On April 9, a research seminar of the Corporate Finance Centre was held on the topic of The Impact of Shareholders’ Non-Financial Characteristics on the Voluntary Delisting of Russian Companies

On April 9, 2026, a research seminar was held at the School of Finance with the report “The Impact of Shareholders’ Non-Financial Characteristics on the Voluntary Delisting of Russian Companies.” The seminar was presented by School of Finance PhD student Ilya Kizko, under the supervision of Associate Professor Svetlana A Grigorieva. During the presentation, participants were presented with the data on the observed dynamics of public companies exiting domestic stock markets and discussed potential motivating factors based on the academic literature on this research topic.

The presentation reports the results of a study on the impact of non-financial characteristics, primarily ownership structure, on the probability of delisting of public companies in the Russian market. Particular attention is paid to differences in the incentives of controlling shareholders to maintain a company’s public status in pre-crisis and crisis periods. Based on a sample of Russian public companies, binary choice models are employed to identify the key determinants of delisting and their changes across pre-crisis and crisis periods. The results show that in times of crisis, the role of financial factors diminishes, while the importance of ownership structure increases: corporate control is associated with a higher probability of delisting, whereas control by private individuals is associated with a lower probability.