FTSE Russell to delete Russian firms from indexes including Evraz
London Stock Exchange subsidiary FTSE Russell has said it intends to delete several Russian firms from its indexes.
Companies to be deleted include Evraz, the FTSE 100 steel giant, of which former Chelsea owner and billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich owns a 29 per cent stake.
Other firms include Polymetal, the FTSE 100 precious metals mining group, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange as well as the Moscow Exchange.
The list of deletions also features the FTSE 250 London-based gold miner Petropavlovsk and Raven Property, property investment group focused on commercial property in Russia.
A statement issued by the FTSE Russell said the decision came after feedback from FTSE Russell’s External Advisory Committees and “a range of market participants.”
The feedback stated “that the ability to buy or sell shares of the index constituents below is severely restricted due to major international brokerage firms no longer supporting trading of these securities and therefore there is insufficient institutional liquidity and market depth.”
The statement added: “Consequently, this will prevent index trackers from replicating the ongoing inclusion of these names within the FTSE Russell indices.
The aforementioned members were to be removed to make sure the index calculations can be “readily understood and followed by index users.”
The firms will be deleted from all FTSE Russell indices “in conjunction with the forthcoming March 2022 index reviews, at zero value.” This change will be effective from the open on 21 March 2022.
The subsidiary had already announced that it would drop Russian bonds from its fixed-income indexes.
This came after reports of a “complete inability for international investors to repatriate bond proceeds in ruble and non-ruble denominated assets” from the Russian government and bond issuers.