The future of some 855 funds with exposure to Russia is shrouded in uncertainty as the turmoil in Russia’s financial markets continued on Monday. JP Morgan AM and Prosperity on Monday suspended their funds with assets in Russia. East Capital warned of “a very high level of disruption”. Asset managers are facing requests for information from their regulators.
Luxembourg’s financial regulator CSSF said on Monday that it is “in close contact” with investment companies that manage Luxembourg funds exposed to Russia and its financial markets. CSSF also said that its Corona-era liquidity guidance for funds now also applies to current market conditions. Regulators in the Netherlands and Belgium were also on liquidity watch.
“The CSSF is in close contact with supervised companies managing Luxembourg funds with a higher exposure to Russia,” spokesperson Paul Wilwertz said. “The CSSF furthermore watches the liquidity situation resulting from current market tensions.”
855 funds may be affected
Morningstar data shows that there are 855 equity funds worldwide with a stake in Russia of five percent or more. Luxembourg is the legal home for a good number of European emerging market funds and ETFs that offer specific strategies to invest in Eastern Europe and Russia.
JP Morgan Asset Management, meanwhile, said it has suspended two funds - Russia Equity Fund and Emerging Europe Equity Fund with immediate effect. The asset manager said that the suspension “will be reviewed on an ongoing basis”. A manager of a Luxembourg-registered Russia fund, Stockholm-based East Capital, a specialist on Eastern Europe funds, said it expects “a very high level of disruption and volatility short-term”.
Prosperity Capital, a London-based Russia specialist, said on Monday that it had suspended calculating the net asset value of all its funds until assets can be accurately priced again, liquidity improves and settlement again becomes reliable.
Russian financial markets were in turmoil again following additional economic sanctions announced at the weekend by the European Union after Russia invaded Ukraine. The stock market was closed while the ruble plunged 30 percent to an all time low against the euro and the dollar. Euroclear suspended the settlement of Russian equities.
Do you want to be associated with Russia?
February data on fund flows are not yet available. Actively managed equity funds and ETFs focused on Russia experienced a receding outflow in recent months, according to Mornigstar, and February, until Russia invaded Ukraine, was expected to normalise.
“You will see that many investors now want to get out of Russia,” said Ronald van Genderen, senior analyst at Morningstar. “Not only because of uncertainty, but also from an ESG perspective. Sustainable investments are not only about companies that pay proper attention to the environment, but also about the question whether you want to invest in a certain country, and if you want to be associated with that country.”
East Capital, with offices also in Hong Kong, Moscow and Tallinn, manages 5.2 billion euro for a range of international investors including leading institutions, companies and private individuals. Its East Capital Russia fund lost some 25 percent in Friday’s trading.
‘High level of disruption’
East Capital said that, “as asset manager, not a military nor a political specialist”, it will “focus its efforts on analysing implications the war and sanctions on both sides have on our investments, on markets, and on the macro situation.”
“While it is too early to say what long-term effects on the market will be, we expect a very high level of disruption and volatility short-term. We are actively assessing and managing actual occurrences as they unfold.” it said in a statement.
CSSF said it could not comment on individual files but did bring attention to a detailed Q&A on Fund Liquidity and the use of liquidity management tools that it published in 2020. “Our recommendations remain valid in the current context,” its spokesperson said.
Still liquid in New York and London
Morningstar’s Van Genderen said it is important to watch how Russian companies with listings in New York and London will react and noted that while no liquidity is available in Moscow, this is different on the UK and US exchanges.
Managers of funds exposed to Russia broadly speaking have two options, said Van Genderen. First is to wait until the price is updated and trade is possible again. The alternative is to split the fund in two separate funds: one with liquid positions quoted in London and New York and one with the illiquid positions quoted in Moscow. Van Genderen emphasised through that this is not the most obvious alternative.
Russia funds traded in the US extended their declines on Monday. The well-known VanEck Russia ETF, traded in US markets, closed at $10.85, down 30 percent from Friday’s close. It traded as high as $23.51 one week ago.
With reporting by Raymond Frenken at InvestmentOfficer.lu, Cees van Lotringen and Lenneke Arts at Fondsnieuws.nl and Jurgen Vluijmans at InvestmentOfficer.be.
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