Large Kazakhstani Bank to Sell Stake in Telecoms Company  – The Diplomat

Only a 12 months in the past, Jusan Financial institution, one among Kazakhstan’s largest lenders, purchased a stake in Kcell, one of many largest operators within the nation, throughout a procuring spree in cellular telecom ventures. Now, it plans to promote it off.

The most important shareholders of Kcell are Kazakhtelecom (51 p.c), Pioneer Applied sciences (14.87 p.c), Jusan Financial institution (9.08 p.c), and Kazakhstan’s Single Pension Fund (7.07 p.c).

Kazakhtelecom offered a 24 p.c stake to Jusan and Pioneer in September 2021. Pioneer, which is registered in Luxembourg, is related to Jusan as a result of each possession constructions hyperlink again to the Nazarbayev Basis, an establishment established by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The deal was later criticized by lobbyist engaged on behalf of minority shareholders in Kazakhstan, because the announcement of the sale led to a big drop in value within the weeks earlier than the transaction happened.

Kcell was the native model title of Nordic telecoms big TeliaSonera, which infamously owned a number of cellular suppliers throughout Central Asia that had been embroiled in corruption scandals. By Rodnik, an funding car, TeliaSonera additionally owned KazTransCom, a big telecoms service supplier. In 2018, Telia offered its shares to a bunch of corporations mentioned to be near Timur Kulibayev, one of many nation’s wealthiest businessmen and Nazarbayev’s son-in-law.

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In early 2021, Jysan Ventures, an organization affiliated with the financial institution, acquired KazTransCom, in a transfer to speculate into cellular monetary companies. (Notice: Jusan Financial institution and its affiliated events additionally use the spelling Jysan and Jýsan).

In Might 2022, Jusan paid out round 200 million tenge ($410,000) on account of a lawsuit by the Single Pension Fund, which had accused the financial institution of paying lower than market value for the shares on the time of the cope with KazTranscom.

Jusan’s telecom service investments appeared to be a transfer to meet up with Kaspi, the fintech big that listed in London in late 2020.

On September 12, nonetheless, Jusan Financial institution introduced its plan to promote its 9.08 p.c stake in Kcell. 

Nurdaulet Aidosov, the financial institution’s chairman, mentioned that the nation’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna was amongst a couple of events to make a suggestion.

“We give [Samruk-Kazyna] our choice, as a result of we recognize their company governance, inside politics, improvement technique and reforms,” Aidosov mentioned at a press convention. Whereas he declined to touch upon the monetary particulars of the transaction, he assured that “the deal might be mutually helpful to the 2 events.”

Samruk-Kazyna already owns 51 p.c in Kazakhtelecom, Kcell’s majority shareholder. Between 2018 and March 2022, Nazarbayev’s nephew Kairat Satybaldy owned a 24 p.c stake in Kazakhtelecom by a Luxembourg-registered firm.

In explaining Satybaldy’s detention in March, the anti-corruption company acknowledged that his arrest was linked to alleged embezzlement on the expense of Kazakhtelecom. In April, Satybaldy renounced his Kazakhtelecom property, which returned to the palms of the state.

Talking at Jusan’s press convention in September, Aidosov additionally transparently admitted that Kcell is the financial institution’s largest borrower, after it took out a three-year, 60.5 billion tenge ($130 million) mortgage in late 2021. The credit score line amounted to round 29 p.c of Kcell’s property.

Days earlier, a Bloomberg report quoted sources near the deal saying that the sale transaction would “reverse the controversial privatization of Kcell that was marred by suspected share value manipulation.”

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Although younger on paper, the historical past of Jusan goes again a number of many years. 

Backed by the Nazarbayev Basis, in February 2019 a monetary firm often known as First Heartland Securities purchased Tsesnabank, then the third-largest lender within the nation. The financial institution’s title was later became Jusan.

In 2018 and early 2019 Tsesnabank had acquired a authorities bailout value in complete $3.4 billion. In March 2019, Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned after three many years in energy.

In 2020, Jusan introduced its intention to purchase mid-sized ATF Financial institution, a deal that it closed earlier than the top of the 12 months. 

After rising in measurement whereas being helped by the federal government within the clean-up of its poisonous property, Jusan appeared poised to enterprise into a variety of modern companies in Kazakhstan’s monetary sector. The divestment from Kcell appears to be a step again, though the financial institution’s indicators say it continues to penetrate the market.