Unclaimed Dividends of Foreign Companies May Be Reclaimed
Gas producer NOVATEK is not transferring dividends owed to its French shareholder TotalEnergies (which owns a 19% stake) into type C accounts, but is instead retaining the funds on its corporate accounts, according to statements by Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné. As Russian law stipulates that unclaimed dividends revert to the issuing company after three years, the payments withheld by NOVATEK in May 2022 for Total may already be recoverable by the Russian company in its 2025 retained earnings, Pouyanné suggested during an analyst conference call.
As a general rule, a Russian issuer, in accordance with counter-sanctions regulations, must transfer dividends to a foreign shareholder to a special type C account. Experts are divided on why, and on what legal basis, NOVATEK may have kept the funds intended for Total on its own accounts. However, several lawyers believe that other Russian companies could also take a similar approach with dividends owed to non-residents. In effect, this could become a form of financial support for such companies.
Source: https://www.rbc.ru/newspaper/2025/02/18/67ac95f79a7947177d8ea8b2