Anastasia Samusenko commented to Novy Prospect on the possible reasons for the restructuring of Sogaz JSC

Sogaz JSC is transferring to top managers of its subsidiaries a portion of shares in Sogaz International Medical Centre, which operates several medical centres with the same name. According to market participants, this is related to Sogaz’s coming under sanctions imposed by the European Union. As lawyers point out, changing the ownership structure of the company today is one of the most common ways to try and save the business in this case.

Commenting on the situation, Anastasia Samusenko, Associate of Maxima Legal’s Corporate Law practice, told Novy Prospect that “more often than not there are cases when assets are transferred to proxies of an individual hit by sanctions, rather than intragroup restructuring”.

Nevertheless, according to the expert, the transfer by the parent company of shares or participatory interests in a subsidiary to third parties can be an effective tool to evade sanctions (or at least delay the imposition of such sanctions) for part of the group’s business.

“However, even here a number of nuances should be taken into account – to what extent such a transaction is real (or whether the former parent company still exercises control over the company’s activities) and what kinds of activities the subsidiary is engaged in. In addition, the risks of sanctions against the top management of sanctioned companies can also be high, which further reduces the effectiveness of restructuring to avoid sanctions in the long term,” explained Anastasia Samusenko.

To read the full article (in Russian) please visit Novy Prospect website >>>