the companies listed on the group's website, by September 2026 only one had been sold: the SWOODS Export sawmill and woodworking plant in Barysau. This transaction took place shortly after the official ban was imposed. [*] [*]

Sold despite the ban

In January 2023, Belarus’s Council of Ministers added SWOODS Export to the list of non-transferable businesses. Foreign shareholders in these companies were prohibited from selling their stakes to new owners. In July 2023, SWOODS Export was removed from the list by a resolution of the Council of Ministers, but by then the company’s ownership had already changed. In other words, the business transfer was approved retroactively.

In May 2023, the Belarusian enterprise was acquired by a Russian company belonging to the TechnoNICOL corporation, which is owned by billionaires Sergei Kolesnikov and Igor Rybakov.The seller was Cyprus-based VMG Holdings Limited, whose beneficiary was Lithuanian businessman and VMG Group owner Sigitas Paulauskas. The Office Life media outlet has estimated that the plant may have cost them €30 million, while its actual value was around €50 million. The completion of the deal was announced in June 2023. The current owner of the enterprise is Zavod Shinglas, a Russian company that is part of the TechnoNICOL corporation.

«The blocked SWOODS Export plant could have been sold under one of three schemes: through a special personal permit from [Alexander] Lukashenko; by transferring the production assets to a new legal entity, followed by the post-facto removal of the ‘empty’ company from the list; or by changing the owners of the parent structure outside Belarus», Pavel Latushko, a former government official and now head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, told BIC

Following the sale of the enterprise to Russian businessmen, SWOODS Export began supplying Belarusian pellets to Turkey. In a separate investigation, the BIC explained how Belarusian companies may have attempted to return their goods to the European market  in this way.

Sigitas Paulauskas insists that «all regulatory compliance and sanctions screening procedures were carried out before the transaction and covered both the buyer and its affiliated parties».

According to customs data on shipments to Russia obtained by the BIC, SWOODS Export sells a wide range of products, from prefabricated houses to self-tapping screws. The plant is licensed to operate in the fields of nuclear energy and ionizing radiation sources. At the same time, according to one of the SWOODS Export beneficiaries, as of 2024, the enterprise is operating at a loss. Its production capacity has been cut in half, and the number of shifts has been reduced from four to two.

Read a new BIC investigation to find out what happened to another Belarusian asset of the VMG Group — the former IKEA contractor, Novus Industry. We found out how the company maintained ties with Lithuanian businesses, where it sells its furniture, and what goods it received from Lithuania.