NCSP terminating depositary agreement with J.P.Morgan from Aug 3

MOSCOW. May 11 (Interfax) - Novorossiysk Commercial Seaport (NCSP) on May 9 notified its GDR depositary J.P. Morgan Chase Bank that it was terminating its depositary agreement, the bank said.

The agreement is being terminated effective August 3, or 90 days after the decision.

The Russian law banning Russian companies from trading new depositary receipts for shares on foreign stock exchanges and obliging them to delist existing depositary receipts was enacted on April 27. Federal Law No. 114-FZ on Amendments to the Federal Law on Joint-Stock Companies and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation gives companies five business days, until May 5 inclusive, to take "necessary and sufficient" steps to terminate depositary receipt agreements. Holders of depositary receipts established as of the date the law comes into effect will automatically receive shares of the relevant Russian issuers instead. Shares underlying depositary receipts become non-voting, and dividends will not be paid on them. The government on April 16 published a resolution, No. 672, on the rules for maintaining the listing of depositary receipts of Russian issuers outside Russia. Companies will have five working days - from April 27 up to and including May 5 - to submit applications to the Finance Ministry with a request to maintain listings.

NCSP had not said whether it planned to maintain its GDR listing on the London Stock Exchange or delist.

Novorossiysk Commercial Seaport is one of Russia's leading stevedoring groups, with assets in Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar Territory, Primorsk in the Leningrad region, and Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region. Transneft is the biggest shareholder in NCSP. The state owns 20% of the shares. As of the end of 2021, minority shareholders owned 13.95%, including 5.4% of GDRs, where one GDR represents 75 shares.