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2023-08-22 13:29:36

Ozon’s securities on the Moscow Exchange did not react to another refusal by NASDAQ to cancel the delisting of the retailer’s receipts: on August 22, the American stock exchange once more rejected Ozon’s second, final, appeal once morest the decision of the foreign exchange. At 15:37 Moscow time, Ozon papers on the Russian exchange cost 2924.5 rubles. a piece. Before publication messages in the retailer’s Telegram channel, they were only slightly cheaper – 2927.5 rubles.

In 2020, Ozon placed shares on the American NASDAQ exchange, at the same time the company’s receipts appeared on the Moscow Exchange, where they are traded in rubles. But following the start of the special operation, NASDAQ suspended trading in Ozon shares, and this spring announced a forced delisting. The retailer has challenged this decision twice. Ozon did not violate the rules and procedures of NASDAQ and challenged the decision in order to protect the interests of investors who bought the company’s receipts on the American exchange, a representative of the retailer told Vedomosti. The delisting decision does not affect Ozon’s operations, financial strength or business development plans in any way, he adds.

At the next stage of the delisting process, the NASDAQ Board of Directors will finally approve or reject the decision on the final appeal. If approved, Ozon’s receipts will no longer be listed on the exchange in a few weeks.

Ozon emphasizes that trading in the company’s securities on the Moscow Exchange will continue as usual. “We plan to keep the listing in the capital (of Russia. – Vedomosti),” the statement said. International investors will retain the right to vote at the shareholder meeting and the right to dividends following delisting on NASDAQ, the retailer also writes. In addition, they can trade Ozon securities on the OTC market or transfer their securities to the circuit of the Astana International Exchange (AIX).

At the end of July, Ozon announced that within a few days its receipts would begin trading on AIX. But so far, trading has not started, judging by the information on the website of the Astana exchange. The placement on AIX might potentially increase the liquidity of Ozon’s papers and provide investors with the opportunity to trade securities on the exchange, his representative noted. But the beginning of trading on the stock exchange of Kazakhstan may lead to sales in shares by foreigners, experts interviewed by Vedomosti said. About 35% of Ozon shares are in circulation, of which, according to experts from the My Investments Telegram channel, the majority are foreign funds.

Ozon’s attempts to keep the listing in New York is more of an image story, says the head of the stock market experts department “BCS investment world” Albert Koroev. She obviously has little chance of that, he estimates. Anton Kravchenko, head of the equity department at Pervaya Management Company, agrees: Ozon no longer needs a listing on the NASDAQ. He advises the company to focus on redomiciliation to Russia and then on buying back its shares from foreign shareholders at a discount. “As we saw in the case of Magnit, foreign investors are ready to sell shares at a 50% discount,” the analyst recalls. Ozon needed an initial listing in New York to trade in Moscow without registering a prospectus, but the company solved that problem by listing in Kazakhstan, Kravchenko adds.

In addition to Ozon, NASDAQ also announced the delisting of Yandex securities, Qiwi and HeadHunter. Everyone protested the decision. In June, the American exchange satisfied the complaints of Yandex and Qiwi, but not HeadHunter, which accepted the delisting decision and refused to file a second appeal.

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