British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday (Feb 15) threatened to block
the activity of Russian companies on London's financial markets if an
invasion of Ukraine did take place.
Last week, Britain also passed a new law that would allow it to impose
broader sanctions on Russian individuals and entities that support the
Russian government in harassing Ukraine.
"We ensure that we take more steps to expose the face of Russian property
ownership whether in this city or elsewhere.
And also taking steps to stop Russian companies from raising capital in the
London financial markets," Johnson said.
Johnson and his staff have not specified who the sanctions will be, but have
pledged that there will be no place for the Russian oligarchs to escape from
his scrutiny.
London is considered a very promising ground for Russian companies to raise
capital.
Reporting from Reuters, Russia's largest IPO was the US$10.7 billion
flotation by oil company Rosneft in London and Moscow in 2006.
Unfortunately, capital raising was hampered when Russia's annexation of
Crimea from Ukraine took place in 2014.
Last year, retailer Fix Price held dual listings in London and Moscow and
raised up to $2 billion. It was the biggest IPO since Western sanctions were
imposed in 2014.
Another Russian company based in London, TI Softline, was also officially
listed in late 2021.
To date the London Stock Exchange has listed 24 deposit receipts from
companies incorporated in Russia, making their shares tradable from London.
Among these are lenders Sberbank and VTB, energy giant Gazprom and, oil
company Lukoil.
