Fund manager abrdn PLC has been stymied in an attempt to sell a chunk of shares in oil group Rosneft (AIM:ROSN) by the chaos on Russia’s financial markets today.
Economic sanctions were imposed on the Russians over the weekend, a move that saw the rouble crash today while the stock exchange in Moscow did not open preventing abrdn from selling.
According to Sky News, the fund manager decided to dump the shares, which were held in passive funds managed by the group, as soon as Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Abrdn was only trying to unload £5mln worth of shares, pointing to the potential issues BP will face when it tries to sell its 19.75% stake in Rosneft (AIM:ROSN).
BP announced yesterday it would dispose of the stake because of the invasion.
The oil group's stake was said to be worth £10bn before the outbreak of hostilities but is expected to be sold for much less than that.
Abrdn, though, said it supported the planned sale by BP even at a big discount.
“We are strongly supportive of the board's decision and applaud them for taking swift action following the events of the last week," Andrew Millington, head of UK equities at abrdn, told Sky.
"While there may be a significant financial cost to BP in exiting Rosneft it is unquestionably the right thing to do".
Shares in BP were down by 6% today at 356p while abrdn shed 3.5% to 201.7p.