Other services – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (Nasdaq CSD)
Securities lending and borrowing
All foreign debt securities included in this link and eligible in Clearstream Banking AG (CBF), Clearstream Banking S.A. (CBL) or LuxCSD S.A. qualify for CBL’s securities lending and borrowing programme.
Disclosure requirements
Please refer to the Disclosure requirements section of the Market Profiles of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Holding restrictions
Please refer to the Investment regulation section of the Market Profiles of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Estonia
In accordance with the applicable Estonian legislation, foreign investors have equal rights with domestic investors.
A shareholder must declare ownership to the Estonian FSA and the issuer if a holding reaches, exceeds or falls below 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 33⅓%, 50% or 66⅔% of any company’s shares.
Also, if an investor wants to buy or sell a substantial shareholding of a local bank or of an insurance or investment company (that is, more than 10% of the share capital or voting rights in the share capital), or to increase its participation over 10%, 20%, 33⅓% or 50%, then the investor must seek approval from the Estonian FSA.
It is the client’s responsibility to ensure that the required permission has been applied for by the investor when sending a purchase instruction to CBL that would lead to a participation of more than 10% of such shares and clients must accept full responsibility for the consequences if such permission has not been obtained by the investor.
Generally, no restrictions are applied to foreign investors in acquiring a company or equity in Estonia and all that is pertinent to Estonian enterprises shall equally apply to foreign-owned enterprises.
A foreign investor has the right to repatriate profit or other income received in Estonia in a foreign currency.
A licence is not required to make portfolio investments (that is, to buy securities) in any of the registered securities (for example, Tallink Grupp).
Latvia
In accordance with the applicable Latvian legislation, foreign investors have equal rights with domestic investors.
A beneficiary owner should ask for permission from the FCMC to acquire substantial shareholding (more than 10% of the share capital or total voting rights) in a local bank, insurance or investment company, or a fund management company and to increase its shareholding in a respective company over 20%, 33% or 50% of the respective issuer's share capital or number of votes.
It is the client's responsibility to ensure that the required permission has been applied for by the investor when sending a purchase instruction to CBL that would lead to a participation of more than 10% of such shares and clients must accept full responsibility for the consequences if such permission has not been obtained by the investor.
Lithuania
In accordance with the applicable Lithuanian legislation, foreign investors have equal rights with domestic investors.
When a beneficial owner is aware of a transaction that has caused his voting rights at the general meeting of shareholders of a Lithuanian issuer to reach, exceed or fall below a 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 50%, 75% and 95% threshold, then such shareholder must notify the Securities Commission (SC) and the issuer within four (4) trading days after passing the thresholds.
Tax services
Please refer to the Clearstream Banking Market Taxation Guides for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Primary Dealer services for CBF clients
Primary Dealers/Recognised Dealers willing to participate in the Government securities auctions in the Lithuanian, Latvian or Estonian markets can benefit from an “automatic settlement” solution via TARGET2-Securities (T2S) by choosing to settle their primary trades in their accounts with CBF.
Under the Primary Dealer service, Nasdaq Vilnius, Nasdaq Riga and Nasdaq Tallinn automatically generate the settlement legs for execution in relevant Primary Dealer securities accounts with CBF in conjunction with the central bank cash accounts defined by the Primary Dealers.
Requests for additional details regarding participation rules to the Baltic primary auctions can be sent to the following contacts:
- Lithuania:
Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania
Borrowing and Investment Division
Email: bid@finmin.lt - Latvia:
State Treasury of the Republic of Latvia
Financial Resources Department
Email: frd@kase.gov.lv - Estonia:
Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Estonia
State Treasury Department
Email: treasury@fin.ee