Russian e-commerce giant to delist from US stock exchange

Nasdaq halted trading of Ozon shares last year after sanctions were imposed on Moscow

Russian e-commerce firm Ozon will voluntarily delist from the US-based Nasdaq stock exchange within weeks, the company announced on its Telegram channel.

According to the firm’s statement, Ozon has already notified Nasdaq of its intention to remove its American Depositary Shares (ADS) from the exchange.

“We have no grounds to believe that trading in securities will be restored here. Therefore, we did not wait for a formal delisting from Nasdaq and decided to leave the floor voluntarily, of which we notified the exchange earlier today,” Ozon said. The company added that the delisting will enable it to reduce costs associated with reporting to the standards of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Nasdaq halted trading of Ozon shares on February 28, 2022. In March this year, the exchange notified the Russian company of its intention to forcibly delist it. Ozon has since unsuccessfully appealed the delisting on two occasions.

Ozon now plans to file its own delisting request with the SEC by the end of the month, with the move expected to take effect no earlier than ten days after that. The company then intends to file a Form 15F with the SEC to terminate the registration of its ordinary shares and ADS, along with its reporting obligations. The process is expected to be finalized within three months.

Ozon says it will continue to list its shares on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX), where they are traded in rubles, and the Astana International Exchange (AIX) in Kazakhstan. The company also plans to secure a primary listing on the MOEX by the fourth quarter of 2023.

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Ozon’s stock dropped by 1.5% on the Moscow Exchange following the delisting announcement.

Ozon is Russia’s oldest online marketplace, and according to the Data Insight research agency it is the country’s second largest online retailer by turnover. Ozon’s market capitalization as of October 16 stood at $2.42 billion.

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