BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jun. 17
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
The deadlines for privatization of Kazakhstan’s Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund’s assets were corrected in accordance with situation at the global market, Trend reports with reference to the press office of Samruk Kazyna.
Thus, the State Commission for Economy Modernization set the new deadlines for assets privatization.
"As a result of the pandemic impact, uncertainty is strong on the capital markets, which significantly affects investment activity. Such situation puts assets privatization at risk both in terms of fair value and the size of the shares’ placement. Therefore, we proposed that the sole shareholder of the Fund: Kazakh Government changes the deadlines previously introduced in the privatization plan for 2016-2020. Our proposal was fully supported,” the report said.
Thus, the privatization of the fund’s major assets will be as follows:
1. Privatization of Kazpost JSC and Samruk-Energy JSC will take place in 2021 by selling to a strategic investor.
2. Initial Public Offering (IPO) of KazMunayGas and Air Astana, privatization of Tau-Ken Samruk and Qazaq Air companies will take place in 2022.
3. IPO of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy National Company will take place in 2023.
The report said that the Fund also intends to sell its 10 percent stake in Kazakhtelecom company, which is allow to both maintain the state’s presence in the strategic telecommunications industry, and to also guarantee the investors participation.
“A total of 21 medium-sized assets of the Fund will also be privatized before 2023. At the same time, the decision on each of them will be taken solely for reasons of economic pragmatism,” the report said.
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