A Russian court on Thursday suspended parent company Rusagro Cypriot’s corporate rights in its main Russian subsidiary, clearing the way for the farming conglomerate to effectively return from Cyprus to Russia.
Many Russian companies are registered in Cyprus or the Netherlands. As Western countries consider seizing Russian assets abroad, Moscow is keen to reduce foreign sanctions or leverage, particularly over economically important entities.
A Moscow region arbitration court ruled Thursday in favor of a claim filed by Russia’s agriculture ministry, court filings showed.
Rusagro, one of Russia’s largest agricultural companies, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In August, the company said that if the court ruled in favor of the agriculture ministry, its Cypriot parent, Ros Agro Plc, would lose the ability to vote at shareholder meetings, dispose of shares of Rusagro Group and its be eligible for dividend payments.
Ros Agro Plc said in August that it would take all necessary actions to protect shareholder rights.
The case is one of the few brought by the Russian government since a list of “economically important organizations” was approved by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in March. Similar moves have been made in relation to X5’s main dealer and the insurance arm of private lender Alfa Bank.
“Compulsion is the most unfriendly form of redistribution, which separates and takes away the physical rights of all external holders who have not had time to transfer GDRs from the periphery out to local brokerage accounts,” said Aigenis Investment Company, a Belarusian-owned company. in a report. [Reuters]
