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Showing posts with the label Gazprom

Compensation from broker for Russian CFD (contract for difference)

The UK Financial Ombudsman has ordered Interactive Brokers (IB) to compensate an investor that invested in a Russian CFD (contract for difference). In this case the CFD was for 10.000 Sberbank ordinary shares. Interactive Brokers refused to close the position because they could not trade the underlying Sberbank shares Interactive Brokers had bought to cover the CFD contract. From March 2022 onwards, IB raised the margin required for the position to 100%. By August 2024 the interest alone charged on the position had amounted to around USD $12,000.  The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) introduced a margin close-out rule in 2018 that states that CFD providers have to close positions once the net asset value in the investor's account drops to 50% of the required margin. The Financial Ombudsman ruled that Interactive Brokers was required to stop charging interest and other charges on the CFD position once they had to close the position on the basis of the ESMA 50% margin...
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Amount of unpaid dividends for Gazprom

Gazprom declared record dividends of 51.03 Rubles per ordinary share (=102.06 Rubles for the 2 ordinary shares that represent 1 depositary receipt [ADR]) over the first half of 2022. Many investors were not able to convert their Gazprom depositary receipts into ordinary shares because of the refusal by brokers and (sub) custodians to facilitate this. As many of you are aware: Gazprom depositary receipts are not eligible for the payment of dividends due to changes in Russian legislation in April 2022. Once the depositary receipts are converted, investors can claim the unpaid dividends. At least 800 million euros in unpaid dividends is likely to fall back to Gazprom post September 2025. This is due to the statute of limitations in relation to unpaid dividends (3 years). In practice the amount will likely be higher as many investors that converted their ordinary shares post October 2022 have not yet claimed unpaid dividends due to the complexity of the procedure. According to Gazprom, 5.9...
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Court Press Release in relation to Nord Stream II

The court in Zug (Switzerland) is responsible for the bankruptcy procedures of Nord Stream II. The court announced today (https://zg.ch/de/gerichte/zivil-und-strafrechtspflege/kantonsgericht#Mitteilung) that a debt restructering agreement was confirmed by the court. This should avoid the bankruptcy of Nord Stream II. The court's ruling has not yet been made public. We have attached the previous court ruling of the 9th of January 2025 for your reference. The full court press release consists of the following text (translated from German): " Press release dated 9 May 2025 By decision of the Cantonal Court of Zug EN 2022 2 of 9 May 2025, the restructuring agreement (dividend settlement) of 30 April 2025 concluded between Nord Stream 2 AG and its creditors, including Annexes 1 and 2, was confirmed by the court. Pursuant to Art. 307 para. 1 SchKG, the decision on the debt restructuring agreement may be appealed under the Code of Civil Procedure. Pursuant to Art. 307 para. 2 SchKG, ...
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