(Reuters) -London-listed Russian miner Petropavlovsk said it would miss an interest payment due on Friday after Britain froze the assets of its main lender Gazprombank.
The gold miner has agreements including for loans and bullion sales with Gazprombank, which was the target of Britain’s latest round of sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
A $560,000 interest payment was due on Friday on its $200 million term loan with Gazprombank, Petropavlovsk said, adding it has not been named in any of the Western sanctions to-date.
Still, index provider FTSE Russell will be deleting it from all FTSE’s indexes during this month’s review after many brokers refused to trade their shares on the miner and others.
Western leaders have tightened sanctions on Russia as the attack on Ukraine entered its second month, but that has had a knock on effect on companies with no direct ties with sanctioned people or firms and hurt investor sentiment.
Petropavlovsk shares have sunk more than 85% since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which it calls a “special military operation” – began on Feb. 24.
Peel Hunt analysts in a note said the Gazprombank asset freeze also complicated Petropavlovsk’s ability to refinance its bonds due in November.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Sriraj Kalluvila)
