Russian fertilizer producer Acron, which is controlled by Vyacheslav Kantor, was on a list of six “economically significant” companies registered abroad that could be forced to redomicile, according to a decree from Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin published on the Russian government’s website on March 4, according to Bloomberg.
Other companies on the list include Alfa Bank and retailer X5, both co-owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman. A court could order the transfer of company ownership to a new Russian-registered entity. Foreign holders could be offered compensation for the value of their assets or allowed to reclaim their rights “at some point” in Russia, according to the report.
The announcement followed a law signed by President Vladimir Putin last August that aimed to break the decades-old practice in Russia of company owners holding their assets outside the country in order to take advantage of more investor-friendly legal systems and to allow dividends to be paid in foreign currency.