The acquisition was announced last week after a meeting between the watchdog's head, Igor Artemyev, and Carlsberg President Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen and just required formal approval by the anti-monopoly service to go ahead.
The Russian Federal Anti Monopoly Service also issued instructions to Carlsberg Breweries not to restrict sales volumes and brands on territorial principles and to avoid delivery refusals to contractors for unjustified economic or technical reasons.
A 90% stake in Baltika is held by Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH), co-owned by Danish Carlsberg Breweries A.S. and Britain's Scottish & Newcastle Plc. However, the European Commission has already approved a deal for Dutch Heineken and Carlsberg to buy Scottish & Newcastle. The parties have agreed to transfer BBH to Carlsberg.
The Baltika brewery is a leader on the Russian beer market accounting for over 37% of the country's beer output and one of the leading European beer producers. The company owns 11 breweries in Russia and also holds licenses to produce French Kronenbourg 1664 beer, Danish Tuborg and Carlsberg and Australian Foster's.
Last year Baltika posted a 20.5% increase in profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards to 398.7 million euros, year-on-year.
The company's market capitalization exceeds $7 billion.
