Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec says it recently sold hundreds of millions of dollars in stock of seven Russian companies that Canada first placed sanctions onThe giant Quebec pension fund manager held the shares in the Russian banks and energy companies when Canada placed them on lists in its Special Economic Measures Regulations, developed in 2015 after Russia’s invasion of the Crimea in Ukraine.
The Caisse maintained ownership in the companies through at least the end of 2020, according to the Caisse’s holdings records. At recent prices, its Dec. 31, 2020, holding in Gazprom would have been worth $157-million; Sberbank of Russia, $114-million; Novatek, $58-million; and Rosneft Oil Company, $25-million. The Caisse also had positions of less than $10-million in Transneft, Surgutneftegas and VTB Bank, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The Canadian government is rushing to join other Western countries in developing economic sanctions for Russia as it appears on the verge of invading neighbouring Ukraine. The United States, the European Union, Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan responded with plans to target banks and elites while Germany froze a major gas pipeline project from Russia.
Mr. Tchotourian said the Canadian government should consider requesting that the country’s big pension funds halt all investments in Russia. “There’s a chance here to send an even stronger message” to its existing political and economic sanctions, he said. “There are a lot of geographies that we’re just not willing to go to,” Caisse chief executive officer Michael Sabia told reporters at the pension fund’s annual results news conference in 2017. “For instance, Russia is a country where we’re not going anywhere near right now.”
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