LNTA.L Regulatory News (LNTA)

Press Release | St. Petersburg | 5 August 2022

Information for Holders of Global Depositary Receipts of IPJSC Lenta

Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 5 August , 2022: Lenta IPJSC (LSE: LNTA, MOEX: LENT, the Company), one of leading Russian retailers, informs on amendments of the laws of the Russian Federation related to the procedure for conversion (cancellation) of the Global Depositary Receipts representing the Company’s ordinary shares (the Company’s GDRs).

On July 14, 2022 Federal law No 319-FZ “On Amendment of Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” (“Law No 319-FZ”) came into force, which provides, among other things, amendments of procedure for obtaining of shares of Russian issuers by holders of depositary receipts representing such shares (“Shares”), including in case of termination of depositary receipts programs, in particular:

within five business days following 15 August 2022 Russian issuers of Shares shall notify the Russian custodians, where DR program depo accounts for recording Shares of the corresponding Russian issuers have been opened (the “Custodian”), that actions need to be taken to ensure Automatic Conversion.

The Central Depositary, the Custodian and Russian depositaries, where the DR rights are recorded at, shall carry out operations for the purposes of Automatic Conversion in accordance with the procedure and within the time limits determined by the Bank of Russia.

Holders of depositary receipts, which are accounted for by foreign depositaries, who are unable to get Shares, including due to sanctions, are entitled to apply to the Custodian with a request for forced conversion of depositary receipts.

Such application accompanied by relevant documents shall be made within 90 days from the effective date of the Law No 319-FZ that is July 14, 2022.

The Custodian shall, within 10 business days following the above period, open a depo account in the name of the holder, debit the corresponding number of Shares from the DR depo account and credit them to the holder’s depo account opened in the name of the applicant.

The Custodian may refuse to do the above actions if it has reasonable doubts with respect to the accuracy and (or) completeness or lack of information provided in the application for forced conversion and documents thereto.

In addition, the Law No 319-FZ stipulates that operations under forced conversion shall not be carried out if the total number of Shares referenced by applications for forced conversion will exceed the number of Shares accounted for on DR depo account.

Full text of the Law No 319-FZ is available at http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202207140088 (in Russian).

The Company plans to notify AO Raiffeisenbank (The Custodian of the Company) that actions need to be taken to ensure the Automatic Conversion of the Company’s GDRs within five business days following 15 August 2022.

For further information on procedure for Automatic Conversion and exercise of rights to forced conversion of the Company’s GDRs please contact AO Raiffeisenbank (adr.settlement@raiffeisen.ru).

This statement does not constitute individual investment, financial or legal advice. This statement is for information purposes only and IPJSC Lenta shall not be liable if the interpretation of applicable laws and regulations by the relevant state authorities differs from the interpretation given in this statement. Holders of depositary receipts should make an independent decision on how to act in connection with the published statement and, if necessary, contact their investment, legal and other advisors.

For further information, please visit https://corp.lenta.com/ or contact:

About Lenta

Lenta IPJSC (LSE: LNTA, MOEX: LENT) is a leading Russian multi-format food and FMCG retailer. The company operates hypermarkets, supermarkets, and recently launched a new proximity store format under the brand Mini Lenta. It also provides customers the option to shop online via its own Lenta Online services, Online Partners and the Utkonos platform. Lenta is Russia’s largest hypermarket operator and the fourth largest food retailer overall by Sales. The company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg and as of June 30, 2022, operated 254 hypermarkets and 555 supermarkets and Lenta Mini stores in over 200 cities and towns across Russia, with almost 1.78 million square meters of Selling Space. The average Lenta hypermarket has approximately 5,500 square meters of Selling Space, the average Lenta supermarket has 800 square meters, and the Mini Lenta format is 500 meters on average. The company operates 14 distribution centers to supply all its stores. 2021 Revenues were RUB 484 billion (approximately USD 6.5 billion).