Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev stated that the decision concerning the ban of placement of shares on the foreign markets will be made soon. Currently Russian companies cannot place more than 25% of shares on the international markets. Recently Mr. Medvedev stated that Russian companies will be able to place up to 100% of company’s stock on the foreign market.

President’s statement was also supported by the Head of Federal Financial Services Bureau, Dmitriy Pankin. He stated that such action will not have any negative impact on Russian financial markets since Russian companies have been placing shares abroad through their subsidiaries anyways. Chief Executive Officer of Investment Company “Veles Capital”, Michael Zak also supported such opinion as the ban was aimed only at forcefully keeping the shares of Russian companies in Russia to support the local liquidity. The main target of Russian government should be attracting international investors in the country rather than interfering with activities of local companies.

Nevertheless cancelation of the ban does not imply that Russian companies will rush to place their capitals abroad. Conditions that were created in the Russian market through government agencies, certain agreements are favorable for the large corporations.

Source: UAIndex weekly report, issue 23 (55), available June 27^th