Factbox: Moscow takes control over assets of Western companies

Fortum Oyj

06/09/2024 11:46

(Adds Raiffeisen and Linde, updates Commerzbank)
       Sept 6 (Reuters) - Kremlin has been seizing assets of
some Western companies in Russia through decrees signed by
President Vladimir Putin and court orders related to lawsuits
over halted projects or blocked funds amid Western sanctions.
    Below is a list of the companies affected so far.
    
    AGROTERRA
    Russia seized companies of agricultural group AgroTerra and
placed them under temporary management in April, including some
backed by Dutch investment firms.
    
    AMEDIA
    Putin signed a decree transferring Amedia's former assets to
state management in September 2023, after the Norwegian
publisher left control of its Russian printing houses to Russian
journalist Dmitry Muratov in April 2022.
    
    CARLSBERG  CARLb.CO 
    The Russian state took control of Danish beer company
Carlsberg's stake in local brewer Baltika Breweries in July
2023, putting it under temporary management of the government
property agency.
    
    COMMERZBANK  CBKG.DE 
    A Russian court ordered in June that Commerzbank assets
worth 94.9 million euros ($105.4 million) be awarded in damages
to a pipeline firm in northwest Russia.
    Almost all of the assets involved had already been seized by
court order.
    
    DANONE  DANO.PA 
    The Russian state took control of the French yoghurt maker's
Russian subsidiary in July 2023 and brought it under temporary
control of the government property agency.
    Putin removed it from temporary management in March, ahead
of a disposal of its Essential Dairy and Plant-based business in
Russia later that month.
    
    DEUTSCHE BANK  DBKGn.DE 
    A Russian court in May seized up to 238.6 million euros
($259.4 million) in securities, real estate and bank accounts of
Deutsche Bank, along with its Russian subsidiary and Deutsche
Bank Technology Center.
    
    FORTUM  FORTUM.HE 
    In April 2023, Putin signed a decree that established
control over Fortum's Russian unit that operates power plants in
the country.
    
    FRAPORT  FRAG.DE 
    Putin signed a decree in December 2023 to put St
Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport under the temporary management of a
Russian holding company, taking control from German airport
group Fraport, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment
Authority and investors from other Gulf states.
    
    JPMORGAN CHASE  JPM.N 
    JPMorgan Chase said on May 2 that its assets in Russia may
be seized after lawsuits in Russian and U.S. courts. It said the
value of claims and orders to freeze assets exceeded its
available assets in Russia.
    A Russian court ordered in April the seizure of funds in
JPMorgan accounts after state-owned bank VTB  VTBR.MM  sued to
regain its funds blocked abroad, while JPMorgan sued VTB in a
bid to block the effort.
    
    LINDE  LIN.DE 
    A Russian court ordered on Aug. 14 that assets of Linde's
British unit worth some $1.15 billion be frozen in a dispute
over a gas processing plant.
    
    OMV  OMVV.VI 
    Under decrees from December 2023, Austrian oil and gas
company OMV's stakes in the Yuzhno-Russkoye field and in the gas
extraction Achimov projects are to revert to newly created
Russian companies and offered for sale to Gazovyye Tekhnologii.
OMV's assets will then be sold to joint stock company SOGAZ.
    
    RAIFFEISEN  RBIV.VI 
    A Russian court froze the shares in Raiffeisen's local arm,
blocking the sale of the Russian unit, the Austrian bank said on
Sept. 5.
    
    ROLF
    On Feb. 21, a Russian court ordered that ownership of shares
in Rolf, a car dealership owned by a Cyprus-based firm, be
handed over to the Russian state, Russian news agencies
reported, after it was placed under temporary state management
in December.
    
    UNICREDIT  CRDI.MI 
    St Petersburg arbitration court ordered in May that
UniCredit's assets, accounts and property, and shares in two
subsidiaries be seized as part of a lawsuit over an aborted gas
project involving the Italian bank.
    UniCredit said the seizure affected only a fraction of its
Russian unit's assets, not the entire subsidiary.
    
    UNIPER  UN01.DE 
    The Kremlin on April 2023 took action against Unipro, the
Russian division of German utility Uniper that has five power
plants in Russia, introducing external management and a new CEO.
    
    WINTERSHALL DEA  WINT.UL 
    Under decrees from December 2023, Wintershall Dea's stakes
in the Yuzhno-Russkoye field and in the Achimov projects are to
revert to newly created Russian companies and offered for sale
to Gazovyye Tekhnologii, formalising the loss of control that
BASF  BASFn.DE  and Wintershall Dea had flagged since January
2023.
    Wintershall Dea is a joint venture between BASF and Russian
billionaire Mikhail Fridman's investment firm LetterOne.

($1 = 0.9001 euros)

 (Compiled by Agata Rybska, Greta Rosen Fondahn and Tomasz
Kanik; Editing by Christina Fincher and Milla Nissi)
 ((greta.rosenfondahn@thomsonreuters.com))