MAY 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The trial of six men accused of links to radical Islamic groups and of plotting to blow up landmarks and assassinate senior officials began in Astana. The trial is being held behind closed doors. Kazakhstan has been battling an increase in Islamist-linked bomb attacks since 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 135, published on May 20 2013)
MAY 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government and the three founders of ENRC, Alexander Machkevitch, Alijan Ibragimov and Pathokh Chodiev, have offered shareholders in the London-listed miner ENRC shares in rival Kazakhmys and cash, Reuters reported. The offer values ENRC, the subject of a fraud investigation, at $5b.
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(News report from Issue No. 135, published on May 20 2013)
MAY 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, opened a rail link that bypasses the Soviet network in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is often regarded as an awkward neighbour because of its unilateral tendencies. The rail link is designed to link up with Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 135, published on May 20 2013)
MAY 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The deal has been rolling around in and out of public view for most of the year but it now looks as if it’s finally been wrapped up.
KazNitrogenGaz, an investment group officially owned by Galimzhan Yesenov, has bought ATF Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s biggest banks, for $500m from UniCredit, an Italian bank, media reported.
This is a lower figure than previously touted around.
It’s also telling because it’s about a quarter of the price that UniCredit paid for it in 2007.
When UniCredit bought ATF Bank, Kazakhstan’s economy was on the up and banks were, relatively casually, handing out loans to Kazakh consumers and businesses. When the global economy slowed and faltered in 2008, these loans went bad and Kazakh banks, including ATF Bank, took a large hit.
According to reports, 40 percent of ATF Bank’s loan portfolio is still regarded as non-performing.
With the Kazakh economy rebounding in the past five years, the government is preparing to sell off majority stakes in four banks it was forced to rescue from bankruptcy in 2009.
The buyers of the state’s stakes in these banks are wealthy Kazakhs and buying back ATF Bank from UniCredit could be an extension of that plan. The 31-year-old Mr Yesenov is relatively obscure but behind him is his powerful father-in-law, Akhmetzhan Yesimov. That is where the real power and drive for buying ATF Bank may lie.
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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
APRIL 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A photo essay on the prominent society website voxpopuli.kz of a lesbian couple celebrating their unofficial wedding in Karaganda, an industrial city in central Kazakhstan, caused a stir. Like its neighbours, Kazakhstan’s society is conservative and homosexuals are marginalised. Homosexuality was illegal in Kazakhstan until 1997.
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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
MAY 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The arrest of two Kazakh teenagers studying in the US with links to one of the alleged Boston bombers has triggered a major image problem for Kazakhstan.
Prosecutors in Boston charged Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both 19-years old, with obstructing the course of justice by trying to dispose of a rucksack and a laptop belonging to their friend, Dzhokhar Tsarnayev.
Three people died when Tsarnayev and his brother allegedly planted a series of bombs at the finishing line of the Boston marathon in April.
Now Kazakhstan has been dragged into the story.
But, while Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov were university friends of Tsarnayev their backgrounds were very different. Tsarnayev, an ethnic Chechen, was an economic migrant who had settled in the US to build a better life.
Both Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov were ethnic Kazakhs from relatively privileged backgrounds. Both were enjoying a relaxed period of study in Boston before heading home.
Regardless of the differences, Kazakhstan now has to deal with the image problem of Kazakhs caught up with bomb attacks in the US.
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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
APRIL 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will not buy ConocoPhillips’ 8.4% stake in the Caspian Sea Kashagan oil project, local media quoted Kazmunaigas’ chairman, Lyazzat Kiinov, as saying. Although ConocoPhillips had agreed a deal with India’s national energy company, ONGC, to buy the stake for $5b, Kazakhstan has the right to buy the stake first.
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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
MAY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazmunaigas, the Kazakh state energy company, plans to invest $10b over the next 10 years in exploration to double its oil and gas reverses, chairman Lyazzat Kiinov said. The ambitious plans show how important the energy sector is to Kazakhstan’s economic development.
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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
MAY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kazakh investment fund has agreed to sponsor the Britain-based Williams Formula 1 racing team, media reported. The deal, worth an undisclosed amount and hatched between Williams and the investment company TAK Group, will give more publicity to the Kazakh capital Astana.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
MAY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazmunaigas, Kazakhstan’s national energy company, sold Eurobonds worth $3b in April, media reported quoting its press service. The relatively low interest on the debt — $2b 30-year Eurobonds sold with an interest of 5.8% and $1b 10-year Eurobonds with 4.45% — shows the attractiveness of lending to Kazmunaigas.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
