My Meeting with my Tory MP Tomorrow16 Jun 2022 16:21
I've had to send an outline of the issues and why I think we the British investors are being sacrificed unfairly.
Just about ten years ago in preparation for retirement I started investing in ISA's in a London Stock Exchange Based Gold Mining company operating in the far east of Russia. The companies name being Petropavlovsk PLC. Things were doing okay and just before the Russian invasion of the Ukraine the share price stood at 16p and at that time I had built up a portfolio of 1.7 million shares However after the invasion and when the sanctions were announced the share price is not only down to almost 1p (today) but the Russian oligarchs who are major share holders are using the sanctions to unfairly grab the business.
The sanctions against this British based company that was founded by Peter Hambro prevent it from selling its gold to Gazprom Bank and on top of that Petropavlovsk PLC cannot repay its bond/loan to Gaz Prom Bank. This puts the company in a very precarious situation where it can be declared bankrupt and its substantial assets sold for next to nothing to the oligarchs like Konstantin Strukov who holds 29% of the company and Nikolai Lioustiger who holds 12%,
Due to the sanctions the Russian owners could gain Petropavlovsk Plc at the cost to many British investors. In essence the sanctions actually create the conditions to become fabulously wealthy by obtaining Petropavlovsk Plc and its highly valued oxidization processing plant for next to nothing and in the process severely financially cripple many British subjects-surely the sanctions are meant to punish Russia not give it 1) access to vast gold reserves and 2) inflict great financial hardship on British private investors.
My last point is this. Yes the sanctions against Russia are welcomed and are the right thing to do and when the present government give aid and weapons to the Ukraine , yes I can agree but in those cases the financial burden of the UK's assistance is spread across the whole country but the way sanctions in this case are working the loss and sacrifice is on the shoulders of a few and that is surely wrong, plus the fact the sanctions are designed to penalize Russia not actually make it richer.
I'll say no more at this point as its all new to you and very complex but there is much more to tell.
Yours Sincerely
Lawrence