Translated material
The cost of war in Ukraine. Online December 30
The Bell continues to conduct online, dedicated to the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine, which began on February 24.
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21:21 The National Settlement Depository (NSD), after discussions with Clearstream, confirmed the difficulties in unlocking the assets of Russian investors. At a December 30 meeting, Clearstream advised that "as a result of its engagement with the Luxembourg Ministry of Finance, the asset release information previously received has changed significantly," according to NSD.
“The general authorization cannot be enforced for Clearstream as an applicant because it requires the complete termination of the contractual relationship with NSD for all assets that are accounted for by NSD, which, in the opinion of Clearstream, is not possible, ”the message says. Thus, “the general permit cannot be enforced,” concludes NSD. It is noted that "only securities issued in Luxembourg are subject to exemption." Assets in any other jurisdictions require the consent of the regulators of these countries before January 7th.
19:35 Exchange gas prices in Europe fell below $800 per thousand cubic meters for the first time since February 16. On Friday, they fell by 16%. Gas prices are falling amid warm and windy weather in Europe, which is forecast to continue for at least another week after the New Year. Even in northern countries it will be 6-10 degrees Celsius warmer than normal. This has already significantly reduced the load on the power grid, gas has been getting cheaper for more than a week, and stocks in gas storage facilities are growing.
17:46 Putin traditionally congratulated the heads of state and government of foreign countries on the New Year, congratulations are published on the Kremlin website. Of the European leaders, only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as well as Presidents of Serbia and Belarus Alexander Vucic and Alexander Lukashenko received congratulations.
15:30 Kommersant found out the price of the deal of Promsvyazbank, which bought control over SMP Bank from Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, is 46 billion rubles.
This is a surprisingly high price for a bank under blocking sanctions, roughly equal to its capital. Recall that the purchase of Rosbank from Societe Generale by Vladimir Potanin's Interros was estimated at 0.2–0.3 capital. And the Otkritie group recently bought by VTB from the Central Bank cost the state bank 0.6 capital.
The publication, referring to a participant in the corporate party of SMP Bank at the end of December, quotes the chairman of the board of the bank, Alexander Levkovsky: “Under the current conditions, to pay capital ... almost all the capital for such a business in such a difficult time - no one else in our country could do this.” According to a Kommersant source, Levkovsky, saying goodbye to employees, said that "it is not the one who plays to the end who wins, but the one who leaves with the money."
14:40 Transfers of Russians to deposits abroad in the III quarter reached a record 1.5 trillion rubles. This is 26 times higher than last year's third quarter and more than the first and second quarters combined.
14:05 The shareholders of Detsky Mir approved the reorganization of the company from joint-stock to private. Shareholders who did not take part in the voting have the right to demand the repurchase of their shares at a price of 71.5 rubles per ordinary share, the release says.
Kommersant wrote that there would be a lot of people who want to get rid of shares at such a price, but the buyback amount cannot exceed 10% of the net asset value of PJSC Detsky Mir at the date of the shareholders' meeting (approximately 1.6 billion rubles). If the number of securities offered for redemption exceeds this amount, the shares will be redeemed for a tenth of the net assets in proportion to the stated requirements. 60% of Detsky Mir's shares were in free float.
12:35 Arkady Volozh said goodbye to Yandex employees.
Today, the founder of Yandex published his farewell post on the company's internal portal (the text of the message is at the disposal of The Bell). In it, Volozh supported the upcoming restructuring and spoke about his plans.
“Let's clarify where I am and what I am. As you know, I have not managed the Russian Yandex for a long time, and this year I had to leave all positions in the company altogether. Now the board of directors and management are developing a plan for the restructuring of the company - in the current conditions, it seems to me that it is quite reasonable and necessary. I am still interested in giving advice to four international startups that can develop outside the Yandex holding.
In the hustle and bustle of the last months, I never said goodbye to you. The New Year is a good opportunity to fix this. I wanted to say a lot to you, but for now I will limit myself to just a few words. Yandex is the project of my life. And not only mine. All these 30 years, we have been building it together - from scratch, in a globally competitive environment, striving to be open and honest. Thanks to everyone who built and is building the best technology company in the country.
I love and hug you all. I miss you very much. May the new year bring peace to all."
12:00 During an online meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin invited him to Moscow on an official visit in the spring of 2023. The Chinese leader said that against the backdrop of a difficult international situation, his country is ready to build up political cooperation with Russia and be global partners.
11:17 Promsvyazbank Group has officially confirmed control over SMP Bank after the buyout of shares from Arkady and Boris Rotenberg.
The main thing for the night and morning:
- Russia will have two of its own mobile operating systems - Aurora for the public sector and something based on Android for ordinary Russians. The creation of the latter should be done by a company established by VK, Yandex, Sberbank and Rostelecom.
- The Ministry of Finance will exclude the "frozen" euros, pounds and yen from the currency structure of the National Welfare Fund, but will increase the maximum share of the yuan to 80%, gold - up to 40%.
- The purchase of SMP Bank by Arkady and Boris Rotenberg by Promsvyazbank, the backbone for the defense industry, may be announced before the end of the year. With the deal, Promsvyazbank will receive its own bank of bad debts - the Mosoblbank being rehabilitated, for the Rotenbergs it looks like a cash out.
- The main oddity of inflation in Russia - near-zero dynamics with an increase in the money supply - is explained by the growth of shadow calculations, wrote Dmitry Belousov, head of the macroeconomic analysis and forecasting department of the TsMASF.
- Russian oil companies this year will receive record payments under the damper mechanism - 2.2 trillion rubles. However, in December the gasoline damper turned negative: the indicative gasoline price in the EU became lower than the domestic one due to the large discount of Urals oil.
- The New Year's Eve rally in the US stock market has materialized this year, but for stock indices, 2022 will still be the worst year since the crisis of 2008 . At Thursday's close, the Dow industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes had lost 8.6%, 19% and 33%, respectively, since the beginning of the year.
- The United States is discussing the supply of Bradley heavy infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, learned Bloomberg . They will occupy the tactical niche of tanks, which the Ukrainian leadership has been asking the United States for a long time and so far unsuccessfully.