State To Freeze Shares In Problematic Companies.

The State Property Fund, State Securities Commission and the power ministries decided to take steps to block the turnover of shares in companies with ongoing corporate conflicts at an interdepartmental meeting yesterday. Eleven companies have been targeted by the government, including Nikopol Ferroalloy (NFER: SELL) (where the state took back a block of shares from Interpipe) and several Oblenergos (where the Privat-Surkis-Grigorishin conflict has been smoldering). The state wants to neutralize the risk of possible resales, which would complicate the legal procedures that have been opened to determine the ownership rights of interested parties.