Author Archives: admin

Deutag wins contracts in Azerbaijan

DEC. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — British services company KCA Deutag won two contracts with BP worth up to $1b for operations, maintenance and engineering work in Azerbaijan. The Aberdeen-based company will work on seven oil and gas platforms operated by BP off the coast of Azerbaijan, including those exploiting the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field and the Shah Deniz gas field, two of Azerbaijan’s most important energy projects. KCA Deutag has worked in Azerbaijan for 20 years, mostly with BP. Rune Lorentzen, president of Offshore at KCA Deutag, said: “These major contract awards build on KCA Deutag’s long standing relationship with BP, and recognise our efforts to deliver both continuous improvement and value to our client.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Azerbaijan to receive Swiss trains

DEC. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swiss railway manufacturer Stadler will deliver two high-speed electric trains to Azerbaijan in the next two months, Javid Gurbanov, head of Azerbaijani Railways, told reporters. Both trains will be used on the 30km Baku-Sumgayit route. In May, Stadler said it had also won a €70m contract to deliver five double decker carriages to Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Georgia rate increase

DEC. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank increased its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 8%, its highest level since 2012. The move preceded a heavily telegraphed quarter of a percentage point increase by the US Federal Reserve that piled more pressure on Emerging Markets. Georgia’s interest rate measured 4% at the start of 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Tengri drops Kyrgyz project

DEC. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Tengri Resources said two mines it has been exploring in Kyrgyzstan “host large resources with significant upside exploration potential” but that it won’t exploit them because of low commodity prices. Tengri Resources’ shares fell 17.4% to 3p, a 9 month low, after the announcement. The company had been exploring the Taldybulak and the nearby Andash mines. Gold prices have fallen by 11% this year and copper prices by 25%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakh businessman buys controlling stake in BTA Bank Ukraine

DEC. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee gave permission to Kazakh businessman Kenes Rakishev to buy a majority stake in BTA Bank Ukraine, strengthening his control over Kazakhstan’s banking assets.

One day before disclosing Mr Rakishev as the mystery buyer, the Ukrainian regulator said it had given the green light to a citizen of Kazakhstan to buy the 50.007% stake in BTA Bank that Kazkommertsbank, Kazakhstan’s largest lender, didn’t already own.

Kazkommertsbank and Mr Rakishev completed the takeover of BTA Bank in Kazakhstan earlier in 2015.

This takeover deal, though, only concerned the Kazakhstan-based parent company. BTA Group also owns banks in Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Now, Mr Rakishev will control BTA’s subsidiary in Ukraine, buying it from Andryi Levkovsky, a Ukrainian businessman linked to several investment companies.

The 36-year-old Mr Rakishev is the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s powerful defence minister Imangali Tasmagambetov and is considered a member of the country’s most inner clique of elite.

BTA Bank Ukraine’s results in the first three quarters of the year were positive. Net income grew by 30% to $119,800, making the bank a small player in Ukrainian market. The bank’s total assets amount to 2.8b hryvnia ($120m).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Uzbekistan restricts the arts

DEC. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek government is imposing increasingly tough rules over artists and singers, the BBC reported. It said singers will have to provide quarterly reports on their performances so that the authorities can ensure that they are hitting the required level of “spiritual and cultural values and national traditions”.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakh President praises cuts

DEC. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna has cut some costs but still needs to do more to help Kazakhstan through the current economic downturn, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in an interview with local journalists. Mr Nazarbayev said the fund cut costs by 50b tenge ($145m) this year, but was continuing to buy subsidiaries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

ADB funds Azerbaijani infrastructure

DEC. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it would allocate a loan of up to $2.24b to co-finance transport and energy projects in Azerbaijan in 2016- 2017. Out of this loan, the ADB said it would allocate $500m to developing the electricity network and $40m for renewable energy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Former head of Kyrgyzaltyn sent to jail for 3 years for corruption

DEC. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Kyrgyzstan sentenced Dilger Zhaparov, former head of state-owned gold miner Kyrgyzaltyn, to three years in prison for corruption, after he made an unauthorised payment to Toronto-listed Centerra Gold.

Zhaparov has been in jail since May 2014, when he was arrested.

According to the prosecution, in December 2013 Zhaparov illegally withdrew funds from Kumtor Gold Company (KGC), a holding company operating the Kumtor gold mine, to pay a $200m dividend to Centerra Gold. The court in Bishkek agreed and gave him the maximum three year jail sentence.

During the trial there was never any suggestion of wrongdoing by Centerra Gold and John Pearson, vice-president of Investors Relations at Centerra Gold, said he was disappointed by the jail sentence as he thought the transaction was legal.

“We are puzzled by the decision of the Kyrgyz authorities. The payment was perfectly legal as it was an inter- company dividend payment between KGC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Centerra, and Centerra itself,” Mr Pearson told The Bulletin.

Kyrgyzaltyn owns 32.7% of Centerra Gold. Centerra Gold, in turn, owns 100% of KGC.

When Zhaparov was arrested, the authorities said the payment needed government approval.

The Kyrgyz authorities have repeatedly rowed with Centerra over KGC’s ownership. The Kumtor gold mine is Kyrgyzstan’s most valuable asset, making up 10% of its GDP.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan and China deals

DEC. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a business forum in Beijing, Kazakh and Chinese officials said they reached agreements worth $10b that will increase cooperation between state-owned companies. One of the deals involved the sale of 51% of KMG International, a subsidiary of Kazmunaigas, to a Chinese energy company.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)