A 30-year corporate history across four jurisdictions, a 2023 merger that folded in a second Swiss bank, and much thinner public visibility after 2022. The core asset position was identified and mapped within one week.
A Russian operating history dating to 1996, accumulated subsidiaries, branches, a joint venture, licence changes, liquidations — and a 2023 merger that folded in a second Swiss banking structure. Public disclosure for foreign-linked Russian structures had materially narrowed after 2022.
Which assets were still in Russian jurisdiction. Which entities held them. How control ran through the group. And whether the position was still open to recovery.
An analytical report, a separate shareholding analysis, a master table of 30+ entities, ownership diagrams for the pre- and post-acquisition position, and a second-stage asset search plan.
The investigation identified more than 30 legal entities tied to the group across Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Cyprus. That included active entities, former entities, liquidated entities, branches, and holding vehicles. Each had to be placed in time, not just in a chart.
Thirty years of Russian operating history and the 2023 merger had to be reconstructed backwards through a post‑2022 disclosure blackout — then re‑assembled into a single chain of title.
The work then focused on the asset side. The main asset identified was a group stake in a major Russian bank, held across several group entities through different legal vehicles.
Share ownership was reconstructed across the 2017–2024 period. The group position as of 2 February 2022 was established at approximately 3.5% of the shares, with roughly 3.65% of voting rights. The holding sat across the London branch of the Swiss holding structure, a Swiss operating subsidiary, the acquired bank's Swiss entity, and the acquired bank's UK subsidiary.
The merger question had to be handled on its own terms. The acquired Swiss bank's Russian-linked subsidiaries and stakes were traced separately, then folded into the combined chain. By 1 July 2024, one Swiss entity had become the statutory successor to the acquired bank's rights and obligations in the relevant structure.
The work also surfaced Cyprus companies connected to the Russian side of the structure. They had not appeared in the public picture before.
The next step was to work out whether the group could still dispose of the identified shareholding, and if so, how. Six Russian measures introduced in sequence from 22 February 2022 onward were reviewed in chronological order. The point was to identify the moment at which sale had moved from difficult to blocked.
By the end of February 2022, the group could no longer sell the shares directly through a broker. Any disposal required Government Commission approval. A further court injunction in August 2023 added another layer — prohibiting disposal of stakes in Russian subsidiaries and blocking changes to ownership records in EGRUL.
Six Russian measures introduced from February 2022 onward were reviewed in sequence. Direct broker sale closed first, then Government Commission approval became mandatory, then a court injunction blocked EGRUL changes entirely.
After the investigation, the client had a documented enforcement picture. The relevant entities had been assembled into one chain. The main Russian-linked asset had been identified. The post-merger successor had been pinned down. The legal position on disposal had been analysed in sequence.
The report was prepared as a creditor-side analytical investigation using corporate registry records, historical filings, regulatory disclosures, cross-border company materials, and the Russian legal measures affecting disposal of the identified assets.
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