Tag Archives: business

Kazakh airline to prepare an IPO

JUNE 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Peter Foster, CEO of Kazakhstan’s flagship airline Air Astana, said the company will seek financial advisors this autumn to prepare an IPO in 2018. Mr Foster said that the company will list in Kazakhstan and in other more liquid markets, such as London or Singapore. Britain’s BAE Systems owns 49% of Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna owns 51%.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Uber starts operating in Kazakh capital, challenging gypsy cab system

ALMATY, JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uber started operations in Astana, posing a major challenge to Kazakhstan’s taxi industry which, like much of the rest of the former Soviet Union, has been based on an informal gypsy cab system for generations.

But the San Francisco-based ride-hailing app said in a statement that the service would only be offered with electronic payments, potentially creating an obstacle in the stubbornly cash-oriented economy.

Traditionally, taxi rides in Kazakhstan are a matter of flagging any private car down and then haggling a price. Cash is the only way of paying.

Astana residents, backed this up. They said that fixed prices and cashless payments will act as a brake on Uber’s popularity.

“The inability to negotiate the price will surely make rides more expensive,” said Alberto, an expat working for an European consultancy in Astana.

“The city government is trying to eliminate gipsy cabs ahead of the EXPO next year, but the cashless-only payment option will deter local travellers from using Uber.”

Electronic payments make up around 15% of total commercial transactions in Kazakhstan, according to the Central Bank, compared to a global average of 25% and a European average of around 50%.

In Uber’s experience, the payment system could change, though.

Months after Uber rolled out its service in Baku in April 2015, the company listened to its customers’ demands and introduced a cash option for paying their rides.

Uber said it chose Astana for its growth opportunities. “Astana is a dream-city, a city of the future and big opportunities,” it said.

Uber is not the first taxi app to tap into the Kazakh market. A long-haul Russian service, called InDriver, launched in Kazakhstan,Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Users said InDriver’s clunky technology made it hard to use.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Azerbaijan makes bank deal with Iran

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Iran will launch their first joint bank next year, the countries’ central bankers told media. Elman Rustamov, Azerbaijan’s Central Bank chief, visited his Iranian counterpart Valiollah Seif in Tehran. Both laid the groundwork for the establishment of a new bank, a sign of the growing cooperation in the financial sector.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakhstan’s Kashagan to start production in October

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s PM Karim Massimov said that Kashagan, the country’s largest oilfield will start production in October 2016. Mr Massimov challenged the consortium members – which include Exxon, Kazmunaigas, Total, Eni, Shell and Inpex – to meet the government’s production plans and resume production at the Caspian Sea field, which had briefly started pumping oil in 2013, before damaged pipes forced its closure.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Active Batumi builds 5-star hotel in Georgia

JUNE 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Active Batumi, a hotel and entertainment company, will build a new five-star hotel in Batumi, Georgia’s tourist hotspot by the end of the year. The new hotel will hold the Wyndham brand, which belongs to a US-based hotel and resorts chain. This would be the first Wyndham-branded hotel in Georgia. In Central Asia and the South Caucasus, the only two other Wyndham hotels are located in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Inter-RAO sells its Georgian stake

JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s state-owned power distribution company Inter RAO said the sale of its 100% stake in the Georgian company Mtkvari Energy will generate a positive return for shareholders. Inter RAO representatives told media that the total amount of the sale cannot be disclosed for a few months, but that it “greatly exceeds” the value of the assets. Inter RAO completed the sale of Mtkvari Energy to unnamed international investors on June 2. Mtkvari Energy operates a thermal power plant outside Tbilisi. A recession in Russia and opposition to electricity price increases across the South Caucasus has persuaded Inter RAO to sell assets in Georgia and Armenia.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Turkmenistan’s dream pipeline to be ready by 2020

JUNE 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – TAPI, the proposed gas pipeline that will pump gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan to India, will be ready in 2020, Pakistan’s minister of natural resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told media. This is yet another official voice pushing back the completion date of the project, originally planned for 2019.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakh Tsesnabank completes bank deal

JUNE 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tsesnabank, one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan, completed its takeover of Russian Plus Bank by buying a 14.7% stake from UAE based Linex Global. Tsesnabank, which had bought a controlling stake in Plus Bank in January, now owns 99% of the bank. Adilbek Dzhaksybekov, mayor of Astana, owns Tsesnabank.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakh President’s nephew to invest in car-making

JUNE 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kairat Satybaldy, the eldest nephew of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Vyacheslav Kim, both linked to Kaspi Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s most prominent high street banks, bought into AllurGroup, a carmaker with its main operations in Kostanai, in the north of the country. Through Alatau Invest Capital, a financial vehicle, Mr Satybaldy has said he wants to invest in the car-making industry.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Kazakh Minister says Karachaganak talks are friendly

ALMATY, JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s energy minister Kanat Bozumbayev denied that the government was using multi-billion dollar fines against the consortium operating the Karachaganak gas and condensate field to negotiate more favourable terms to a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) drawn up in 1997.

Mr Bozumbayev’s comment contradicts statements by shareholders in Karachaganak. Russian oil company Lukoil said in its Q1 report that Kazakhstan’s total claims for the renegotiation of the Karachaganak contract have grown to $1.8b, up from $1.6b it had highlighted in April.

At a press conference in Astana, Mr Bozumbayev tried to shrug off the allegations.

“The reason I do not comment on these issues is that my words are then taken out of context and I read that Kazakhstan wants to sue,” media quoted him as saying. “Kazakhstan is holding friendly negotiations with the shareholders of the Karachaganak project.”

Mr Bozumbayev’s comments are the most clear to date that the Kazakh government is holding direct talks with the Karachaganak partners on a new PSA deal.

Essentially, the Kazakh government wants a greater share of the profits from Karachaganak. Last week, the FT reported that the Kazakh government had rejected a $300m deal to settle the dispute.

The consortium is Eni (29.25%), BG (29.25%), Chevron (18%), Lukoil (13.5%) and Kazmunaigas (10%).

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)