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DUE TO US SANCTIONS
MPLT’s $224.4K in Russian bank frozen
Some $224,000 of the Marianas Public Land Trust’s money that’s invested in a Russian banking and financial services company is frozen due to sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In his administrative report last March 1 submitted to Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, MPLT trustees chair Vianney B. Hocog disclosed that MPLT has $224,408 invested with Sberbank of Russia through WCM Investment Management LLC, MPLT’s non-U.S. equity manager. This amount, however, remain frozen as a result of sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control against Russia.
Hocog said frozen are $198,000 and $26,408 for the MPLT’s investment portfolio in the General Fund and American Memorial Park Fund accounts, respectively.
He said these securities are continuously being monitored by Raymond James, MPLT’s investment consultant.
Hocog said that in September 2022, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control implemented sanctions on key economic sectors of Russia’s economy.
As of Jan. 31, 2023, MPLT’s market value of its investments are $94,863,878 for the General Fund account, and $11,237,957 for the American Memorial Park Fund account.
Hocog said they look forward to the opportunities to meet with Palacios and brief him on MPLT’s investments of public land lease funds.
Last month, WCM Investment Management LLC operations manager Julianna Jones wrote MPLT to notify it of a sanctioned security that was purchased by WCM in the MPLT’s General Fund and Park Fund accounts.
Jones said that, due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control implemented sanctions on key sectors of Russia’s economy, including Sberbank of Russia.
To accommodate this sanctioned holding in the accounts, Sberbank was transferred to an escrow account, also known as a segregated account, Jones said.
She said the accounts still have rights to their shares of Sberbank, should it be removed from the sanctioned list and the shares become tradable in the future.
Jones said WCM is actively monitoring the situations and will continue to act in the MPLT accounts’ best interests.
