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☆ IKEA will pay 6 million euros to East German prisoners forced to build their furniture in a landmark move
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-03 | by ( Sophie Tanno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Furniture giant IKEA has agreed to pay 6 million euros ($6.5 million) towards a government fund compensating victims of forced labor under Germany’s communist dictatorship, in a move campaigners hope will pressure other companies to follow. Political as well as criminal prisoners in Germany during the Cold War era were forced to build flatpack furniture for IKEA. IKEA representatives at the time were likely aware that political prisoners were being used to supplement labor, the report found. Sven Hoppe/picture-alliance/dpa/AP“After it became known that the company was involved in forced prison labor, IKEA accepted our invitation to talk. According to UOGK, IKEA is one of many companies that benefitted from forced prison labor in communist Germany.

Persons: Ernst, Young, Andreas Hampel, East Germany’s, Walter Kadner, “, ”, Dieter Dombrowski, UOGK, Sven Hoppe, ” Dombrowski, Rainer Wagner, Evelyn Zupke Organizations: CNN, IKEA, German Democratic, Getty, Union of Victims ’, of Communist, IKEA Germany Locations: Germany, East Germany, Soviet Union, German Democratic Republic, Rothensee, IKEA Germany, GDR, Eching, Bavaria

☆ Formed in the Cold War, former members of Germany’s Red Army Faction are now fugitives
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Sophie Tanno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —German authorities have been tracking down the former members of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a now-defunct Cold War-era militant group, who have been on the run for nearly 30 years. The RAF, he said, emerged in what was then West Berlin, at the “crossroads” of the Cold War. The first, and most prominent period from 1970-1977, saw the group murder public officials and US soldiers and take many hostages. In April 1975, six RAF members seized the West German Embassy in Stockholm in a hostage standoff with the goal of forcing the release of imprisoned RAF members. The Red Army Faction claimed responsibility for the assassination, but the perpetrators were never brought to justice.

Persons: Baader, –, Jürgen Ponto, Siegfried Buback, Daniela Klette, Burkhard Garweg, Ernst, Volker Staub, Klette, Claudia Ivone, Garweg, Staub, pouncing, ”, Ivone, Wolfgang Kraushaar, Kraushaar, Axel, Andreas Baader, Ukrike Meinhof, Meinhof, ” Kraushaar, Helmut Schmidt, Franz Josef Strauss, Axel Springer, Springer, Alfred Herrhausen, Willy Brandt Organizations: CNN, Red Army Faction, RAF, East, Stasi, Dresdner Bank, Germany’s Public, Office, Police, ARD, ” Reuters, Bild, Red Brigades, Nihon, Springer, Criminal Police, West German Embassy, West, Meinhof Group, Reuters, Democratic, Deutsche Bank Locations: Berlin, West Germany, Kreuzberg, Bonn, Weiterstadt, German, Italy, Japan, West Berlin, Vietnam, Lower Saxony, Stockholm, Bavarian, Cologne, GDR, Democratic Republic

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Russian retailer Magnit (MGNT.MM) said on Thursday it had fully completed a deal to buy back blocked shares from Western investors at a 50% discount by purchasing shares held through Euroclear, the first such arrangement since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Magnit said it had bought back 21,903,163.8 shares from shareholders, representing about 21.5% of all issued and outstanding shares at an amount of around 48.5 billion roubles ($507.32 million). "Magnit's GDR program depositary bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank, also took part, as well as international investors," Magnit said, such as hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and individuals. Magnit had tripled the size of its original offer after strong demand from Western investors. Russia's presidential office is currently reviewing a request from oil major Lukoil (LKOH.MM) to buy back up to 25% of its shares from foreign investors.

Persons: Magnit, Russia's, Magnit's, JPM, JP, Alexander Marrow, Gareth Jones Organizations: Reuters, Nordic, Magnit, Euroclear Bank, RIC, Kremlin, JPMorgan, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Thomson Locations: Euroclear, Ukraine, Russian, Italy, Singapore, Japan, Canada, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Magnit, Russia, Uzbekistan, Magnit's Moscow, Washington, GDR

Moscow's actions have deprived many foreign investors of the ability to trade in Russian securities, including depositary receipts. Investors are worried about future copycat actions by other governments who might look to reduce foreign influence over their leading companies. Depositary receipts, or DRs, are certificates issued by a bank representing shares in a foreign company traded on a local stock exchange. But events in Russia have forced many investors to write down the value of depositary receipts of Russian companies to zero, given their inability to trade them. CONSEQUENCESLoss of confidence in DRs could drain needed foreign capital from firms in emerging economies, for instance.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Peter C, Earle, Christopher Day, Michael Ashley Schulman, Goldman Sachs, III, Detsky Mir, Goldman, Otkrytie, Schulman, Grzegorz Drozdz, Malcolm Dorson, Sinead Cruise, Carolina Mandl, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, Global, American Institute for Economic Research, Reuters, Citigroup, Companies, Citi ., Reuters Graphics, DR, Investors, Doliver Advisors, Running, Capital Advisors, Conotoxia, Russian, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Brazil, China, Russia, GDR, GDRs, United States, Britain, London, Carolina, New York

According to JPM's circular, the shares currently unaccounted for are estimated to be less than 1% of the shares held in custody at another financial institution. This meant Deutsche was unable to reconcile the company shares held at another custodian bank with the depositary receipts on its own books. The Bank of Russia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on JP Morgan's search for the potentially missing Magnit shares. More than 60% of Magnit's shares are free-float, with shareholders including major global asset managers, Refinitiv data shows. When first announcing the plans, Magnit said its voluntary tender offer was also addressed to JPM, regarding shares held in its DR program custody account.

Persons: Morgan Chase, Mike Segar, Morgan, JPM, Deutsche, Russia's, Magnit, Sinead Cruise, Alexander Marrow, Jane Merriman Organizations: Co, New York City, REUTERS, Reuters, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bank . Lawyers, Deutsche, Bank of Russia, Settlement Depository, NSD, Kremlin, Thomson Locations: New York, Ukraine, Moscow, Russian, Krasnodar, Russia, Uzbekistan, Euroclear

☆ Clearstream suspends processing of new Russian share conversions after EU sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 29 (Reuters) - European clearing giant Clearstream has suspended processing new client instructions to convert or cancel their American and Global Depository Receipt holdings in Russian companies after the latest round of European Union sanctions against Moscow. Investors globally are facing challenges in recovering stranded Russian investments in a saga that is spilling over to implicate Western depositories. Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) has told clients it can no longer guarantee full access to Russian stocks that belong to them. Clearstream previously halted DR conversions in June 2022, only to resume processing in October. "The new rules quite strictly limit the conditions for the conversion of Russian securities for residents and citizens of the European Union," Grzegorz Drozdz, market analyst at investment company Conotoxia said.

Persons: Western, Clearstream, Grzegorz Drozdz, Conotoxia, Alexander Marrow, Sinead Cruise, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Global, Union, Moscow, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche, EU, Clearstream Banking, European Union, Thomson Locations: Russia, Europe

☆ Another Chinese company scraps GDR plan as listing rules tighten
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE, June 20 (Reuters) - Bethel Automotive Safety Systems Co (603596.SS) scrapped plans to issue Global Depository Receipts (GDR), citing changes in domestic and overseas capital market conditions, after China tightened rules for GDR listings. The new GDR rules by China's securities regulator last month put curbs on the use of proceeds and made issuances liable to national security reviews, potentially dampening Chinese companies' interest in listing in Europe, bankers said. The Shanghai-listed automotive braking system manufacturer said on Monday it decided to terminate the GDR plan after considering its financial and operational situations. Earlier this month, Shenzhen-listed medical devices maker Jiangsu Yuyue Medical Equipment & Supply Co (002223.SZ) cancelled a proposed Swiss GDR offering plan, citing changes in market conditions. Reporting by Jason Xue in Shanghai and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Varun H KOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Bethel, Jason Xue, Tom Westbrook, Varun Organizations: Bethel Automotive Safety Systems, SIX, SIX Swiss Exchange, Supply, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, Bethel, China, GDR, Europe, Shanghai, SIX Swiss, Shenzhen, Jiangsu, Swiss GDR, Zurich, London, U.S, Singapore

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) (LSEG.L) and UK trade officials visited several cities in China to promote UK capital markets recently. Wilson Xu, a banking veteran from CITIC Securities pioneering the Stock Connect programme, said liquidity will improve when there is a critical mass of Chinese listings. The Shanghai-London Stock Connect was launched in 2019 and the link was expanded last year to include Shenzhen and Switzerland. Even arrangements by SIX to allow roughly 2.5 hours of trading in a session for Chinese GDRs didn't help. Chinese companies, however, have been positive in public disclosures about their forays in Europe which have given them an alternative channel to raise funds and access foreign currency for their operations abroad.

☆ Germany allows Poland to export old fighter jets to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - Germany has approved Poland's request to export five old MiG-29 fighter jets to bolster Ukraine's air power against the Russian invasion, the German defence ministry said on Thursday. Germany inherited 24 MiG-29 jets from the East German GDR during reunification in 1990. At the time, the aircraft were seen as among the most advanced fighter jets in the world. Ukraine, which hopes to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months, wants to secure fighter jets to defend against air strikes. Western countries have so far been reluctant to send advanced fighter jets such as F-16's to Kyiv, but some countries have stepped in to send old MiG-29 jets that Ukraine already uses.

The London Stock Exchange and British officials are ramping up efforts to build a robust pipeline of Chinese firms, trading on London's status as Europe's deepest capital market. Edwards said he thought London was "an obvious choice" for many Chinese companies "given the issues around the U.S.-China relationship." However, the China-Switzerland Connect - an eight-month-old rival scheme - is gaining more traction among Chinese companies, partly due to a relatively easier process. The London Stock Exchange is "actively looking at how they can address some of the issues," Edwards said. Edwards said officials have identified hundreds of Chinese companies that could potentially issue GDRs in London and "are actively approaching them at the moment."

Concerns that Chinese investors are buying overseas to make a quick profit at home are valid. Since last year, 11 Chinese companies have raised a combined $3.6 billion by selling GDRs on the Six Swiss Exchange, data from Dealogic show. Savvy punters with access to foreign funds can therefore make a quick and relatively risk-free profit by shorting the Chinese stock and buying the discounted GDRs. This helps explain why Swiss shares of Chinese companies barely trade. Since the launch of a China-Swiss stock scheme in 2022, 11 Chinese companies have raised a combined $3.6 billion, according to data from Dealogic.

☆ China battery giant CATL's $5 billion Swiss listing delayed amid Beijing regulatory concerns, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But the process is taking longer than expected, all three sources told Reuters. In early February, sources said CATL aimed to go ahead with the listing as early as May. Private placementThe sources said the Chinese regulator has concerns over the vast scale of CATL's GDR offering. At $5 billion, the GDR deal would easily be the largest such listing by a Chinese company in Switzerland, according to Refinitiv data. Chinese companies began listing in Switzerland last year after the launch of cross-listing platform to allow companies to raise capital by issuing and listing GDRs on the Swiss exchange SIX.

In early February, sources said CATL aimed to go ahead with the listing as early as May. PRIVATE PLACEMENTThe sources said the Chinese regulator has concerns over the vast scale of CATL's GDR offering. At $5 billion, the GDR deal would easily be the largest such listing by a Chinese company in Switzerland, according to Refinitiv data. With much better liquidity on the domestic market, investors can exit more easily. Such practices have also made Chinese regulators less keen to wave through mega-GDR offerings, two of the sources with knowledge of the matter said.

HONG KONG, March 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - European financial centres are rolling out the red carpet for Chinese companies. Its free-float market capitalisation of $1.9 trillion is just a tenth of the New York Stock Exchange, January data from the World Federation of Exchanges show. Yet as tensions between Washington and Beijing rise and Chinese companies in New York face the threat of delisting, traditionally neutral Zurich has become an attractive alternative. That removes the risk that overseas regulators will demand access to mainland companies’ books - the source of a lengthy spat between the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and Beijing. Deutsche Börse (DB1Gn.DE), which operates Frankfurt’s stock exchange, is technically ready to launch the China-Germany Stock Connect, board representative Niels Tomm said in November.

☆ East Germany's last Communist premier dies aged 95
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz/File PhotoBERLIN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Hans Modrow, who as the last Communist prime minister of East Germany oversaw democratic reforms that opened the way to German reunification, has died at age 95, Germany's hard-left Die Linke party said on Saturday. With this, our party loses an important personality," the party, successor to the East German Communist Party, said in a statement. Modrow saw himself as a reformer who had wanted to change the communist party from the inside and make it more democratic. He also served in the East German parliament for more than three decades. Modrow became East Germany's de facto leader after Egon Krenz resigned as SED leader on Dec. 5, 1990, leaving Modrow holding the highest state post.

☆ China's Sany Heavy Industry moves closer to Frankfurt listing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Sany Heavy Industry Co (600031.SS), China's biggest maker of engineering machinery, published a set of revised internal rules on Saturday in preparation for a Frankfurt listing - potentially the first there under a mechanism for cross-border listings and investment. Sany is the first China-listed company to pick Frankfurt under the scheme. The company also published confidentiality and archive administration rules to meet China's national security requirements on offshore listings. Sany has not disclosed fundraising targets, or when a Frankfurt listing will happen, only saying in late December that it planned to sell GDRs equivalent to 5% of its share base to fund international expansion. The company, which scrapped an earlier plan for a Swiss listing, has said it is attracted to Frankfurt because Germany's world-class manufacturing capability is a match to Sany's ambition in intelligent manufacturing.

More than a dozen Chinese companies have unveiled plans to follow suit, according to exchange filings. The China-Switzerland Connect allows Chinese companies to raise capital by issuing and listing GDRs on Swiss bourse SIX. Swiss firms can issue Chinese Depository Receipts on the Chinese exchanges. She said UBS is also discussing with Chinese firms about listing in Frankfurt once rules are in place, so "our GDR mandates will keep coming". Despite the brighter prospects, deal sizes have been comparatively small, with Gotion's $685 million Swiss listing the biggest so far under the Swiss connect scheme.

JPMorgan & Chase (JPM.N), Citigroup, Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and BNY Mellon act as depositary banks for most Russian depositary receipt programs, according to Clearstream. In statements to clients, some banks cited difficulties verifying there are enough shares to execute cancellations of depositary receipts. For example, BNY Mellon cited such a difficulty with Global Depositary Receipts in Russian gas company Novatek. While depositary receipts are under custody of global banks, the shares they represent are parked in Russia. Investors are meanwhile discussing ways online to meet the Russian requirements and how to pay fees to Russian banks.

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