OREANDA-NEWS The relevant subcommittee of the government commission for the control of foreign investments returned to discussing the amount of fees from foreign businesses that wish to sell assets in Russia. This was reported by RBC with reference to a source in the commission itself and three interlocutors familiar with the discussion.

Two of them claim that the contribution to the federal budget is going to be increased extremely sharply — from 15 percent to 40 percent. However, a source in the subcommittee noted that no one is talking about 40 percent, although the increase should be significant.

The head of the Nikolaev and Partners Law Firm, Yuri Nikolaev, said that the issue was discussed at a meeting of the subcommittee on September 19, but no decision has been made yet. As one of the interlocutors of the publication noted, officials look at cases when an asset is valued very cheaply, it is this option that makes the rules change.

The Ministry of Finance, commenting on the possibility of increasing the contribution, reported that the effectiveness of the work of the subcommittee and approaches to reviewing transactions are constantly discussed.

The Russian authorities have consistently tightened the conditions for foreigners to sell Russian businesses. In the latest version of the rules, for a positive decision of the subcommittee, headed by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the owner of the asset is obliged to provide the buyer with a discount of 50 percent of the market value, as well as make a contribution to the budget in the amount of up to 15 percent. Thus, he is left with only 35 percent of the enterprise value. In case of an increase in the contribution to 40 percent, the owner can count on 10 percent.

For eight months, the federal budget income from such contributions (reflected in the article "gratuitous receipts from non-governmental organizations") amounted to 140 billion rubles, which exceeds the plan for the year by 66 times. However, the number of transactions is decreasing, which is due to both tightening exit conditions and an increase in fees.

Experts note that a sharp increase in the size of the contribution will make the sale completely unattractive, so that the owners of the asset can go to conservation instead. However, the latter also involves costs, and in addition, the property can be transferred to external management.

Earlier it was reported that China strongly recommended its automakers not to invest in the development of production facilities in Russia