Tag Archives: business

Israel to build poultry plant in Kazakhstan

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Israeli poultry processing company BAL International said it will build a new food chain plant in Kazakhstan. The company, which owns two factories in Israel, plans to install a new production line in the Almaty region. Its business will be mostly geared towards exports to China. The company also plans to kick-start a mutton export line from Kazakhstan to Israel. The deal was signed during Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s official visit to Astana.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Tajikistan sells fertiliser producer to China

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik parliament ratified an earlier agreement on the sale of Tajik Azot, a fertiliser producer, to China’s Henan Zhong Holding. The Chinese side, which will hold a 51% stake, pledged a $360m investment to modernise the plant. The Tajik government will retain 30% of the profits. In 2014, the government seized Tajik Azot, previously owned by Ukrainian businessman Dmitro Firtash, after Firtash was arrested in Vienna. China has extended its influence over Tajik business this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

KAZ Minerals gets funding

DEC. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed copper miner KAZ Minerals said it had been given a $300m loan from state-owned Kazakhstan Development Bank to fund the development of the Aktogay mine in eastern Kazakhstan. The loan will have a maturity of 8-1/2 years. At a press conference, Oleg Novachuk, the company’s chairman, said that the total debt of the company totalled around $2.5b.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Kazakhstan-based CAM director’s shares increase

DEC. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Central Asia Metals said that its deputy chairman Nigel Hurst-Brown had been given 215,000 ordinary shares from an unnamed shareholder, increasing his shareholding to 0.81%. The transaction was completed at no cost. With a stake of 19%, Kazakh businessman Kenes Rakishev is Central Asia Metals’ largest shareholder.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Kazakh energy ministry forecasts Kashagan production

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A report from Kazakhstan’s energy ministry forecast total production at Kashagan to reach 308m tonnes in total by 2041, the KazTAG news agency reported. This is important because it shows the size of the oil field and just how much oil the consortium developing it can expect to produce during the lifespan of the production sharing agreement. ENI, Shell, Kazmunaigas, Inpex, Total, ExxonMobil and CNPC are the consortium members.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

China completes power plant refit in Tajikistan

DEC. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China completed the $350m refit of a power plant outside Dushanbe that is considered vital to generating electricity for Tajikistan’s capital city. The refit of the power station highlights just how powerful China’s has become in Tajikistan. It has replaced Russia as the mainstay of the economy. Electricity is important in Tajikistan because its cities suffer from blackouts throughout the year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Tethys’ Kazakh subsidiary resumes sales

DEC. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Tethys Petroleum said its Kazakh subsidiary had restarted gas sales to the state- owned distributor Intergas Central Asia after a seven-week suspension. Intergas Central Asia cut the gas supply contract with Tethys Aral Gas in October. At the time, Tethys was locked in a row with Kazakh investors who had promised to deliver a cash injection.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

EBRD gives loan to Armenian bank

DEC. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EBRD sent a $10m loan to Ameriabank, Armenia’s largest bank by assets, to promote credit to women-led small and medium enterprises. The EBRD also sent a $3b loan to ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, one of the largest lenders to Armenia’s agriculture sector. The loan is part of the EBRD’s Women in Business programme, which includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Russia argues with Georgia over gas

DEC. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in Vienna on Dec. 13, Gazprom chiefs told Georgia that a long-standing deal by which it could take a 10% chunk of gas that Russia exports to Armenia via Georgian territory should be scrapped, Georgian energy minister Kakha Kaladze told media. The two sides held similar negotiations last year. Russia wants the gas deals to move onto a monetised basis, Georgia wants to swap deal to remain. Last year a swap deal was retained.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Georgia Global Utilities issues 30m lari bond

TBILISI, DEC. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia Global Utilities (GGU), a subsidiary of London-listed BGEO Group, issued a 30m lari ($12m) bond, giving investors the chance to take a punt on the lari.

The bond, destined to GGU’s subsidiary Georgian Water and Power, offers a 3.5% premium over the Central Bank’s lari refinancing rate and will mature in five years.

The lari has slid by 15% in the past three months against the US dollar and is now trading at 2.66/$1. This prompted the Central Bank to stop easing its monetary policy and to keep interest rates stable at 6.5%.

Despite the fall in the value of the lari, BGEO was bullish about the issue. “This is in line with GGU’s funding strategy to continue to raise new funding in local currency, with longer-term maturity,” Irakli Gilauri, BGEO’s CEO, said in a statement.

Georgian Water and Power, which supplies water to Tbilisi, Mtskheta and Rustavi, was privatised in 2008. The sale was criticised because of a perceived lack of transparency over GGU’s British Virgin Islands registration.

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(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)