Another Highly Profitable EU Listed Public Company Relocates To Russia

The Russian-owned Ozon Holdings Ltd has been granted permission by the Cypriot Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property to relocate to Russia, the company has reported.

Ozon’s shareholders approved the decision to relocate to the Kaliningrad region’s special administrative district at the end of December this year. There, it will continue operating as IPJSC Ozon. It has been reported that the relocation process should be complete by the end of 2025, whereupon the company’s shares will be traded instead on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

The company’s shareholders will hold an extraordinary meeting on September 1, to discuss “legal questions essential for the completion of the relocation process”, the approval of the company’s new legal structure in Russia, the composition of the board of directors, the amount of the charter capital, the approval of the charter as well as the conferral of powers allowing the board of directors to perform various functions related to the relocation.

Ozon also said that following the completion of its re-domiciliation to Moscow, Ozon’s depositary receipts will be automatically converted into shares of the Russian ICPJSC. In connection with this, trading in the company’s securities on the exchange will be suspended for several weeks.

Ozon is Russia’s version of Amazon and has operations throughout Russia, and increasingly throughout non-Western supply chains. In 2020, it was regarded by Forbes to be Russia’s third most valuable internet company. It was previously listed on Nasdaq and also delisted from the United States in 2023. It employs about 46,000 people and in 2024 had revenues of ₽615 billion (US$7.678 billion) with an increase in revenues of 45% over the year. Profits were estimated at ₽100 billion (US$1.248 billion).

Ozon’s departure from Cyprus means a loss of income tax payable of about €136 million per annum, plus the loss of jobs, and other associated services supporting the company in the EU. These taxes and gains will now be provided to Russia.