Putin has published a decree that says that certain firms owning Russian stocks will be able to sell these to a New York based hedge fund – 683 Partners – which will then be able to deal in them in Russia. The decree opens up so many questions about how the firms were selected, who 683 Partners are and why it was selected, and what happens to other holders of Russian assets. We are sure that investors in JPMorgan Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa will seize on this as a sign that it will soon assign some value to Russian assets that have been written down to zero. However, the trust is already trading on a 400% premium to NAV in anticipation of this and it is important to remember that these assets are still tied up in a legal dispute within Russia.

There’s no immediate good news for holders of Baring Emerging EMEA Opportunities either – although this trust is currently trading on a 13.7% discount.

Baillie Gifford is one of the firms that can trade – but we don’t think this affects any of their trusts.

Templeton is another firm that can trade – Templeton Emerging Markets had holdings in five stocks that were written down to zero. Positions in Lukoil, Yandex, and Sberbank took about 3.9% off the trust’s end March 2022 NAV, overall the hit, and the potential recovery would be less than 5% of NAV.

Putin permits sale of some Russian stocks, but not for JEMA