(Reuters) – Russian companies whose depositary receipts are traded abroad will be obliged to return to Russia, unless other solutions arise, Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said on Friday.
Several major Russian companies have listings abroad, which has always been a matter of prestige for them. But since Russia began what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24, Western bourses have halted trading of Russian securities.
Holders of depositary receipts in Russian companies that are traded abroad can convert them into shares on the Russian market, Reshetnikov said.
“When shares here (in Russia) are much more expensive, there is no sense in trading them there. That is why our Russian shares, Russian companies will be obliged to return here unless another government decision is made,” Reshetnikov said.
The London Stock Exchange suspended trading in the depositary receipts — which represent shares in a foreign company — of Russian companies in early March after prices crashed to record lows.
In London, depositary receipts in Russia’s largest lender Sberbank fell to almost zero days after Russian sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine.
In Moscow, Sberbank shares in Moscow rose 16% to 152 roubles ($1.85) per piece in the past seven trading days after Moscow Exchange resumed trading after a nearly month-long hiatus.
The central bank said last month Russian stock exchanges will keep listings of securities of foreign companies with Russian roots even if they delist from foreign bourses.
($1 = 82.0210 roubles)
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Frances Kerry)