JAN. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Dariga Nazarbayeva, eldest daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and a member of parliament, suggested giving pharmaceutical companies the right to harvest wild marijuana growing in southern Kazakhstan. Ms Nazarbayeva said the government had spent enough resources trying to control the marijuana growth.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)
JAN. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In another blow to Uzbekistan’s image as a place to do business, London-listed Tethys Petroleum said that it is pulling out of the country.
In a statement circulated on Jan. 2, the company said it had pulled out of Uzbekistan “due to recent changes in the business climate and political environment”.
It expects that disengaging from its only project in Uzbekistan, the North Urtabulak oilfield in central Uzbekistan, will take three months.
Last month, Uzbek authorities arrested the head of Tethys Petroleum in Uzbekistan and accused the company of stealing oil worth $30m to $40m.
Tethys’ decision may also be linked to the ongoing political instability in Uzbekistan. Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of President Islam Karimov, is currently fighting to maintain control of her assets and influence. Observers have said that political instability may embroil Uzbekistan for some time.
But Tethys’ withdrawal does highlight the problems for foreign companies of doing business in Uzbekistan.
They complain of interference from the authorities, random tax bills and police visits.
Last year Russian telecoms company MTS pulled out of Uzbekistan after a long-running and very public row with the tax authorities. Oxus Gold, a British gold mining company, quit Uzbekistan in 2011 also after a run-in with the authorities.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR has completed its purchase of a 66% stake in Greek gas distributor DESFA, media reported quoting Greek officials. According to reports, SOCAR agreed to pay 400m euros for the stake. Azerbaijan is building a major pipeline to send gas to Europe via Turkey, the Balkans and Greece.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
JAN. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has started building a new factory for passenger railway wagons in the eastern city of Ganja, media reported by quoting an official from the state railway company. Swiss company Stadler is developing the factory with the Azerbaijani government. Azerbaijan has said it wants to develop its railway.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
JAN. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Iran arrested Babak Zanjani, one of Tajikistan’s most prominent businessmen, for money laundering, media reported. Mr Zanjani, an associate of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, is a native Iranian but had invested millions into Tajikistan, raising concern that he was laundering cash through the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
JAN. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to increase the number of loans it gives to small and medium sized businesses in Azerbaijan by extending the number of banks it works with. Last year ADB gave AccessBank a five year $50m loan specifically to lend to companies in rural areas.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
JAN. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s government was set to discuss a tentative deal with Toronto-listed Centerra Gold over joint ownership of the Kumtor gold mine. The discussion may resolve the long-running ownership dispute. Kyrgyzstan could potentially swap its 32.7% stake in Centerra Gold for a 50% stake directly in Kumtor.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will produce 50% more cars in 2014 than it did in 2013, Kazakhstan’s Auto Business Association (ABA) said. The forecast is another indication of just how fast Kazakhstan’s car-making business has expanded. In 2014, the ABA said that Kazakhstan would produce 53,000 cars, 25% of total domestic demand.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — So, it looks as if, finally, the Kazakh government has found a way of offloading its stake in the troubled BTA Bank.
An official press release confirmed the sale of a controlling stake in BTA Bank to Kazkommertsbank, also known as KazKom, and businessman Kenes Rakishev.
BTA Bank has the highest proportion of bad debt among Kazakhstan’s banks. Most analysts consider its shares to be virtually toxic and in November Halyk Bank, owned by the daughter and son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, declined to buy the government’s stake.
KazKom and Mr Rakishev, however, went through with the deal — probably for political, rather than commercial, reasons.
Nurlan Subkhanberdin, who lives in London, is the biggest shareholder in KazKom. Mr Subkhanberdin has fallen out of favour with the authorities over the past few years and has been looking for ways to rebuild relations.
Mr Rakishev — the son-in-law of the mayor of Astana, Imangali Tasmagambetov — is an increasingly high profile member of the Kazakh business elite who, again, may have been looking to shore up his position.
In any case, KazKom and Mr Rakishev have formed a consortium of investors that signed a preliminary nonbinding agreement to purchase equal shares in BTA Bank from Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund. Samruk-Kazyna will still maintain a minority share in BTA Bank.
It’s unclear how much Mr Rakishev and KazKom agreed to pay for BTA Bank but it is safe to say it will be a fraction of the $7b that the government spent buying a 97.3% stake in BTA Bank in 2008/9 to save it from collapse.
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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)
DEC. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek government said foreign currencies could be used legally inside the Navoi industrial free zone, media reported. The decision is aimed at increasing interest in one of Uzbekistan’s major business drives. Uzbekistan wants the Navoi industrial free zone to become a transport and industrial hub for Asia.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)