EAHCISS News (English)

We have received some questions about the Sberbank dividends over 2022 and 2023. The dividends over 2022 for ordinary shares held via Western nominee holders were returned to Sberbank and can be claimed until the 21st of April 2026 (that is when the 3 year statutory period expires). The dividends over 2023 (distributed in 2024) for ordinary shares held via Western nominee holders were transferred to the type C accounts of these nominee holders (such as Interactive Brokers or Citibank). Interactive Brokers has indicated to clients that they are working on the reconciliation in regards to the dividends over 2023 (they have to work out which clients directly claimed these dividends via Raiffeisenbank Russia). Once this process is completed Interactive Brokers is expected to start displaying the Sberbank dividends that have been paid on ordinary shares in the accounts of investors. Dividends on depositary receipts have not been paid over the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. These dividends shoul...

X5 Netherlands has notified investors that BNY has assisted in the mandatory conversion of X5 Global Depositary Receipts into Dutch Depositary Receipts. Holders that participated in the share distribution of X5 Russia are effectively denied ownership of X5 Netherlands shares. Investors can self declare that they did not participate in the share distribution of X5 Russia and become a Qualified shareholder (via Dutch Depositary Receipts) in X5 Netherlands. Only Qualified shareholders can transfer depositary receipts and participate in the planned cash distribution. More information can be found here: https://x5.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/stage-one-announcement_final.pdf

The Moscow Arbitration Court earlier ruled on the claim of PJSC EVRAZ (Evraz Russia) for debt collection in the amount of 97,588,032,616.97 rubles against Evraz Plc, as well as on foreclosure on property to repay the above-mentioned debt from Evraz Plc. On April 01, 2026, PJSC EVRAZ executed the court’s decision by foreclosing on the property of EVRAZ plc. This information was disclosed by Evraz PLC on the 3rd of April 2026: https://www.evraz.com/en/news-and-media/press-releases-and-news/evraz-plc-announces-the-entry-into-force-of-the-decision-of-the-moscow-arbitration-court-on-the-clai/

Interactive Brokers has today started to display the payment of Sberbank dividends in the accounts of investors that hold ordinary Sberbank shares via Interactive Brokers (not ADRs). We have confirmed that the dividends over 2024 today showed up in these accounts of clients of Interactive Brokers. The process in which Interactive Brokers displays the dividends confirms the procedure following from the Central Bank of Russia decision that mandates that dividends that are not claimed via the Russian custodian (which is Raiffeisenbank Russia for Interactive Brokers) are forcefully credited to the type C account of the Western nominee holder (in this case Interactive Brokers LLC).

Shortly after the NSD (the Russian central securities depository) was placed on the sanctions list by the EU, NSD started waiving fees. This was done to allow for certain transactions to continue (such as the conversion of depositary receipts into ordinary shares), without a payment being made to NSD as a sanctioned entity. This fee waiving period lasted until the 31st of December 2025 and has since not (yet?) been extended (see https://www.nsd.ru/en/tariffs/ ). We earlier noted that Russian securities in type C accounts (including the ordinary shares underlying depositary receipts) were transferred back to NSD after NSD had been cut out of the chain of custody for a while after NSD was sanctioned by OFAC (see Decree 840 of the 2nd of October 2024, that wasn't extended).  Unfortunately, this means that the NSD may levy charges again for a transfer of securities out of the account of the depositary banks and foreign nominee holders. Hence one would require an authorisation from comp...

For various Russian companies the shareholder rights of the western holding company were suspended under the ESO-law (ESO is an acronym for Economically Significant Organization; the relevant law is Federal Law No. 470-FZ of 04.08.2023 "On the Specifics of Regulation of Corporate Relations in Business Entities That Are Economically Significant Organizations"). Normally shareholders in the western holding then have a 3 to 4 month period to apply to receive shares in the Russian entity. For Rusagro this period ended on the 28th of December 2024. In July 2025 new amendments to Federal Law No. 470-FZ were adopted. The newly introduced parts 20-22 of article 7 now allows for Russians and investors from jurisdictions friendly to Russia to apply for shares in the Economically Significant Organization until the end of the suspension of corporate rights of the western holding company. This is mandatory for Russians. Rusagro requested the Moscow court to extend this period until the 31...