The depository of The Bank of New York Mellon explained the conditions for the receipt of final dividends by MMC last year by the owners of Norilsk Nickel’s receipts.
Dividends are no longer transferred to BNY Mellon’s account with a Russian depository („JSC Raiffeisen”), the depository said in a statement.
Instead, holders of receipts according to the register data as of June 14, 2022, who have special type „C” accounts or standard ruble accounts, can apply directly to Raiffeisen by providing supporting documents.
This must be done by September 15, 2022, BNY Mellon specified.
The changes were caused by the decision of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of June 10 to adjust the procedure for paying dividends on Russian shares held in accounts in foreign depositories.
Norilsk Nickel paid 1,166.22 rubles. (or about $15.55 at the rate of the Central Bank on the day the recommendation was announced on April 22) per ordinary share for 2021. In general, about 178.3 billion rubles (about $2.4 billion at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation as of April 22) were allocated for dividend payments.
The final dividend for 2021 is the last one paid by Norilsk Nickel in accordance with the ten-year shareholder agreement expiring at the end of 2022. The dividend formula from this agreement assumes payments at the level of 60% of EBITDA for the year.
In 2022 and 2023, against the backdrop of additional costs and the expiration of the agreement, shareholders should not expect the level of profitability that the company’s dividend payments provided earlier, Vladimir Potanin, President of the MMC, said in July.
Vladimir Potanin’s Interros now owns about 35.95% of Norilsk Nickel’s shares. Rusal controls 26.25%. The share of Crispian is about 4% of the shares. Treasury shares that Norilsk Nickel left for the incentive program – 0.5%. Free float „Norilsk Nickel” – about 33%.
About 20% of Norilsk Nickel’s charter capital comes from ADRs. Norilsk Nickel has received permission from the Government Commission for Control over Foreign Investments in the Russian Federation to maintain the ADR program on the London Stock Exchange until April 28, 2023.