Tag Archives: business

US law firm to open in Tashkent

JAN. 29 (The Conway Bulletin) – US law firm White & Case said that it was opening a full-time office in Tashkent because of the improved economic and political environment. A statement by the company said that the office, which will be staffed by partners visiting from its London and New York offices as well as local lawyers, would focus on merger, acquisitions and dispute resolutions. Specifically, it also said that the driving motivation for opening the office had been provided by the liberal-minded reforms introduced by Pres. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in power since Sept. 2016.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Emergency landing at Tbilisi

FEB. 4 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Ukraine International Airline passenger plane made an emergency landing at Tbilisi airport after its brake system failed. Reports said that the Kiev-Tbilisi flight made several turns to burn off fuel before making the emergency landing. Nobody was hurt during the landing.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Air Astana reports profit for 2017 and rise in passengers

ALMATY FEB. 5 (The Conway Bulletin) — Air Astana, the Kazakh national airline that is preparing for an IPO this year, posted full-year results for 2017 that showed revenue growth of 22% and a profit of $39.1m.

The results will be a relief for Kazakh government officials after the airline, which is 51% owned by Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and 49% by BAE Systems, posted a loss in 2016 for the first time.

In a statement, Air Astana CEO Peter Foster said that EXPO 2017, the international exposition hosted by Astana for three months from June, and a rise in the number of transit passengers using the new terminal at Nazarbayev Airport, also in Astana, had driven the growth.

“Transit business grew by 58% and is now 12% of total business. Our comparatively low unit cost has enabled us to successfully grow this business segment by being competitive in key overseas markets, such as Russia, China, India and the EU, and smaller high growth markets such as Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan,” he said.

Revenue in 2017 was $754m and passenger numbers were 4.2m, up 12%.

Air Astana was incorporated in 2001, flying its first flights in 2002 and replacing the Soviet-tinged Air Kazakhstan as the national flag carrier.

Air Astana has also become vital for linking Kazakhstan with the rest of the world as a handful of major airlines, including KLM and British Airways, have dropped flying to Almaty or Astana.

Mr Foster, the Air Astana CEO, said that the company would continue to grow in 2018 but that costs were rising. “Cost control, whilst maintaining quality standards, will be the key challenge in the coming period,” he said.

Air Astana, alongside the high-profile atomic agency Kazatomprom and Kazakhtelecom, is part of a clutch of state-owned companies that Kazakhstan is selling off this year on the new Astana Stock Exchange and on an international exchange.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Turkmen gas supplies to China drop

DEC. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gas supplies to China from Turkmenistan fell by 7% in November although compared to the same period in 2016 volumes have still increased, Reuters reported quoting Chinese customs data.

There has been no official explanation from either Turkmenistan or China on the gas supply drop but the slump will pile extra pressure onto the already-faltering Turkmen economy.

Turkmenistan’s economy is dependent on its gas sales to China. It is China’s largest supplier, providing it with 40% of its imports. Chinese data showed that imports from Turkmenistan were 1.592m tonnes, down from 1.71m tonnes in October. This is still 11% higher than a year earlier.

Turkmenistan’s economy is already under pressure from the collapse in energy prices since 2014.

Turkmen Pres. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has sacked ministers and other officials as he looks to shift blame. The government has also cut subsidies for utilities and reports have said that the Black Market price of the US dollar has soared against the Turkmen manat.

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— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin

Kazatomprom sells off stake in US nuclear company

DEC. 25 (The Conway Bulletin) — Japan’s Toshiba Corporation bought back a 10% stake in the bankrupt US nuclear power station builder Westinghouse Electric for $522m from the Kazakh nuclear agency Kazatomptom. Kazatomprom had bought the stake in 2007 for $540m. A put option in the contract meant that, although Westinghouse had been declared bankrupt in March 2017, Toshiba was forced to buy back the stake from Kazatomprom for a fixed price. Kazatomprom is the world’s biggest uranium producer. The state-owned company is preparing an IPO in 2018.

— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin

Chinese company to build wind farm in Kazakhstan

DEC. 27 (The Conway Bulletin) — China’s Goldwind Science and Technology has won an order to build a wind power plant in Kazakhstan, it said. The 5MW plant will be built near Almaty and shows both Kazakhstan’s drive to develop green energy and also the increasing influence of China on the region’s commerce. The contract was given to Goldwind Science by China’s CITIC, the main contractor for the wind power plant. CITIC is a major constructor in Kazakhstan.

— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin

Georgia Healthcare buys up another clinic

DEC. 27 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia Healthcare Group (GHG), which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, said it had bought another clinic in Tbilisi, part of its strategy to buy up clinics across the country. The clinic is the second one it now owns in the Mtatsminda area of Tbilisi. As well as owning a growing network of clinics, GHG runs hospitals and pharmacies.

— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin

Russia is looking at funding Kyrgyz hydro projects once again

DEC. 22 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia is, apparently, looking at potentially funding hydropower projects in Kyrgyzstan two years after it pulled out of a $700m deal to finance the development of the Kambar-Ata-1 hydropower station and four smaller projects along the Upper Naryn River. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted Russian deputy PM Arkady Dvorkovich as hinting that Russia was looking again at potential projects. Kyrgyzstan has not found an alternative funder for the Upper Naryn river projects since Russia pulled out.

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— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin

Stock markets: KAZ Minerals was FTSE-350s top performer in 2017

JAN. 5 (The Conway Bulletin) — KAZ Minerals, the Kazakhstan-focused copper producer, was the biggest riser on the FTSE 350, according to the Times newspaper. It nearly doubled its share price in 2017 as the stock market bet on the price of copper.

The KAZ Minerals success story was something of an anomaly for the region. Central Asia Metals, its Kazakhstan metal producer bedfellow, barely broke even. The market judged its buy-up of a Macedonian zinc miner earlier in the year to be the wrong move.

And Centerra Gold, the Toronto-listed miner, also failed to shift significantly despite apparently making peace with the authorities in Kyrgyzstan over the status of the Kumtor mine. It shares dropped by 10% on Dec. 27 after it said that it had had to stop production at a mine in British Columbia because of a lack of water.

— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin

TAP is on target to deliver Azerbaijani gas to Europe

DEC. 23 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is on target to deliver the first gas from Azerbaijan by 2020 despite protests from locals in Italy who have said that the $5.3b project will destroy ancient landscapes, Walter Peeraer, the TAP chairman, told Reuters. TAP is the final leg of a pipeline system dubbed the Southern Gas Corridor that central Europe is banking on to deliver gas from the Caspian Sea, reducing its reliance on Russia. The main gas supplier for the $40b Southern Gas Corridor is Azerbaijan’s BP-run Shah Deniz II.

— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin