En+ considers relocating to Russia’s new offshore zone

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Russia’s En+ Group, hit by U.S. sanctions in April, said on Thursday it is investigating the possibility of re-domiciling its business from Britain’s Jersey to one of Russia’s new offshore zones. The company, one of eight firms with ties to tycoon Oleg Deripaska sanctioned in response to Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, said its board had already approved the move of a subsidiary firm from Cyprus to Russia. Relocating subsidiary En+ Holding Limited, which manages the energy businesses of its parent company, would allow the group to benefit from new Russian legislation creating domestic equivalents to foreign offshore tax havens. The legislation, passed through Russia’s lower house in July, established two ‘special administrative regions’ within Russia – on Russky Island in the Sea of Japan and on Oktyabrsky, an island on a river in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Foreign companies registering in these regions would enjoy the benefits of special tax regulations, including zero taxes on profits received by way of dividends. “(This) is an anti-sanctions measure, which will allow Russian companies to preserve their businesses in a difficult external climate,” the lower house said in a statement when the bill was passed. It described the measure as intended to stimulate the ‘de-offshorisation’ of Russia’s economy. En+ Group said that despite considering a relocation away from Jersey, it remained committed to its listing on the London Stock Exchange. “The Group was an early corporate supporter of the progressive Russian legislation that makes this improvement to our ownership structure possible,” En+ Group’s chairman Greg Barker said. “(En+) looks forward to being amongst the first major international Russian companies to take advantage of this opportunity,” Barker said.