Tag Archives: business

TeliaSonera wants to quit Central Asia and the South Caucasus

ALMATY, SEPT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Dogged by various corruption allegations against its businesses in Central Asia, Swedish-based TeliaSonera said it wanted to quit the Eurasian telecoms market to focus on European operations.

In the medium-term, TeliaSonera’s assets in the growing mobile telecoms markets of Central Asia and South Caucasus region could represent an attractive business for companies looking to enter the market. TeliaSonera owns stakes in telecoms companies in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These are Azercell, Geo-cell, KcellP, Tcell and Ucell.

In most of these countries, TeliaSonera has been under the spotlight for its opaque corporate governance, an issue that its CEO, Johan Dennelind, referenced.

“Thanks to two years of hard work to improve the Eurasian operations, not least from a corporate governance and sustainability perspective, we now have better and more well-managed companies which we believe others can successfully develop further,” a TeliaSonera press release quoted him as saying.

TeliaSonera appointed Mr Dennelind as CEO in 2013 after a corruption probe into its operations in Uzbekistan forced the previous CEO and most of the directors to resign.

In the past two years, Swedish prosecutors have opened investigations into alleged bribes that the company paid to secure access to mobile networks and licences in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. More recently, in May 2015, a Swedish newspaper reported on another possible case of bribery in Azerbaijan.

In 2013, TeliaSonera sacked Tero Kivisaari, a senior executive, for paying $350m a few years earlier to a Gibraltar company linked to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, in exchange for a 3G licence. TeliaSonera owns 94% of Ucell, an Uzbekistan-based, mobile operator.

A 2013 deal that saw Kcell, in which TeliaSonera owns a 62% stake, pay Kazakh PM Karim Massimov $200m for network access has also come under scrutiny.

Analysts said that the pressure had been building on TeliaSonera and that they had been expecting TeliaSonera to cut its losses in its Eurasia division for some time.

Bakytzhan Khochshanov, an analyst at Halyk Finance, said that he thought a Russian or Turkish telecoms company might be interested in buying TeliaSonera’s stakes.

“Potential buyers are likely to be the largest ones, and among them either Megafon or MTS, as Vimpelcom already has an exposure to Kazakhstan’s market with its Beeline brand,” he said.

“Among the other potential bidders could also be Turkish operators, with Turkcell already having a stake in Kcell through Fintur Holding.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Nostrum pressures Tethys

SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Nostrum Oil & Gas said in a statement that a proposed $37.5m takeover offer of Tethys Petroleum, a Central Asia-focused oil company, has not yet been accepted. Nostrum said some of Tethys’ Board expectations were unrealistic as “the underlying financial position of Tethys has continued to deteriorate.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Cheese exports double in Armenia

SEPT. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has doubled cheese imports from Armenia this year, media quoted the head of Russia’s statistics agency, Konstantin Laikam, as saying. Shops in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia have had to diversify their supplier base for cheese and other products to beat EU sanctions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Turkmenistan joins global atomic energy agency

SEPT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has become the 166th member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global body charged with developing and encouraging the safe use of nuclear power, media reported.

While Turkmenistan’s accession to the IAEA may not have any major policy implications it is another signifier that Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov wants to bring the country more into the international mainstream.

Turkmenistan normally stays away from joining international organisations.

IAEA members ratified Turkmenistan’s membership at their 59th annual summit in Vienna. also joining this year were the east African country of Djibouti, Guyana in South America and Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean.

Neutrality is enshrined in Turkmenistan’s constitution and not damaging this long-held policy would have been a key consideration for Mr Berdymukhamedov.

He has steadily moved Turkmenistan into the international mainstream, mainly to exploit Turkmenistan’s gas reserves.

It holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Xodus wins Kazakh contracts

SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tengizchevroil consortium developing oil fields in west Kazakhstan awarded a “significant” contract to Scotland-based engineering company Xodus. Xodus tests the strength of rigs and other upstream oil structures using sound waves.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Air passenger flight from Georgian capital to Moscow doubles

TBILISI, SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Air passenger traffic from Tbilisi to Moscow grew by 92% in Jan.-Aug. 2015 compared to the same period last year, Georgia’s minister of economy Dmitri Kumsishvili said, highlighting the economic importance of the route.

Flights between Georgia and Russia were halted in 2006, due to diplomatic tension. Direct air connection timidly resumed in 2010 and was finally re-established in 2014. In 2008 Georgia and Russia fought a brief war.

“The number of passengers was particularly high from Tbilisi to Moscow,” media quoted Mr Kumsishvili as saying.

According to Mr Kumsishvili, the route will boost Georgia’s economy.

“Russian visitors spent over 750m lari ($3m) in Georgia over the past 8 months,” he said. The Tbilisi-Moscow route it currently serviced by three airlines. These are Georgian Airways, also called Airzena, Sibir, Aeroflot and Transaero.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

GMEX-Group to build Tajik stock exchange

SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – London-based GMEX-Group said it signed a deal to help build Tajikistan’s inaugural stock exchange. The Central Asia Stock Exchange (CASE), as it will be known, aims to launch trading of securities later this year and derivatives next year. GMEX supplies the technical know-how to produce pricing and trading data.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Azerbaijan’s company signs deal with Gazprom

SEPT. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan Methanol Company (AzMeCo) signed a deal with Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom for the supply of 2b cubic metres of gas to its methanol production plant. Under the agreement, Gazprom will supply 100% of AzMeCo’s needs at the plant in Garadagh, a district just outside Baku.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

ADB boosts Kazakh SMEs

SEPT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Damu, a state-owned fund that helps SMEs in Kazakhstan, said it is negotiating on behalf of local businesses for a better interest rate on loans from the Asian Development Bank. The ADB has made $500m worth of loans available to SMEs in Kazakhstan since 2010. The Damu fund wants a $228m tranche made available to SMEs with an interest rate of 14% or below.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Kyrgyz bank to issue debt

SEPT. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank (KICB), a popular lender in Kyrgyzstan, said it wants to issue debt worth 200m som ($2.9m), its largest ever issue. “The total amount of outstanding debt securities issued by the bank has reached 450m som, about 1% of the total volume of the bank’s liabilities,” Aliyev Bektur Kubanychbekovich, KICB deputy chairman, told local media.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)