By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 12:07am GMT 23/12/2006
One of the City’s leading shareholder groups has warned about the “inhospitable” and “difficult” climate facing investors and companies wanting to do business in Russia. F&C Asset Management also questioned the wisdom of allowing so many Russian companies to list in London when their standards of corporate governance were below those in the UK.
The comments, by Karina Litvack, F&C’s head of governance and sustainable investment, come after Royal Dutch Shell’s bruising encounter with the Kremlin over the company’s huge Sakhalin-2 oilfield. Ms Litvack said: “We take into account the extent to which a government creates an inhospitable climate for investors and is prepared to enforce the rule of law. What’s happened makes it a very dodgy place [for investors].”