Russia's Nabiullina says c.bank will fight for shareholders in metals plant

Nabiullina told a financial markets conference that the confiscation of shares in the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant risked undermining investor confidence. "The precedent worries us, of course, because it could undermine confidence in exchange trading and cause an outflow of capital to foreign exchanges," Nabiullina said.

Russia's central bank is concerned about the state's seizure of shares in a metals company from private investors and will defend their rights in court, Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Wednesday. Nabiullina told a financial markets conference that the confiscation of shares in the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant risked undermining investor confidence.

"The precedent worries us, of course, because it could undermine confidence in exchange trading and cause an outflow of capital to foreign exchanges," Nabiullina said. "The case is now being considered in the courts, the central bank is taking an active position, but it is premature to comment further. We understand how important this is for the market, for investors, for all participants. We will continue to take an active position."

In March, a court in the Urals region of Perm granted a request from prosecutors to confiscate the shares of more than 2,000 investors amounting to 10.6% of Solikamsk Magnesium Plant on the basis that it had been illegally privatised in 1992. The investors have appealed against the decision, and the central bank has joined the case as a third party.

A previous court decision had confiscated the shares of four Russian businessmen who collectively owned 89.4% of the company. In other remarks, Nabiullina said the risk of insider trading was higher if companies did not disclose sufficient information.

She said it was not possible to return to "full disclosure of information, as it was before" - a reference to the situation before the Ukraine conflict and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia. "There are real risks," she said. "We need to find a balance."