Hydropower group EN+ and energy firm Tatneft on Tuesday became the first Russian companies to start the process of delisting their depository receipts (GDRs) from foreign exchanges after orders from Moscow over the weekend.
EN+ and Tatneft , both of which have a London listing, said they were weighing options to terminate their GDRs, though Tatneft also said it may apply for special permission to continue its foreign listing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed into law a bill requiring Russian companies to delist their GDRs from international bourses and convert them into local securities in a bid to reduce foreigners' control over these firms.
It means billionaires won't be able to collect foreign currency dividends from GDR programmes, and it also means the foreign holders of cancelled receipts must receive normal shares placed in non-resident accounts in Russia.
Early last month, the London bourse had already suspended trading in GDRs of Russian companies, including EN+, Rosneft, Sberbank, and Gazprom, after prices crashed to record lows since Moscow began what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.
While the West has been tightening financial restrictions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine, the Putin administration has also hit back and the new law formally severs ties between foreign investors and Russia.
Depositary receipts are certificates issued by a bank representing shares in a foreign company traded on a local stock exchange. They allow investors to dabble in overseas stocks in their own geography and time zone.
Companies will have five days to remove their GDRs once the provisions become effective, and shares underlying the GDRs will have no voting rights and dividends will not be paid on those deposits, according to the new rule.
Reuters reported last week that the delisting of GDRs could lead to some profits for Russian companies and global banks who issued the receipts because of some contractual clauses over cancellations.
The law will not affect Russian companies that carried out initial public offerings on foreign exchanges, such as Yandex or TCS Group.
Reuters / Newshub.
