Admission of Foreign Securities on Russian Exchanges

This afternoon, March 5, 2014, GDRs of Lenta Ltd. were admitted to trading on the Moscow Exchange (http://moex.com/n5132/?nt=201) as well as on the London Stock Exchange alongside the closing of its IPO, on which we advised.

Lenta is one of a handful of issuers that have used a recently introduced opportunity to obtain admission of foreign securities to trading on a Russian stock exchange with ease. At the end of 2012, Russian securities laws were amended to provide a facility permitting Russian stock exchanges to admit foreign securities to trading in Russia for the first time. This facility is available to foreign companies whose securities are already listed on a foreign stock exchange approved by the Russian regulator. The approved foreign exchanges currently include the London Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, NYSE Euronext Amsterdam, NYSE Euronext Brussels, NYSE Euronext Lisbon, NYSE Euronext Paris, NYSE Euronext London and certain other internationally recognized trading markets. To date, the Moscow Exchange has admitted to trading GDRs representing ordinary shares of Lenta Ltd. (listed on the London Stock Exchange) as well as ADRs representing class B shares of QiWi Plc (quoted on NASDAQ) and ordinary shares of Polymetal International Plc (listed on the London Stock Exchange).

A key driver for obtaining a Russian listing is likely to include a desire to enhance the liquidity of its equity securities and open up the possibility of admission to Russian trading indices (primarily, MCSI and RTS). Furthermore, the incremental ongoing obligations for a company obtaining a parallel listing in Russia are very limited – essentially, the company must publish in Russia equivalent information to that published pursuant to the foreign regulatory requirements.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of your regular contacts at the firm or any of our partners and counsel listed under Russia in the “Practices” section of the website.