Caterpillar Inc., the US heavy equipment manufacturer, is nearing the completion of its protracted exit from Russia with the sale of its remaining local subsidiaries. The transaction involves four entities for reportedly around Rbs2.6bn ($32mn at current rates), according to Russian corporate registry data (EGRUL) and reports in RBC and Kommersant.
The deal covers Caterpillar Eurasia LLC, Caterpillar Distribution International LLC, Solar Turbines CIS LLC, and Electro-Motive Locomotive Technologies LLC.
The deal has not been without complications. Sommariva LLC, owned by Andrew Chernomyrdin (son of former Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin), has pursued litigation in the Moscow Arbitration Court against Caterpillar since June 2025. Chernomyrdin’s firm is seeking to compel the performance of its sale and purchase agreement with Caterpillar dated January 10, 2025, covering 100% of the shares of those four Caterpillar subsidiaries, which includes the transfer of these shares to Sommariva.
According to case filings reported by Kommersant and monitoring sites such as LeaveRussia, in November 2025, Sommariva, in its second lawsuit, declares the later double-sale contract of June 30, 2025, between Caterpillar and Investment Solutions LLC for the same shares invalid and violating Sommariva’s legal interests and priority right to the shares.
The Caterpillar Board of Directors had considered the agreement between Caterpillar and Sommariva before its conclusion, and Caterpillar was initially fulfilling it. Sommariva appealed to the government for approval, as per the case filings. However, Caterpillar then signed a double-sale contract with Investment Solutions, the subsidiary of Balchug Capital, for a much lower price, bypassing the Caterpillar Board of Directors, and later signed the joint appeal of August 21, 2025, to the Russian government as a co-applicant.
It’s obvious that Caterpillar’s signature and indication in the appeal that it is the second part of their package deal of 2024, cited by RBC, likely forced the government to approve Investment Solutions as a buyer.
Sources familiar with the matter, cited by RBC and Kommersant, suggest the latest low sale price implies a substantial write-down of about $150mn and raises questions about unprovisioned losses in a quarter that could prove material for Caterpillar.
American beneficiaries and principals of Balchug Capital, mentioned by Lenta.ru, who are also members of the Advisory Board, would benefit from the discounted acquisition of the Caterpillar assets and may be fined by OFAC for EO 14071 violations (investments and loans to Russia to reactivate the companies).
OFAC could have serious grounds to impose substantial fines on Caterpillar for concealing its participation in the payment of the Russian budget contribution ($31mn, per the joint appeal of August 21, 2025, to the government signed by Caterpillar, cited by RBC) and for complicity in violations of sanctions by selling the shares of its four subsidiaries to entities related to sanctioned persons under its contract with Investment Solutions.
According to Lenta.ru, the four Caterpillar subsidiaries, once acquired, would be combined along with the Tosno plant owned by AO Gorizont (affiliated with the sanctioned AO Transmashholding). It seems that Investment Solutions associates itself with Gorizont and Transmashholding by pointing to the synergy with Gorizont’s Tosno plant in the joint appeal of August 21, 2025, cited by RBC, where Caterpillar indicated that the contracts of June 30, 2025, and 2024 are parts of the package deal.
According to a Lenta.ru report of April 9, 2025, and EGRUL data, Caterpillar knew that Investment Solutions, within days after their 2024 contract, transferred the shares of Caterpillar Tosno and most of the remaining funds of Caterpillar Financial ($213mn or Rbs20bn) to Gorizont and then to the sanctioned beneficiaries—Bokarev Andrey, Makhmudov Iskandar, Lipa Kirill—through the companies Concern Tractor Plants and HC TM LLC.
It’s remarkable that in 2024 a multinational US-based public company, Caterpillar, signed multi-million-dollar contracts and received funds from Investment Solutions and Balchug Capital (former Copperstone Capital)—entities linked to David Amaryan, who settled with the SEC in 2016 over allegations of insider trading involving hacked press releases from US companies, including potentially Caterpillar-related earnings.
Caterpillar hasn’t commented on the matter beyond prior statements affirming compliance with all applicable laws and sanctions. Investors will watch forthcoming filings closely for any updated risk factors, impairment charges, or mentions of ongoing Russian litigation tied to the finalisation of these sales.
Photo by John Kakuk on Unsplash
