(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has given a U.S. hedge fund permission to buy securities in Russian companies from certain foreign stakeholders and authorised their future sale to two Russian funds, a presidential decree showed on Monday.
Moscow has steadily tightened restrictions on foreign asset sales since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, with any transactions involving the energy and finance sectors requiring Putin’s approval.
Investors are on the lookout for any signs that the thaw in U.S.-Russia relations instigated by President Donald Trump’s return to the White House could unlock ways for Western investors to trade Russian assets. Monday’s decree, light on detail, provided limited clues.
The decree authorised U.S. hedge fund 683 Capital Partners, LP, to acquire the securities of Russian companies owned by around a dozen other Western financial entities, including Jane Street, Templeton Asset Management, Franklin Advisers and Carrhae Capital.
The decree then gave two Russian companies, Cepheus-2 and Modern Real Estate Funds, permission to acquire securities owned by 683 Capital Partners without the need for additional authorisation from Putin.
Reuters could not immediately reach 683 Capital Partners for comment.
International sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war have blocked many Russian investors’ access to securities held in jurisdictions outside the country, while Russian countermeasures have frozen Western funds within.
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Additional reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Andrew Heavens)
