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Morgan Stanley funds slash Russian investments by 30% in Q1

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For Visa, MasterCard cheaper to quit Russia than to stay — Morgan Stanley

MOSCOW, May 30. /ITAR-TASS/PRIME/. The funds of Morgan Stanley Group have slashed their investments in Russian stocks and bonds by almost 30% in January-March, they said in documents filed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

The Morgan Stanley Eastern Europe Fund cut its Russian portfolio to $27.13 million from $35.8 million by decreasing its holding of all stocks except AFK Sistema, Russia’s leading services conglomerate. The fund sold its stake in X5 retail Group and bought a stake in PhosAgro fertilizer maker.

The MS Emerging Markets Fund decreased investments in Russian shares to $6 million from $10.3 million by selling its stake in MegaFon cell phone company and Eurasia Drilling, and cutting stakes in energy firms Novatek and Lukoil and Mail.Ru Internet group. Also the fund also raised the stake in AFK Sistema by $600,000 and left the stake in Yandex search engine intact.

Morgan Stanley’s investments in the country’s sovereign and corporate bonds decreased by $10 million to $22.9 million in January-March. The fund has also lowered its holding of Vnesheconombank and Russian Railways bonds, but increased its holding of Russian Agricultural Bank’s debt and bought Sberbank’s bonds worth $2.75 million.

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