The Arbitration Court of the Perm Region, at the request of the prosecutor's office, seized shares of the Solikamsk magnesium plant from 2,266 private investors — a total of about 10.6% of the shares. This was reported by RBC Perm.
In May 2022, the court declared the privatization of the plant, a producer of rare earth elements, carried out in 1992 illegal, and seized four majority owners their share is 89.4%.
A few months later, in August 2022, the prosecutor’s office demanded that shares be confiscated from minority shareholders who bought securities listed on the Moscow Exchange. Although this is not the first court decision on deprivatization, the requirements for the first time affected private investors who acquired their shares at organized auctions.
The Moscow Exchange and the Ural branch of the Central Bank were brought to the claim as third parties. “The law on organized trading presupposes that a public transaction is undeniable and cannot be reversed,” said Elena Kuritsyna, managing director of the Moscow Exchange for interaction with government authorities.
“As for the precedents for the seizure of shares of minority shareholders who acquired them at organized auctions, we are, of course, concerned about this situation,” Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina said today at a press conference. — Because this is a very important factor that affects the confidence of retail investors in the stock market. If we want to attract resources for development and, among other things, use the opportunities of the capital market, of course, maintaining this trust is super important.”