JULY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Abu Omar Al-Shishani, a Georgian- born IS commander, was reported dead, according to IS-linked news outlets. Known as ‘Omar the Chechen’, Al-Shishani reportedly died in combat in Mosul, in northern Iraq. A native of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, Al-Shishani had served as the extremist group’s de facto minister of war.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
JULY 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish fashion retailer H&M said it will open its first store in Kazakhstan in 2017, expanding its market into Central Asia. H&M follows other chains, such as French retailer Carrefour and food chain McDonald’s, which entered the Kazakh market in the past few months. Kazakh media said that the location for H&M’s new store is likely to be Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city.
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(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
ALMATY, JULY 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Intensifying its fight for more control over its London-traded subsidiary KMG EP, Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas increased by 14% its earlier buyout offer to minority shareholders and retracted demands to cut the company’s independence.
Under pressure to boost income from oil and gas sales, Kazmunaigas wants to increase its 58% stake in KMG EP. KMG EP’s assets are more profitable than the assets owned by Kazmunaigas.
The problem for Kazmunaigas, though, is that its initial buyout offer of $7.88/GDR met with strong resistance from independent shareholders at KMG EP last month. The increase to $9/GDR, which Kazmunaigas issued without an explicit explanation, also appeared to attract a withering response.
“An increase in the price of the Purchase Offer would not be consistent with the prior statements made by Kazmunaigas that it ‘is not seeking to acquire any significant additional holdings in KMG EP through this offer’,” the independent directors said in a note.
They accused Kazmunaigas of underhand tactics to try to force more control over KMG EP. Specifically, the minority shareholders rallied against a new corporate governance structure proposed by Kazmunaigas that would reduce independent control of KMG EP. Kazmunaigas wanted to impose a veto against the appointment of independent directors but has now dropped these demands.
The ongoing saga within the most powerful industrial structure in Kazakhstan acts as a rare window on Kazakhstan’s corporate governance culture after a series of high profile scandals ahead of planned new IPOs, including Kazakhtelecom, the state- owned telecoms company.
KMG EP’s GDRs have traded at between $6 to $9 in the past 12 months.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
JULY 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Asset Asavbayev, director of transport at Kazakhstan’s ministry of industrial development, said Kazakhstan will step in to resolve a row between Russia and Ukraine that has stalled Ukrainian cargo in transit to Central Asia via Russian territory. On July 1, Russian border police enforced a transit ban for Ukrainian goods, citing a Eurasian Economic Union regulation.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
JULY 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s finance ministry published a negative forecast for the somoni currency exchange rate over the next few years, saying that the economic crisis that has hit the region since mid-2014 could be far from over. According to the official forecast, the somoni will weaken against the US dollar by 21% next year and by a further 8% in 2018. This week the official exchange rate was 7.9/$1. Much like other currencies in the region, the Tajik somoni has lost a third of its value sine mid-2014, mainly because of a recession in Russia, weakness in oil and gas prices and a drop in confidence in Emerging Markets.
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(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
BISHKEK, JULY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court ordered a retrial into the sentencing of human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov in 2010 to life in prison for involvement in a murder and for inciting ethnic hatred.
The announcement disappointed human rights activists who have said that Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek, is a political prisoner who was made into a scapegoat after fighting between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in Osh killed at least 400 people. They wanted the
Supreme Court to bow to pressure from the UN and US to release the 65-year-old Askarov.
Askarov’s case has strained relations between Kyrgyzstan and the US, which last year called him a political prisoner.
Analysts in Bishkek have told The Bulletin that the Supreme Court may give in to pressure to hold a retrial but that it would be, politically, very difficult for a court to come to a different outcome at a new trial.
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(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
JULY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s GDP fell by 2.3% in the first six months of the year because of lower gold prices. The Statistics Committee said that without accounting for the performance of the Kumtor gold mine, the country’s non-gold GDP grew by 1.2% compared to the same period last year. Higher gold prices since mid-June could now push up the country’s GDP.
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(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
JULY 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon appointed former deputy Central Banker Umed Latifov to the post of finance minister, replacing Shavkat Sokhibov. Tajikistan’s economy has suffered from a regional economic downturn which has dried up worker remittances from abroad. US-educated Mr Latifov is much younger than his predecessor and has an international profile. His appointment at the Central Bank in May 2015 was his first job in Tajikistan.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
JULY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Aktobe, northern Kazakhstan, sentenced 12 people who had allegedly tried to join the ranks of the extremist IS group in February. The suspects received sentences of between 6 and 8 years in prison. The court said the group had tried to travel to Syria to join an IS training camp. Kazakhstan’s government has repeatedly emphasised its efforts towards combating Islamic extremism.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
JULY 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EBRD said it had loaned $100m to MagtiCom, Georgia’s largest telecoms operator, to buy Caucasus Online, a Georgian internet service provider that also works in Armenia and Azerbaijan. MagtiCom, whose main shareholders are two American telecoms companies, has almost 2m subscribers.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)
