Tag Archives: sovereign wealth fund

Kazakhstan’s KMG readies for IPO

JUNE 12 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company Kazmunaigas is in advanced stages of its preparations for an IPO next year, the FT quoted its CFO Dauren Karabayev as saying. The Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna owns 90% of the company and the Central Bank owns the other 10%. Kazmunaigas will list alongside Air Astana and Kazatomprom next year on the new Astana Stock Exchange. There is also likely to be a secondary foreign listing but it is currently unclear where this will be, although analysts have said that London is a favoured option.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Kazakhstan’s Air Astana/Kazatomprom IPOs could be delayed, says Beisengaliyev

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MAY 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with the FT, Berik Beisengaliyev, managing director for asset optimisation at Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk- Kazyna said that IPOs of both Air Astana and nuclear agency Kazatomprom could be shelved if market conditions were not right. Kazakhstan has been planning to list both companies in Astana and London in Q3 2018. It has been talking about listing a series of companies for several years but has consistently delayed this. The Kazakh government, through Samruk Kazyna, is 100% shareholder in Kazatomprom. It owns 51% of Air Astana, with BAE Systems owning the remaining 49%. These IPOs are an important test of Kazakhstan’s attractiveness to foreign investors.

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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)

Kazakhstan expects $180m from Kashagan

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APRIL 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and its state-run energy company Kazmunaigas will receive $180m from the Kashagan oil project in 2017, media reported, quoting Dauren Karabayev, a vice president at Kazmunaigas. The Kazakh economy has been flatlining since mid-2014 when oil prices collapsed. Kashagan, in the Caspian Sea, finally came onstream at the end of last year after a delay of three years.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Kazakhstan says interest is high for privatisations

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ALMATY, APRIL 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A senior official at Samruk Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, said that the up-and-coming privatisations of Air Astana, the national airline, and Kazatomprom, the state nuclear company, were attracting a lot of attention from Western investors.

In an interview with Reuters in London, Berik Beisengaliyev, managing director for assets optimisation of Samruk Kazyna, also said that the Kazakh government had sold off 120 small and medium sized companies. Samruk Kazyna is Kazakhstan’s $67b sovereign wealth fund.

“We saw a very positive mood in the market,” he was quoted as saying. Kazakhstan has been promising the so-called People’s IPO that would see chunks of the country’s biggest companies listed on both the Kazakh Stock Exchange and an international exchange. It has continually delayed the IPOs, mainly because market conditions have moved against sales.

Still, Mr Beisengaliyev said that the sale of the smaller companies would be complete by the end of 2018 allowing the government to sell off what have been considered its top tier assets.

As well as Air Astana, which is 49% owned by BAE Systems, and Kazatomprom, the world’s biggest uranium producer, the more high profile companies slated to be sold off, or at least be partially privatised, include Kazpost, oil and gas company Kazmunaigas and railway operator Temir Zholy.

A third tier of companies are being considered for sale to strategic investors, single high-profile companies instead of the multiple smaller investors attracted through an IPO, Mr Beisengaliyev said. These companies include domestic airline Qazqom, Kazakhtelecom and mining company Teu-Ken Sumruk.

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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)

Forbes names Kazakh billionaire richest in Central Asia

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MARCH 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bulat Utemuratov, the Kazakh billionaire, is still ranked as the richest person in the Central Asia/South Caucasus region, according to the Forbes 2017 list. Mr Utemuratov was ranked at 896th richest person in the world, ahead of Vladimir Kim, Timur Kulibayev and Dinara Nazarbayeva. Mr Utemuratov is estimated to have a net worth of $2.3b, mainly from banking and other smaller ventures. Mr Kim is the official owner of copper producer Kazakhmys and Mr Kulibayev and Ms Nazarbayeva, the youngest daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and her husband, co-own Halyk Bank. They all have a net worth of $2.1b.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Azerbaijan’s SOFAZ invests in Japan property fund

FEB. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — SOFAZ, Azerbaijan’s $35b oil wealth fund, has invested $100m into Redwood Japan Logistics Fund II which invests in property across East Asia and Australia. SOFAZ has been diversifying its investments over the past few years, often into property. Hurt by the steep drop in value of its energy exports, Azerbaijan’s government has been challenging SOFAZ to take more risk to boost profit.

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(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)

Azerbaijan’s Sofaz boosts state budget

JAN. 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government will take $4b from its sovereign wealth fund, Sofaz, to spend on defending the value of the manat currency. A decree signed by Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, called on the cash to be used to “ensure macroeconomic stability”. This is the second year running that Sofaz, now worth around $33b, has been a net contributor to the national budget. Azerbaijan has been severely hit by the drop in oil prices.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Azerbaijans SOFAZ reduces government funds

SEPT. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOFAZ, Azerbaijan’s sovereign oil fund, said it would reduce by 20% its transfers to the state budget, in an effort to balance the country’s economy. In 2017, SOFAZ plans to give the government 6.1b manat ($3.8b). This year, SOFAZ forecast a total of 7.5b manat ($4.6b). As of July 1, SOFAZ holds $35.1b in assets and reserves.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Kazakhstan expects delay in state asset IPO

AUG. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will wait until 2018 to start selling off state assets in what has been billed for years as the People’s IPO, Baljeet Kaur Grewal, managing director for portfolio investment at Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund told Bloomberg in an interview. He said the fund wanted to wait for oil prices to pick up before selling various assets.

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(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Kazakhtelecom improves corporate governance ahead of a potential IPO

ALMATY, JULY 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Aleksander Klebanov, one of Kazakhstan’s richest men, bought a 24.47% stake in Kazakhtelecom, the state-owned telecoms company, in a move to improve corporate governance ahead of a planned IPO in London.

Mr Klebanov’s Sobrio Ltd, a London-registered shelf company, bought shares from two companies officially owned by Aigul Nuriyeva, the 8th richest Kazakh according to Forbes. She was widely perceived as holding these companies on behalf of Mr Klebanov.

Wary of past corporate governance flops, Kazakhtelecom said the transfer of shares would improve transparency ahead of an IPO.

“The deal was conducted for Kazakhtelecom ownership structure optimisation and transparency purposes in preparation for a possible IPO,” the company said in a press release.

For two years, Kazakhtelecom has mulled over an IPO in London.

Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, owns 52% of Kazakhtelecom. Earlier this year, Kazakhtelecom’s subsidiaryAltel merged with Tele2, a Swedish telecoms company, in an effort to boost its mobile profile.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)