Russia Seizes Control of Saint Petersburg Airport From Foreign Shareholders
01 Décembre 2023 - 12:53PM
Dow Jones News
By Mauro Orru
Russia ordered the transfer of rights to manage Saint
Petersburg's Pulkovo airport from foreign shareholders--such as
Germany's Fraport--to a new entity, the latest seizure by the
Kremlin of assets in which with foreign groups still have
interests.
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree that
effectively transfers the stakes that foreign groups own in
Northern Capital Gateway--the company that operates Pulkovo
airport--to a new entity, VVSS Holding. Fraport owns a 25% stake in
Northern Capital Gateway as part of a 30-year concession agreement
that was signed in 2009 to operation and expand the airport.
The decree said the move was due to "the threat to the national
interests and economic security of the Russian Federation" and
violations by some foreign investors of obligations related to the
management of Northern Capital Gateway, though it didn't elaborate.
Fraport didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
While Fraport and other shareholders, including Qatar's F3
Holding and Emirati Thirty Seventh Investment Company, still hold
their stakes in the new entity, according to the decree, their
voting rights are now controlled by VVSS's management.
The move highlights the risks to Western companies still
operating in Russia, or looking to leave, more than a year after
Moscow invaded Ukraine.
In April, Russia decreed that the state can take temporary
control of assets of companies or individuals from what the Kremlin
calls unfriendly states.
Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 01, 2023 06:38 ET (11:38 GMT)
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