Moscow, Russian Federation September 21, 2007
Risks Relating to the Subsidiary Shares and the Markets in which They Trade
Download 4.8 Kb. Pdf ko'rish
|
- Bu sahifa navigatsiya:
- Lack of developed corporate and securities laws and regulations in Russia may limit the ability of Russian
- The Subsidiary Shares may be delisted from RTS or MICEX, the FSFM permission for the Regulation S
- Corporate governance standards in Russia are not of the same standard as those in Western Europe or the
- Reporting standards and requirements in Russia are in many respects less stringent and less consistently
- Shareholder liability under Russian legislation could cause RAO UES to become liable for the obligations of any subsidiaries of RAO UES
- Shareholder rights provisions under Russian law may impose additional costs on the relevant Holdcos and
- If the Subsidiaries’ minority shareholders were to challenge successfully past or future interested party
- Subsidiaries’ business, revenues, results of operations or prospects or the value of the Subsidiary Shares
- Some transactions between RAO UES and/or the Subsidiaries and their respective interested parties may
- Due to the lack of a central share registration system in Russia, transactions in respect of a company’s shares
- The Spin-Offs may require the adoption of additional legislation with respect to implementation of the
Risks Relating to the Subsidiary Shares and the Markets in which They Trade The illiquidity of the market for Russian securities can adversely affect realizations and valuations Because of its limited size, and as is typical of securities markets in many emerging markets, the market for Russian securities is fairly illiquid. If the investment climate in Russia deteriorates, or in periods of market uncertainty or distress, the markets for the securities in Russian companies may become 70 increasingly illiquid or even cease to function effectively for a period of time. Furthermore, settlement of transactions may be subject to delay and uncertainty in an illiquid market. Moreover, the sale of illiquid securities may result in higher brokerage charges and dealer discounts and other selling expenses than the sale of more liquid securities. As a result of these and other factors, the ability of the Subsidiaries’ shareholders to liquidate its existing positions and invest in new assets in a timely fashion and to receive or pay a fair price in response to changes in economic and other conditions may be limited. Furthermore, the ability of the Subsidiaries’ shareholders in an illiquid market to obtain reliable information about the resale value of its investments or the risks to which such investments are exposed may be limited. Illiquidity contributes to uncertainty about the values ascribed to investments when net asset value determinations are made, which can cause those determinations to reflect amounts more than those that could be realized if the Subsidiaries’ shareholders were to seek to liquidate its investments particularly under disorderly market conditions. Lack of developed corporate and securities laws and regulations in Russia may limit the ability of Russian companies to attract future investment or undertake capital markets transactions The regulation and supervision of the securities market, financial intermediaries and issuers are considerably less developed in Russia than in the United States and Western European countries. Securities laws, including those relating to corporate governance, disclosure and reporting requirements, have only recently been adopted, whereas laws relating to anti-fraud safeguards, insider trading restrictions and fiduciary duties are rudimentary or non-existent. In addition, the Russian securities market is regulated by several different authorities, which are often in competition with each other. These include: the Federal Service for Financial Markets (FSFM); the Ministry of Finance; the Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS); and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the ‘‘CBR’’). The regulations of these various authorities are not always coordinated and may be contradictory. In addition, Russian corporate and securities rules and regulations and their interpretation or application can change rapidly, which may materially adversely affect the ability of Russian companies to conduct securities-related transactions. While some important areas are subject to virtually no oversight, the regulatory requirements imposed on Russian issuers in other areas result in delays in conducting securities offerings and in accessing the capital markets. It is often unclear whether or how regulations, decisions and letters issued by the various regulatory authorities apply. As a result, the Subsidiaries may face difficulties when undertaking capital markets transactions or in complying with their on-going securities law obligations, or be subject to fines or other enforcement measures despite their best efforts at compliance. These weaknesses could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition and results of operations of the Subsidiaries. The Subsidiary Shares may be delisted from RTS or MICEX, the FSFM permission for the Regulation S GDR Facilities may be revoked, and the Regulation S GDR Facilities may have to be terminated The shares of certain of the Holdcos and Subsidiaries are or may in the future be listed and traded on RTS and/or MICEX. In accordance with current Russian listing rules enacted by the Decree of the FSFM No. 06-68/pz-n dated June 22, 2006 (as amended), a company’s shares may be delisted from a stock exchange if, among other things, the company’s shares do not comply with the listing requirements, the company is not in compliance with Russian securities laws or the company has suffered losses in three consecutive years. If the shares of any of the relevant Holdcos or Subsidiaries are de-listed from RTS or MICEX, as applicable, the liquidity or trading price of such shares may be materially adversely affected. Although a Russian stock exchange listing is a condition to the issuance by FSFM of approval for circulation of shares in the form of depositary receipts, Russian securities law and regulations are silent as to whether a de-listing constitutes grounds for revocation of the FSFM approval for the depositary circulation of shares in the form of depositary receipts. While RAO UES is not aware of any other Russian issuer that has been de-listed on such grounds or has had its FSFM approval revoked due to de-listing, the absence of an express provision in this regard in the Russian securities regulatory regime 71 creates uncertainty as to whether a de-listing, for example, due to failure to comply with corporate governance requirements, may have such consequences. A Russian stock exchange de-listing and/or an FSFM approval revocation would have a material adverse effect on the value of the relevant Holdco Shares or Subsidiary Shares and result in the termination of the Relevant Regulation S GDR Facility in respect of the Subsidiary or Holdco. Corporate governance standards in Russia are not of the same standard as those in Western Europe or the United States, and, as a result of the limited protection of rights of minority shareholders under Russian law, investors may be unable to pursue legal redress against the Subsidiaries Corporate governance standards in Russia are not of the same standard as corporate governance standards in Western European countries or the United States and generally provide less protection for investors. In particular, corporate governance practices in Russia have suffered from lack of transparency and information disclosure, both to the public and to shareholders; lack of independence of directors; and insufficient regulatory oversight and protection of shareholders’ rights. Corporate governance standards for many Russian companies have proven to be poor. Despite recent amendments to the Federal Law on Joint Stock Companies No. 208-FZ, dated December 26, 1995 (the ‘‘Joint Stock Companies Law’’), minority shareholders have somewhat of a limited ability under Russian law to protect their rights against majority shareholders. In general, minority shareholder protection under Russian law derives from supermajority shareholder approval requirements for certain corporate actions, as well as from the ability of a shareholder to demand that the company purchase the shares held by that shareholder if that shareholder voted against or did not participate in voting on certain types of actions. Companies are also required by Russian law to obtain the approval of disinterested shareholders for certain transactions with interested parties. While these protections are similar, for example, to the types of protections available to minority shareholders in U.S. corporations, in practice, corporate governance standards for many Russian companies, in terms of minority shareholder rights as well as in other respects, have not always been rigorously applied. In addition, the supermajority shareholder approval requirement is met by a vote of 75% of all voting shares that are present at a shareholders’ meeting. Thus, controlling shareholders owning less than 75% of the issued and outstanding shares of a company may have a 75% or more voting power if some minority shareholders are not present at the meeting. In situations where controlling shareholders effectively have 75% or more of the voting power at a shareholders’ meeting, they are in a position to approve amendments to the charter of the company or significant transactions (including asset transfers), which could be prejudicial to the interests of minority shareholders. It is possible that the majority shareholders and management of the Subsidiaries may in the future not act in the best interests of minority shareholders, and this could materially and adversely affect the rights and interests of the minority shareholder. Disclosure and reporting requirements, as well as anti-fraud legislation, have only recently been enacted in Russia. The concept of fiduciary duties of management or directors to their companies and shareholders is also relatively new and is not well developed in Russia. Violations of disclosure and reporting requirements or breaches of fiduciary duties to the Subsidiaries or to their shareholders could materially adversely affect the business, financial condition and results of operations of the Subsidiaries. As a result of these deficiencies of shareholder protections, some minority shareholders of Russian companies have suffered significant losses due to abusive share dilutions, asset transfers and transfer pricing practices, while other shareholders have suffered as a result of fraudulent bankruptcies initiated by hostile creditors. While the Joint Stock Companies Law provides that shareholders owning not less than 1% of the company’s ordinary shares may bring an action for damages to the company caused by that company’s managers or directors (and provides further that any shareholder may bring actions against a company’s management and directors for compensation of damages caused by breach by those directors or management of certain anti-takeover provisions of the Joint Stock Companies Law), Russian courts to date do not have much experience with respect to such lawsuits. In Russia, there is no recognized practice of class action litigation. Accordingly, the shareholders’ ability to pursue legal redress against the Subsidiaries may be limited. 72 Reporting standards and requirements in Russia are in many respects less stringent and less consistently applied than in most Western countries, and items appearing in financial statements of a Russian company may not reflect the company’s financial position or results Accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and requirements in Russia are in many respects less stringent and less consistently applied than in most Western countries. Less information is available to investors investing in Russian companies than to investors investing in Western companies, and historic information is not necessarily comparable or relevant. Most of the largest companies in Russia measured by market capitalization report their results using IFRS or U.S. GAAP, which is likely to be of benefit to investors as regards their ability to understand and interpret the financial results of those companies. However, the items appearing in financial statements of a Russian company, even if prepared in accordance with IFRS or U.S. GAAP, may not reflect the company’s financial position or results in the way that they would be reflected had such financial statements been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, the United Kingdom or other developed countries. Shareholder liability under Russian legislation could cause RAO UES to become liable for the obligations of any subsidiaries of RAO UES Russia’s Civil Code and Joint Stock Companies Law generally provide that shareholders in a Russian joint stock company are not liable for the obligations of the joint stock company and bear only the risk of loss of their investment. However, there are two exceptions to this rule. Firstly, the shareholders or other persons that have the right to issue binding instructions to a company or otherwise determine its actions may be held secondarily liable for the company’s obligations in the event of the company’s bankruptcy, to the extent that such bankruptcy is caused by their actions or omission. In order to impose secondary liability on such shareholders or other controlling persons, it is necessary to prove that they performed their actions or omission knowingly or were aware that such actions or omission could result in the company’s bankruptcy. The second exception applies to companies that are able to determine the decisions of another company, based on their prevailing ownership of equity of the target company, a contract or otherwise. The entity capable of controlling such decisions is deemed an ‘‘effective parent’’. The entity whose decisions are capable of being so controlled is deemed an ‘‘effective subsidiary’’. Under the Joint Stock Companies Law, an effective parent bears joint and several responsibility for transactions concluded by the effective subsidiary in carrying out these decisions if: • this decision-making capability is provided for in the charter of the effective subsidiary or in a contract between the effective subsidiary and effective parent; and • the effective parent gives mandatory directions to the effective subsidiary. In addition, an effective parent is secondarily liable for an effective subsidiary’s debts if an effective subsidiary becomes insolvent or bankrupt as a result of the action of an effective parent to the extent that such effective parent was aware that such actions would lead to the bankruptcy or insolvency of the effective subsidiary. In these instances, other shareholders of the effective subsidiary may claim compensation for the effective subsidiary’s losses from the effective parent which caused the effective subsidiary to take action or fail to take action knowing that such action or failure to take action would result in losses. The Subsidiaries may be liable in some cases for the debts of their subsidiaries. This liability could have a material adverse effect on the Subsidiaries’ business, results of operations and financial condition. Shareholder rights provisions under Russian law may impose additional costs on the relevant Holdcos and the Subsidiaries, which could cause the financial results of the relevant Holdcos and the Subsidiaries to suffer Russian law provides that shareholders of Russian companies that vote against, or do not vote on, certain significant matters have the right to sell their shares to the company at market value. The decisions that trigger this right to sell shares include: • decisions with respect to a reorganization; • the approval by shareholders of a ‘‘major transaction’’, which for this purpose, in general terms, is a transaction involving property worth more than 50% of the gross book value of the company’s assets calculated according to RAS, regardless of whether the transaction is actually consummated; and 73 • the amendment of the company’s charter, or adoption of a new version, in a manner that limits shareholder rights. The obligation of the relevant Holdcos and the Subsidiaries (or, as the case may be, the subsidiaries of these companies) to purchase shares in these circumstances is limited to 10% of the company’s net assets calculated in accordance with RAS at the time the matter at issue is voted upon. Any such repurchases could result in the incurrence of additional material expenses and have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition and results of operations of the Subsidiaries. If the Subsidiaries’ minority shareholders were to challenge successfully past or future interested party transactions or fail to approve future interested party transactions or other related matters, the invalidation of such transactions or failure to approve such matters could have a material adverse effect on the Subsidiaries’ business, revenues, results of operations or prospects or the value of the Subsidiary Shares The Subsidiaries have carried out, and continue to carry out, transactions with RAO UES, several of RAO UES’ subsidiaries and other state-controlled entities, such as Gazprom, which, under Russian law, may be considered ‘‘interested party transactions.’’ For example, the Subsidiaries’ Regulated Contracts with electricity supply companies, which are subsidiaries of RAO UES, may be considered as interested party transactions. Interested party transactions require the approval of either disinterested directors, or disinterested shareholders of the Subsidiary depending on the nature of the transaction and parties involved. The provisions of Russian law defining which transactions must be approved as ‘‘interested party transactions’’ are subject to different interpretations. Under Russian law, the statute of limitations for invalidation of interested party transactions made in violation of statutory requirements is one year from the date when the claimant learned or should have learned of such transaction. Although the statute of limitations for most of the transactions have already expired, any such challenges, if successful, could result in the invalidation of transactions, which could have a material adverse effect on the Subsidiaries’ business, revenues, results of operations, or prospects of the value of the Subsidiary Shares. The Subsidiaries cannot be certain that their (or the RAO UES Group’s) compliance with these concepts will not be subject to challenge. In addition, there are a large number of minority shareholders holding small stakes who do not have sufficient incentive to participate in the shareholder votes. When a significant shareholder or group of shareholders in the Subsidiaries are the interested party (or parties) to a transaction and are consequently disqualified from voting on the relevant transaction under Russian law, it may be difficult to establish the necessary majority of non-interested shareholders in order to approve the transaction. Some transactions between RAO UES and/or the Subsidiaries and their respective interested parties may have required, or may require, the approval of disinterested members of the board of directors or disinterested shareholders Russian law requires a joint-stock company that enters into transactions with certain related persons that are referred to as ‘‘interested parties’’ to comply with special approval procedures. Under Russian law, an ‘‘interested party’’ means: (1) any member of the board of directors or the collegiate executive body of the company, (2) the chief executive officer of the company (including a managing organization or hired manager), (3) a shareholder who, together with its affiliates, owns at least 20% of the company’s voting shares or (4) a person has the legal right to give mandatory instructions to the company, if any of the above listed persons, or a close relative or affiliate of such person, is, in each case: • a party to a transaction with the company, whether directly or as a representative or intermediary, or a beneficiary of the transaction; • the owner of at least 20% of the issued shares (equity stake) in a company that is a party to a transaction with the company, whether directly or as a representative or intermediary, or a beneficiary of the transaction; • a member of a governing body of a company that is a party to a transaction with the company, whether directly or as a representative or intermediary, or a beneficiary of the transaction or an officer of the managing organization of such company; or • in other cases stipulated by the company’s charter. 74 Due to the way in which the Russian law on interested party transactions is drafted, the special approval procedures that apply to interested party transactions may apply to transactions between entities within a consolidated group, such as the RAO UES Group or the group formed by a Subsidiary and its subsidiaries, even if such entities are directly or indirectly wholly owned by the same parent company. In these cases, as a practical matter, the RAO UES Group may not, in the past, have obtained, and the Subsidiaries may not, following the Spin-Offs, be able to obtain, the necessary approvals, which require a majority vote of the ‘‘independent disinterested directors’’ or of the ‘‘disinterested shareholders’’ for a particular transaction. The failure to obtain necessary approvals for transactions within the RAO UES Group or the Subsidiaries could result in the invalidation of such transactions. To the extent any historical transaction within the RAO UES Group relates to the business or assets of the Subsidiaries, invalidation of such a transaction could adversely affect the Subsidiaries’ businesses. In addition, to the extent the Subsidiaries’ transactions may be invalidated, such invalidation could have an adverse effect on the businesses of the Subsidiaries. In addition, the concept of ‘‘interested parties’’ is defined with reference to the concepts of ‘‘affiliated persons’’ and ‘‘group of persons,’’ which are subject to many different interpretations under Russian law. Due to the lack of a central share registration system in Russia, transactions in respect of a company’s shares may be improperly or inaccurately recorded and share registration may be lost Ownership of Russian joint-stock company shares is documented by entries in a share register and is evidenced by extracts from that register, or, if the shares are held through a nominee or custodian, ownership is evidenced by entries in deposit accounts with such nominee or custodian which, in turn, is registered in the share register. Currently, there is no central share registration system in Russia. Share registers are maintained by the Subsidiaries themselves or, if a company has more than 50 shareholders or it so elects, by licensed registrars located throughout Russia. Regulations have been issued regarding the licensing conditions for such registrars and custodians, as well as the procedures to be followed by both companies maintaining their own registers and licensed registrars when performing the functions of registrar. In practice, however, these regulations have not been strictly enforced, and registrars and custodians generally have relatively low levels of capitalization and inadequate insurance coverage. Moreover, registrars are not necessarily subject to effective governmental supervision. For example, Russian law does not expressly prohibit affiliation between a registrar and its shareholders, including the entities whose share registers such registrar maintains. Due to the lack of a central and rigorously regulated share registration system in Russia, transactions in respect of a shareholder’s shares may be improperly or inaccurately recorded and share registration may be lost, whether through fraud, negligence, or oversight by registrars and custodians. This creates risks of loss not normally associated with investments in more developed securities markets. The registrars and custodians are likely to be incapable of compensating shareholders for registrar misconduct. Under Russian law, registrars bear liability only in case of their willful violation of procedures for keeping the share register. With respect to other breaches, liability is imposed either on the company or, if it is provided in the agreement between the company and its registrar, on the company and the registrar jointly. The Spin-Offs may require the adoption of additional legislation with respect to implementation of the specific procedures involved, without which the Spin-Offs may not be successfully completed or may be subject to challenge Although based on the previous regulations of corporate reorganization, reorganizations in the form contemplated in the Spin-Offs were allowed only by recent amendments to the Joint Stock Companies Law, which were adopted in July 2006. This new method of reorganization has not yet been sufficiently widely tested in practice and certain aspects of the Spin-Offs have not been tested in practice at all. Moreover, the implementation of new reorganization rules and successful completion of the Spin-Offs may require changes or clarifications to certain legislation and regulatory procedures related to the Spin-Offs, including changes to certain rules of the FSFM. If such changes or clarifications are not adopted before the Reorganization Date, there can be no assurance that the Spin-Offs will occur as set forth herein and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. In addition, it is possible that regulators, judicial authorities or third parties will not challenge the Spin-Offs or their compliance with applicable laws, decrees and regulations. 75 |
Ma'lumotlar bazasi mualliflik huquqi bilan himoyalangan ©fayllar.org 2024
ma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling
ma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling