Discounts applied upon liquidation of shares (underlying ADRs)

After the liquidation of the Sberbank shares underlying the ADR-program, various investors seem to wonder what the background is of this discount. Decree No. 81 of the President of the Russian Federation dated March 1, 2022, "On Additional Temporary Economic Measures to Ensure the Financial Stability of the Russian Federation" (Decree No. 81; https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_410578/ ) established a special procedure for the execution of transactions involving securities between residents of the Russian Federation and "persons of foreign states committing unfriendly acts". According to the general rule stipulated by Decree No. 81, transactions involving securities between residents of the Russian Federation and "unfriendly persons" are only possible with the permission of the Government Commission for the Control of Foreign Investment in the Russian Federation (the Government Commission). The minutes of the Government Commission meeting of th...

Reuters article on the unblocking of funds by Euroclear

Reuters published an article today on the unblocking of funds by Euroclear.

This unblocking of funds is essentially part of an asset swap. Under Russian legislation NSD used the money in Euroclear's type C account to pay / compensate Russian investors for dividend and bond payments that were frozen in NSD's account in Euroclear. Now Euroclear is using these frozen funds to compensate Western investors for the money NSD took out of Euroclear's type C account in Russia.

We will post a more extensive post on the Telegram channels over the coming days.