The Russian Federation forced the EBRD to sell its stake in the Moscow Stock Exchange for 30% of its value.

Russian Forbes reported that the EBRD sold its 5.3% stake in the Moscow Stock Exchange, receiving only a third of its market value – ₽7.28B ($76.3M), instead of ₽22.8B. The bank had to agree to sell at a 60% discount, when the average is 50%, and pay a 20% exit tax.

This package of shares will be bought by the Softline IT group, which, after the beginning of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, was divided into a Russian portion and a foreign portion. Its founder, Ihor Borovikov, resigned and moved to the US.

The EBRD became a Mosbirge shareholder in 2012, but after 2014, when Russia occupied the Ukrainian Crimea, the bank stopped investing new money in the Russian market. The bank also imposed a moratorium on new investment in Belarus following the country’s controversial 2020 elections.