OFAC extends EN+, RUSAL and GAZ licences again
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (‘OFAC’) has once more extended the expiry date of certain general licences concerning sanctioned Russian companies EN+ Group, RUSAL Plc, and GAZ Group. New General Licenses 13G, 14C, 15B and 16C expire on 7 January 2019 instead of the previous versions’ deadline of 12 December 2018.
Energy company EN+ and aluminium producer RUSAL were impacted by targeted US sanctions on oligarch Oleg Deripaska in April 2018 in response to the ‘malign activity’ of the Russian state, including suspected meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. Deripaska was until recently president of RUSAL and EN+ and is a significant stakeholder in GAZ.
New General License 13G authorises activities necessary to divest or transfer debt, equity or other holdings in EN+ and RUSAL. General License 14C, 15B and 16C authorise certain activities necessary for the ‘maintenance or winding down’ of operations or existing contracts with RUSAL (14C), GAZ (15B) and EN+ or Siberian energy company JSC EuroSibEnergo, which is owned by Deripaska (16C).
The licences also cover transactions involving holdings where the sanctioned parties have an indirect or direct ownership of 50% or more.
OFAC states that the licences have been extended as a result of ‘substantial corporate governance changes’ proposed by EN+, RUSAL and GAZ ‘that could potentially result in significant changes in control of these sanctioned entities.’
General License 13G can be found here:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/ukraine_gl13g.pdf
General License 14C can be found here:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/ukraine_gl14c.pdf
General License 15B can be found here:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/ukraine_gl15b.pdf
General License 16 C can be found here:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/ukraine_gl16c.pdf
US Treasury press release can be found here:
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm544
OFAC’s notice can be found here:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20181109.aspx
