About 2,000 foreign companies have filed applications with the Foreign Investment Commission of the Russian Ministry of Finance to sell their assets in order to leave the Russian market. This is reported by the Financial Times, citing an informed source.
“The commission meets three times a month and considers no more than seven applications in one meeting,” the source said. If this pace is maintained, it will take almost eight years for the commission of the Ministry of Finance to consider applications already submitted.
On March 27, the Ministry of Finance announced that from now on, companies from "unfriendly" countries, when selling Russian business, will have to pay 10% of half of the market value of the sold assets to the budget. This is called a “voluntary contribution” in ministry documents. If the assets are sold at a discount of more than 90%, the "fee" will be 10% of the total price.
Previously, companies leaving the Russian market had a choice between a “voluntary contribution” and the sale of assets at a discount of at least 50% and payment by installments over several years. “The main difference between the new rules and the old ones is that companies no longer have a choice. This is the confiscation of real estate,” said Ilya Rachkov, partner at the Nektorov, Savelyev & Partners law firm, in an interview with the FT.