Qiwi shareholders approve changing company name to NanduQ

MOSCOW. Aug 28 (Interfax) - The shareholders of Qiwi approved changing the company's name to NanduQ during the annual general meeting on August 27, the group said.

The AGM voted 112,262,605 in favor of the name change, 1,000 against, and 2,998 abstained.

The AGM also re-elected the board of directors, reappointing Lev Krol, Alexei Solovyov, and Alexei Ivanov, including Alexei Maschenkov as chairman, as well as Oksana Sirotinina.

Trading in Qiwi ADS has been suspended on the Nasdaq since February 28, 2022, owing to the geopolitical situation. Trading in Qiwi securities continues as usual on the Moscow Exchange.

The Nasdaq informed Qiwi of the delisting of its shares in March 2023. The group then appealed the decision, assuming that it would be able to maintain the listing while spinning off the business into international and Russian segments.

Qiwi then sold its Russian assets, consolidated under JSC Qiwi, as part of business restructuring in January 2024 to Hong Kong-based Fusion Factor Fintech Limited, which is owned by former Qiwi plc CEO Andrei Protopopov. The group's international business in Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and other countries is continuing to develop as part of Qiwi plc, the company said.

The mutual settlements of the transaction involved installments and payments over the next four years, with 11.9 billion rubles to be paid within four months from the date of the transaction before May 19, and the remaining 11.9 billion rubles to be paid in four equal installments starting from the fourth quarter of 2024.

On February 21, the Central Bank of Russia revoked the license of Qiwi Bank, introducing temporary administration at the bank and appointing the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) as the liquidator. In March, the DIA filed a lawsuit against the bank's owners to challenge the deal to sell JSC Qiwi. The DIA representative during the court hearing said that Fusion Factor Fintech had already remitted the first part of the payment under the deal by taking a loan from Protopopov. The court filing indicates that the payment of the first tranche totaled 100 million rubles. In May, Qiwi postponed the timeframe for remitting the remaining 11.78 billion rubles until August 19 upon the buyer's request, given that "events in Russian business have substantially complicated its ability to repay the second installment in a timely manner". In August, the group approved the payment deferment until November 19.

On June 26, Qiwi again received notice from the Nasdaq to delist its ADS, and was given 15 days to appeal the decision. On July 15, Qiwi said that it had requested that the Nasdaq extend the period by 14 days, during which the group could appeal the exchange's decision on the delisting.

"The decision to extend is owing to the fact that Qiwi continues to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the situation in the interests of ADS holders. The company will duly announce further decisions taken in accordance with the established procedure," the group said.

Qiwi has equity capital comprising 10,413,522 class A shares and 52,299,453 class B shares. One class A share equals 10 votes and one class B share equals one vote.

Qiwi has a stake of 71.3% in the free float of shares. Sergei Solonin is the company's largest shareholder with 28.4% of the shares and 71.3% of the votes.