IFLR Publishes Olga Te, Svetlana Volevich Article on Investor Rights in Russia

“The rise of investor rights,” an article by cross-border transactions counsel Olga Te and partner Svetlana Volevich, has been published by IFLR. The article discusses new laws in Russia that could encourage foreign and local investors to increase investments in that country.

Among the points made by the authors:

• “Since [2008], a substantial number of specialised laws and regulations have been enacted…In particular, corporate governance regulations have changed significantly, in a positive way. They now align Russia with the best international corporate governance standards and practices…”
• “As a next step for improving Russia’s companies and securities laws, on June 29 2015 the federal law titled ‘On amendments to separate legislative Acts of the Russian Federation and invalidations of certain provisions of legislative acts of the Russian Federation’ (Law 210-FZ) was enacted… One of the most important changes introduced by Law 210-FZ was the new term of ‘persons exercising rights on shares’… [W]hile investors in depositary receipts are not included in the definition of ‘shareholders’, they are entitled to exercise the rights of shareholders.”
• “The Russian legislator is currently working towards further improvement of the tender offer rules under the Russian Joint Stock Company Law. This proposed draft law envisages certain significant changes which may affect the balance of interests between minority and majority shareholders. In particular, the draft law suggests that the tender offeror will not be able to enjoy voting rights with respect to all of its acquired shares until the offer period…is closed and the report on the results of the tender offer is submitted to the Russian regulator.”

In addition to the preceding, the authors cover topics such as exercising shareholder rights and increases in Russia’s securities markets. They close by noting that, although Russia remains “an emerging market with its political, economic and regulatory risks and fears,” the country is working to make itself “more appealing,” and the market is adapting, with “greater potential, and better protection, for investors.”