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...

New round of automatic DR-conversion

The Russian Central Bank took a decision on the 6th of June 2025 that provides for a new round of automatic conversion of DR's ([global or American] depositary receipts / GDR's / ADR's) that are stored in Russian infrastructure. 

The decision by the Russian Central Bank is based on Russian legislation that allows the Central Bank of Russia to set the date for a (new) round of automatic conversion. The legislation does not allow the Central Bank of Russia to set a date for a new round of so called 'forced conversion', where investors can request the 'forced conversion' of DR's stored outside of Russian infrastructure, without any support of western brokers or depositary banks. The date for forced conversion / forced transfer (of ordinary Russian shares) was set in the law itself.

Unfortunately, this new round of automatic conversion will not be helpful to most western investors that seek to convert their Russian DR's, as their DR's are kept with non-Russian brokers. 

To our knowledge it hasn't been possible to transfer DR's into Russian infrastructure. Even Russian brokers with sub-accounts with western brokers (such as Cifra broker) have not willing to accept inbound transfers DR's over the last years.