Page 18 - bne Magazine August 2022

18 I Companies & Markets bne August 2022
for Russia’s domestic capital markets and for liquidity in local shares and bonds. Insiders said the market’s development has been retarded by decades, while many foreign investors and their existing investments may be stuck for even longer.
Foreign investors in local Russian stocks have also been caught in the crossfire. Non-residents have been prevented by the Central Bank from selling assets on the Moscow Exchange since February 28.
On June 6, VTB also announced the termination of its depositary receipts (DR) programme in the wake of US and international sanctions. Following termination of the DR programme, VTB’s own listing at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) will be also terminated.
In further nails to the local market's coffin, foreign brokers were banned and dividends by Gazprom and Sberbank were also axed, which sent both blue-chips into a downward spiral.
The investor base involved in the class action ranges from high-net worth individuals with $1mn at stake to modest retail investors with $1,000-$2,000 on the line, according to Gutbrod.
“The impression I am getting is that they are very diverse – from the retail investor who puts his last money on something
as glossy as share in April after reading some advertisement to pretty sophisticated investors.”
Gutbrod believes that the counter-sanctions to confiscate shares may not even be legal. “This legislation is not even in place for here or seizing oligarch yachts in Italy,” he said.
The next target for the lawyers is Otkritie Bank, which was previously bailed out by the Central Bank. A similar number of clients are believed to be affected with the number of claims rising daily.
Potential claimants are asked to contact Destra Legal here at their website.
“All the major banks and brokers have a similar problem, and our claim represents just a small part of the overall number of investors affected,” said Feldman. “Some like Sovcombank sent out a warning notice and recommendation to sell the stock once they got sanctioned but not most of the others.”
VTB’s press service did not immediately comment to an emailed request for comment.
Andrei Kostin, the former Soviet diplomat who runs VTB, last month said sanctions had frozen "billions of dollars" of its assets, but the lender still had the funds to buy bailed out rival Otkritie.
Tourists stay away from Montenegro as prices rival Cote d’Azur
bne IntelIiNews
Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic has warned that the number of foreign tourists during the summer season in the country is lower than expected due to the significantly increased prices at hotels and restaurants, Indikator.ba reported on July 19.
Tourism is a key industry for Montenegro’s economy, contributing around a quarter to its GDP. Although the authorities have projected that this summer season might be better than that in 2019, so far the number of visitors is lower than expected.
Abazovic noted that the prices are equal to those at the Cote d’Azur, resulting in a lower number of visitors.
On the other hand, the income from tourism is at the expected level, Abazovic noted.
According to the latest statistics office data, Montenegro’s consumer prices went up by an annual 13.5% in June, after
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rising by 11.7% y/y in May. Food and non-alcoholic prices increased the most in May, by 22.5% y/y.
Mirko Stanic, member of the leadership of the Montenegrin Social Democratic Party (SDP), commented to Mina Business