IPOs of Air Astana, KMG, Kazakhtelecom scheduled

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan has decided on the time for the IPOs (initial public offering) of three major companies in the country: Air Astana, the national companies KazMunayGas and Kazakhtelecom, announced Tim Bennett, CEO of Astana International Exchange (AIX), Kazinform correspondent reports.

Tim Bennett told a press conference in Astana that a month ago, the Kazakh Ministry of Finance mapped out a plan, according to which Kazakhtelecom will IPO in May 2019, Air Astana in October or November 2019, and KazMunayGas in the second quarter of 2020.

According to him, preparatory work is now underway.

He underlined that the capital markets have been volatile over the past six months, and, therefore, AIX is working to make these IPOs happen this year. However, perhaps, in accordance with the interests of these companies, they may not be listed this year, he added.

Astana International Exchange (AIX) was formed in 2017 as part of the development of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). On the 14th November 2018, the first trading session on AIX has been launched by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. AIX's shareholders include AIFC, Goldman Sachs, Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Silk Road Fund and NASDAQ, which also provides AIXs trading platform.