By Sinead Cruise and Carolina Mandl
NEW YORK – JPMorgan & Chase on Tuesday started to allow holders of depositary receipts in Russian companies to cancel them, two sources familiar with the matter said, giving some investors a way to liquidate what have largely been frozen holdings.
The move comes after the London Stock Exchange (LSE) halted trading in the depositary receipts of Russian companies roughly a month ago after prices plunged due to a slew of Western sanctions slapped on Russia for its invasion of the Ukraine.
Depositary receipts are certificates issued by a bank representing shares in a foreign company traded on a local stock exchange.
The sources did not want to be identified because the information was private.
JPMorgan, the country’s largest lender, is the issuer of a handful of depositary receipts in Russian companies listed on the LSE, such as oil major Rosneft, according to Refinitiv.
Investors in depositary receipts have the right to cancel them, but issuers suspended cancellations after the Russian central bank banned foreigners from transferring local Russian shares. With those restrictions recently lifted, issuers are able to reopen cancellations.
JPMorgan is the second depositary receipt issuer to reopen cancellations after BNY Mellon started offering clients an option to withdraw from the receipts and receive in turn the underlying shares in Moscow for a fee last week.
Last week, Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said the country was mulling forcing Russian companies whose depositary receipts are traded abroad to return to the domestic market.
(Reporting by Sinead Cruise and Carolina Mandl; Editing by Michelle Price, Bernard Orr)
