Non-residents buy out Russian investors' securities for 2.54 bln rubles as part of 2nd stage of exchange

MOSCOW. Oct 14 (Interfax) - Russia's Investment Chamber brokerage, acting as an organizer for the exchange of blocked assets between Russian investors and non-residents, has announced the completion of settlements to buy out foreign securities as part of the second stage of the procedure.

Non-residents additionally bought out Russian investors' securities for 2.54 billion rubles, Investment Chamber said in a Sunday statement.

In total, the blocked assets for 10.64 billion rubles were redeemed during the two stages.

"Part of the applications accepted from non-residents during the second stage of redemption, were not paid in due time, and as a result, the organizer of the auction had to reject such applications," it said.

Investment Chamber is considering the possibility of a new stage of blocked assets' exchange. "Its holding will require making changes to the existing procedure that would take into account infrastructure restrictions imposed on the National Settlement Depository, as well as obtaining a new authorization from the government commission for supervision over foreign investments in Russia," it added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2023 signed Decree No. 844 "On additional temporary economic measures related to the circulation of foreign securities", which sets conditions to exchange investors' assets blocked in Russia and abroad. The decree allows non-residents to buy out the blocked foreign securities of Russian investors with money held in their C-type accounts. Russian investors could apply to sell securities with a total starting price of up to 100,000 rubles.

Investment Chamber announced the completion of the first stage of settlements for redeeming blocked securities in mid-August. Applications were accepted from resident individuals from March 25 to May 8, from foreign investors from June 3 to August 2. As reported, non-residents bought out 8.1 billion rubles worth of securities out of the 35.3 billion rubles announced for exchange at the time. More than 708,000 individuals partially sold their securities.

The Finance Ministry said in late August that it had decided to extend the exchange of assets until October 12. The second stage of the exchange implied the collection of offers only from non-residents, while Russian investors could withdraw applications, which were filed in spring 2024, in the period from September 2 to September 13.