Category Archives: Uncategorised

Tele2 profits in Kazakhstan increase by 34%

OCT. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish mobile operator Tele2 posted a 34% increase in revenues at its Kazakh subsidiary in Q3 2015, compared to the same period last year. The increase was partly due to the fall in the value of the tenge. Earlier in September, Pietari Kivikko, chairman of Tele2’s Kazakh subsidiary, had predicted a fall in revenues for all telecoms companies in Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Uzbekistan raises coal imports

OCT. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek government has ordered more coal imports to match growing demand, media said. According to the website fergananews.com Uzbekistan will import around 330,000 tonnes of coal this winter. Regionally, Uzbekistan is a major gas producer, but it prefers to export most of the gas to earn foreign currency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Azerbaijan’s Sofaz revenues drop

OCT. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -The value of Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund Sofaz dropped by 6.4% to $34.7b between Jan 1 and Oct 1, it said, a decrease that highlights the impact of the fall in oil prices and collapse in the value of its manat currency. Sofaz earns revenues from oil and gas contracts.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Taliban hides near Turkmen border

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Taliban fighters were hiding from Afghan government forces on an island in the Amu Darya, a river that marks the Afghan- Turkmen border. Worried about the impact on foreign investment, Turkmenistan has denied that Taliban activity along its border with Afghanistan is a threat to its security.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Japan builds plant in Turkmenistan

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation will build a 400 megawatt gas-fired power plant in north Turkmenistan, a plant that will both increase electricity production and also extend the reach of the Turkmen power grid. The deal, worth $300m, was signed during Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s visit to Turkmenistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Kazakh paper manufacturer accuses former directors

OCT. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Britain’s High Court decline an appeal by Maksat Arip and Baglan Zhunus, two former directors of Kazakh paper manufacturer Kagazy, against freezing their assets. Kagazy has accused Mr Arip and Mr Zhunus of misappropriating company funds in connection with Kagazy’s 2007 IPO in London and filed a $280m lawsuit. The trial will begin in April 2017.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Tajikistan gives weapons to Taliban

OCT. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan gave weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan in exchange for freeing four Tajik soldiers, a senior Taliban leader interviewed by The Daily Beast said. The soldiers, captured in December 2014, were released in June. A Taliban leader allegedly travelled to Dushanbe for the deal. The Tajik government has not commented.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Uzbekistan integrates cotton

OCT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan established a new state company for processing and export- ing cotton, one of its most important commodities. The main mission of Uzpakhtasanoatexport is to integrate the cotton sector.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Austria’s Poerner to build Azerbaijan’s capital bitumen plant

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan hired Austrian Poerner Group alongside Texas-based Fluor Corp. to build a bitumen plant, a deal poised to boost Azerbaijan’s output of petroleum products.

Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR contracted Poerner to design the 400,000 tonnes/year plant, which Fluor Corp will build over the next decade.

Earlier this year, Azerbaijan said it wanted to modernise its oil, gas and petrochemicals processing plants near Baku. In March, Reuters quoted the US embassy in Azerbaijan saying the new complex will cost around $16.5b.

Neither Poerner nor Fluor have disclosed the value of their contracts with SOCAR, but their contribution will be important to boost Azerbaijan’s bitumen, or asphalt, production. Bitumen is a product of oil refining and an important commodity for the entire South Caucasus region. Bitumen’s main use is in road-building. Azerbaijan, as well as Armenia and Georgia, has committed itself to improving and expanding the country’s road network.

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(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Georgia Healthcare Group sets price range for London IPO

OCT. 25 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia Healthcare Group set a price range for shares at its IPO in London later this year of between 215p and 315p, an IPO that will give investors a rare chance to buy into the South Caucasus region.

This share price range gives Georgia Healthcare Group, the largest healthcare provider in Georgia, a value of between £257m – £347m ($400m – $535m).

Georgia Healthcare Group wants to raise $100m in the IPO to give two hospitals it owns in Tbilisi a makeover.

With economic conditions across the region slowing, various planned IPOs for companies from Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been cancelled or postponed.

Georgia Healthcare Group owns 42 hospitals in Georgia, giving it a 27% share of the hospital beds in the country. It used to be part of Bank of Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)