JAN. 18 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev ordered a joint Uzbek-Emirati investment company to be set up. The fund, according to reports, will have a working capital of $1b and will be 75% owned by the Abu Dhabi Development Fund, and 25% owned by the Uzbek Fund for Reconstruction and Development.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
LONDON/JAN.15 (The Conway Bulletin) — – Azerbaijan-based gold producer Anglo Asian, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, posted weak fourth quarter results but said that its overall performance in 2018 had been good.
Output in the three months to the end of December fell to 21,945 ounces of gold equivalent compared to 23,185 ounces in the same period in 2017 and dented what had been a spectacular year.
In September, Anglo Asian’s share price began to rise from 42.5p after the first of a series of positive trading updates and an inaugural dividend announcement.
By Dec. 4 it had peaked at 95.5p. It lost 5% after Tuesday’s announcement that Q4 had been worse than expected, triggering a drop of 5%.
Even so, total production in 2018 rose to 83,736 ounces, up 17% from 2017. This was at the top end of its guidance range.
In his commentary, Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri concentrated on the full year results.
“In addition to increasing production from the previous year, Anglo Asian has also significantly strengthened its balance sheet and paid a maiden dividend, all of which has bolstered Anglo Asian’s value and investment profile,” he said.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — New York-listed telecoms firm Veon which operates the Beeline brand appointed Evgeniy Nastradin to be the new CEO of its Kazakh operations. Mr Nastradin had previously been Beeline Kazakhstan’s COO. He replaces Aleksandr Komarov who moves to Veon’s brand in Ukraine, Kyivstar.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
TBILISI/JAN. 9 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Prosecutor-General confirmed that it had launched a money laundering investigation focused on a handful of transactions by the chairman and deputy chairman of London-listed TBC Bank in 2008.
It said that Mamuka Khazaradze, the TBC chairman, and Bardi Japaridze, the deputy chairman, took a $17m unsecured loan from TBC through two shell companies, Samgori Trade LLC and Samgori M LLC, which was promptly written off by the Bank and has never been repaid.
The investigation was ongoing, the Prosecutor-General said, but also that in an earlier investigation Georgia’s Financial Monitoring Service had “arrived at the conclusion that activities clearly showed the characteristics of legalisation of illegal income, i.e. money laundering, and other illicit acts.”
TBC Bank has denied any wrongdoing and said that the Central Bank investigated these transactions in 2008 and passed them off as transparent.
“We hereby categorically deny the false accusations and misleading information carefully orchestrated by the forces behind the dark PR,” TBC said.
Some allies of Mr Khazaradze said that Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and the owner of a rival bank, may be trying to discredit him.
TBC Bank is the largest retail bank in Georgia with a 38% of the loan market. Its shares fell by 5% on news of the investigation to 1,408p.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
TBILISI/JAN. 11 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has become the first foreign buyer of Israel’s so-called suicide drone, the Jerusalem Post reported. Relations between Azerbaijan and Israel have blossomed in recent years with Israel buying Azerbaijan oil and gas and Azerbaijan buying Israeli weapons. Azerbaijan is still officially at war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — Consumer lending in Azerbaijan increased by 6% in 2018 compared to the previous year, the Central Bank said, the first annual rise since 2015. The rise is an important sign that consumer confidence is returning. Azerbaijan was heavily hit by an economic downturn from 2014, triggered by a drop in oil prices. One of the drivers of Azerbaijan’s economic decline was a high proportion of poor loans, often unrecoverable, to consumers.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
AN. 14 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia and Azerbaijan will jointly fund the construction of a new terminal at the Georgian city of Batumi on the Black Sea, media reported. The terminal will specialise in the loading and unloading minerals and fertilisers and add to the ports of entry and exit for goods moving across the South Caucasus. Reports said that US companies Wondernet Express Investments and Trammo will also invest in the project.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
TASHKENT/JAN. 14 (The Conway Bulletin) — – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loaned $240m to Uzbekenergo to modernise its Talimarjan gas power plant in the south of the country.
The loan will be spent on installing 90MW combined cycle gas turbines. It is the largest single investment by the EBRD in Uzbekistan. The EBRD only re-entered Uzbekistan last year, after a break of 10 years, when it became clear that President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was intent on opening up the country after years of isolation under the reclusive Islam Karimov.
“The investment will address a major issue for the region, namely the provision of uninterrupted and sustainable power supply, which will support economic growth and improve the wellbeing of the population,” the EBRD said in a statement.
The other joint funders on the project are the Asian Development Bank and the Uzbek Fund for Reconstruction and Development. The EBRD has invested a total of 1.3b euros in 70 projects in Uzbekistan.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
JAN. 20 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev travelled to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the culmination of an Uzbek-German business forum. At the forum, German firms pledged to invest 4b euros into various projects in Uzbekistan. The projects range from finance to engineering. Germany has been one of the main drivers of European Union investment in Uzbekistan since Mr Mirziyoyev took over the presidency in 2016.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
DEC. 22 (The Conway Bulletin) — UAE’s government-owned budget airline FlyDubai will start flying to Tashkent, another sign that the Uzbek tourist industry is booming. Uzbek officials announced the deal after meeting UAE officials. FlyDubai, which targets tourists, will take over the Dubai-Tashkent route from Emirates Airline, which is more business-focused.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019