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Putin has just torpedoed his economy for the foreseeable future, regardless of the existence of the war, sanctions, or anything else, really.
An asset that you cannot sell is worthless as an asset, and investing in a country where the government will unilaterally block your ability to sell that asset means you will never, ever invest there, at any point. Between this and refusing to open the MOEX, regardless of sanctions, why would anyone invest in Russia? It’s not worth the risk.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-ban-western-companies-exiting-130807485.htmlmehndiTypically when countries go to war, the seize each other’s assets (and round up each others citizens). In the past, the Swiss arranged for transportation home for the people, and after the war the lawyers take care of the assets (note that the litigation from World War II is not over). So if you are stuck on the wrong side of the line when you become an “enemy alien”, it is hardly the end of the world, if you are a lawyer for someone whose property is in the wrong country there is light at the end of the tunnel, and if your property is on the wrong side you might get something back after the war if your team wins and your lawyers are clever.
I would have thought that some of the more agressive “vulture funds” might start buying up the “distressed” debt of publicly traded Russian corporations and even some of the state-owned enterprises that are trading for pennies on the dollar. However, the U.S. and UK sanction language is so broad that it could be interpreted as prohibiting trading even in the secondary market so I’ve not seen any indication of anyone willing to take the risk.
Is there a heter to trade with reshoyim?
There is, for example, an isur on selling weapons to goyim. Seems like it could be extended to providing economic support to the aggressor, especially as the world is counting on boycotts as the main means of stopping aggression.
How much would you need to be paid to eat a piece of pork?
How much would you expect to earn to buy a discounted Russian bond?Buying enemy bonds in war time is unpatriotic. You end up with having to file a claim with the Alien Property Custodian. And you may have a long wait to get paid (note that claims from the Mexican War, fought almost 200 years ago, or still being litigated).
Akuperma: Totally agree that its unpatriotic (or worse) never underestimate the willingness of a small cadre of bankers to find ways of profiting off the most tragic events of human suffering. I can’t post the link but google “Russian War Bonds Never Die” for a fascinating story of the huge profits realized in a final settlement several years ago on Russian War Bonds from the Czarist era that were repudiated by the newly installed government after the 1917 Revolution.
Anyone invested in airplane leasing companies? Russians just got a new “law” taking ownership of the leased airplanes total worth $10 bln.
Just like the Russkies to expropriate $10 billion in aircraft on a yom tov of the owners of most of the planes. About two-thirds of these aircraft are leased by Irish companies, including Dublin-based AerCap, the world’s largest aircraft leasing company, with 152 aircraft valued at nearly $3 billion. To take such action on St. Patrick’s Day is a real shanda.
America has confiscatory “laws” too, that unfairly seize private property for nebulous reasons.
Gadol, a good point.
I don’t know whether Putin will drink a wrong tea or will fall from a balcony while going to the bathroom, but I can predict that Putin will die on a yom tov.
Ok, so airplanes are out. What other investments put you into risking your funds and neshoma by being implicitly invested into Russia? Or is it already too late – oil companies are dis-investing from Russia, MSFT is out .. Any companies buying nickel? gold? what else do they have?
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