Dodo Pizza translated the head structure from offshore to Kazakhstan
The Dodo Brands holding, which owns the Dodo Pizza restaurants and the Drinkit coffee houses, completed the process of transferring business from the British Virgin Islands to Kazakhstan. The head structure of the operator of catering establishments, whose revenue, according to the results of 2024 reached $ 1.49 billion, will be located in the Astana International Financial Center. This is an analogue of special economic zones, the residents of which, for example, are exempted from paying taxes on dividends received and paying income tax at reduced rates.
On the completion of the process of redomyculation of Dodo Brands, which owns and controls the brands « Dodo Pizza » and « Drinkit », from the British Virgin Islands reported On June 16, the press service of the Astana International Financial Center (MFCA), where the holding head office will now be located. The manager of the IFC Renat Bekturov said that the translation of the Dodo Brands business « showed the attractiveness of jurisdiction for high -tech and dynamically developing international companies. »
At the moment, there are 14 such companies to the IFCA, added Mr. Bekturov. For example, among large Russian companies in this center with Cyprus in the summer of 2024, the head structure Translated Russian chain of fixed prices Fix Price.
Dodo Brands is founded by Russian businessman Fedor Ovchinnikov. According to his own data, at the end of 2024, the holding ruled 1.26 thousand pizzerias “Dodo Pizza” and the Drinkit coffee houses in Russia, Kazakhstan, and the Middle East. According to the results of 2024, the company’s revenue increased by 39.5%, to 117.6 billion rubles, about $ 1.49 billion at the current rate of the Central Bank. In the first quarter of 2025, this amount amounted to 33.3 billion rubles. (about $ 419 million), which is 27.4% more than a year by the year.
After the start of February 2022, the military conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, Kazakhstan became one of the countries where Russian companies began to translate their headquarters, registered initially in states that later were included in the list of unfriendly for Russia. In the same republic, their structures, which were responsible for the business in the Russian Federation, transferred international companies. In the spring of 2024, the vice-minister of the National Economy of Kazakhstan Bauyrzhan Kudaibergenov stated that more than 40 foreign companies worth more than $ 1.5 billion completed the process of relocation from Russia to Kazakhstan.
Large companies, such as VKontakte, Polymetal gold mining, metallurgical holding Rusal, T-Bank, Rusagro, X5 Group, transferred head structures to Russia. In April 2025, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin reported that 500 companies already changed foreign registration for Russian in a simplified manner. Now they are registered in special administrative areas (SARs) within Russia, this also allows them to use tax benefits.
There are preferences for companies registered in the Astana International Financial Center, which, like Russian SAR, can be called an analogue of internal offshore. “Residents of the IFCA can use the advantages from reduced income tax tax rates and cancellation of dividends, which helps to increase tax efficiency,” explains Alexander Ambruisovskaya, adviser to the Legal MEF LEGAL. This does not exclude the expert, could become a decisive factor in the redimization of Dodo Brands in Astana.
Kazakhstan, unlike the British Virgin Islands, is friendly jurisdiction for the Russian business, which retains neutrality in sanction pressure, the partner of the legal bureaus “Legal Group” Vladimir Shalaev states.
According to the expert, the transfer of the head structure to the IFCA will allow Dodo Brands to pay dividends abroad without encountering the restrictions and the need to withdraw funds from Russia.
The interlocutor “Kommersant” in the catering market says that the founder of Dodo Brands intends to continue to develop business abroad and “in this regard, Kazakhstan is a suitable jurisdiction”. In case of redomytion in the IFC, companies avoid the liquidation procedure in the country of primary registration, confirms Mrs. Ambraisovskaya.
