Non-residents buy a quarter of Russian securities tendered in frozen asset swap

MOSCOW. Aug 13 (Interfax) - Russia's Investment Chamber brokerage, which has been mandated to organize the exchange of frozen assets between Russian and non-resident investors, has announced the completion of settlements for the purchase of foreign securities.

"Despite external sanctions pressure while bids were being accepted, the trading organizer managed to sell to non-residents about a quarter of the foreign securities tendered by resident individuals: out of the single pool of foreign securities worth 35.3 billion rubles, securities worth 8.1 billion rubles were bought ," the broker said in a statement.

More than 708,000 individuals sold a portion of their securities, the Investment Chamber said.

"The organizer of the auction is considering the possibility of holding an additional round of the sale of foreign securities. If the necessary permits are received, the information will be disclosed on the trading organizer's official website," it said.

The Investment Chamber accepted bids from resident individuals from March 25 to May 8, and from non-residents from June 3 to August 2.

It is expected that funds for the redeemed securities will be transferred to the accounts of brokers, trustees, and mutual fund managers no later than August 13.

During the tender period, additional restrictions were introduced by foreign regulators: blocking sanctions on NSD and an EU ban on participation in the buyback by European legal entities, the Investment Chamber recalled. "Because of this, the participants, non-resident buyers, need more time to study the procedure and assess the risks," it said.

Investment Chamber said earlier that Russian investors had made more than 1 million bids form which 100 lots were formed with an average value of 353.1 million rubles each.