On April 25, Russian President signed a decree1 on the introduction of temporary asset management of persons from unfriendly states in response to the seizure or restriction of rights to Russian property abroad.
The Decree was issued due to the "need to take urgent measures" in response to the illegal actions of the United States and other states aimed at depriving or restricting the property rights of the Russian Federation, its companies and citizens.
It is established that in the event of such actions or the emergency of a "threat to national, economic, energy and other types of security" and the defense capability of the Russian Federation, temporary management is introduced with respect to the following categories of property located on the territory of the Russian Federation that belongs to the persons from unfriendly states:
1) movable and immovable property
2) securities and shares in the authorized capitals of Russian companies)
3) property rights
Temporary property management is enacted and terminated by the decision of the President. Rosimushchestvo will be the temporary manager of such assets, unless the President determines another person (the candidacy is proposed by Rosimushchestvo). The temporary manager will undertake to conduct an inventory of the property under temporary management and ensure its safety. It will also exercise the powers of the owner (except for the powers to dispose of property).
The financing of expenses caused by the temporary management of the property will be carried out at the expense of income from its use.
The Decree establishes five categories of assets in respect of which it is possible to introduce temporary management: "Movable property", "Immovable property", "Securities", "Shares in the authorized capitals of Russian legal entities" and "Property rights".
At the moment, the list includes three objects that belong to the category of securities. Those transferred to the temporary management of Rosimushchestvo are:
- Unipro PJSC shares owned by Uniper SE (83.73%);
- Fortum PJSC shares owned by Fortum Russia B. V. (69.8807%);
- Fortum PJSC shares owned by Fortum Holding B. V. (28.3488%).
The question remains open as to what actions shareholders need to take to terminate the interim management procedure, and whether this is possible in principle.
1 Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No 302 "On the temporary management of certain property" dated 04.25.2023