Edition "Forbes Kazakhstan" has prepared an up-to-date overview of key news and events related to the activities of Kazakhstan's leading millionaires and their corporate empires — those whose actions and strategies affect the economy not only of Kazakhstan itself, but also of all of Central Asia.
Volodymyr Kim
In September 2022, the specialized interdistrict economic court of the city of Almaty declared bankruptcy of TAN Television and Radio Company LLC, whose beneficiary is Volodymyr Kim. The application was submitted by JSC "Alma Telecommunications", which belongs to JSC "Qazaq Banki" and LLC "AT Acquisition Corp", the ultimate beneficiaries of which are LLC "Tengri Partners (Kazakhstan)", Malik Tulegenov, Danat Tungushbaev and Anuar Ushbaev. According to the document, the applicant provided relay services, equipment rental, space rental, legal support and technical support. Also, in the period 2015–2020, "Alma Telecommunications" provided the TV channel with temporary financial assistance several times and extended the period for refunding funds. Once an agreement was made to place an advertisement on a TV channel to pay off part of the debt, but it was not fully implemented either. The TV channel owed 96,47 million tenge. According to the register of creditors' claims in the bankruptcy procedure on July 10, 2023, the company had recognized claims in the amount of more than 1,72 billion tenge.
Timur Turlov
In April, Freedom Holding Corp. announced the acquisition of Aviata and Chocotravel air and train ticket booking services with a user base of more than 1 million people and 1200 large companies for $32,3 million.
In June, the purchase of 82% of the online supermarket Arbuz.kz, which has been operating since 2011, was announced. The company has its own warehouses, an assembly line and a courier service in Almaty and Astana, and fulfills approximately 2500-3000 orders per day.
Aydin Rakhimbaev
Before the new school year, Riviera International School by Quantum was opened in Astana - the second school of the Quantum educational project, in which BI Group and Lancaster Group are partners. In the school, designed for 1100 students, education will take place according to an international program recognized in 125 countries and designed to provide graduates with admission to the world's top universities. The teaching staff of more than 200 people, represented by specialists from Kazakhstan, the USA and Great Britain, will use a multilingual teaching format. The school has a system of grants for talented children.
Galimzhan Yesenov
In mid-July, JSC "First Heartland Securities" informed the exchange about changes in the composition of shareholders, in which the British Jusan Technologies Ltd. left the company, and Galymzhan Yesionov became a new shareholder without specifying the share of ownership. But later it became known that the entire share of the shareholder that left is now controlled by Yesenov, which is 99,74%. At the end of July, he joined the company's board of directors.
Also, at the end of July, Yesonov became the owner of 14,87% of the shares of Kcell JSC. According to KASE information, this share was previously owned by Pioneer Technologies S.A.RL
In early August, Jusan Bank announced the completion of the global settlement between Yesenov and Jusan Technologies Ltd., according to which all JTL assets were returned to the jurisdiction of the Republic of Kazakhstan and all proceedings will be terminated (they began in the winter of this year; the state authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan investigated the fact of the transfer of control over the group Jusan to foreign citizens).
In mid-September, Jusan Bank became a shareholder of JSC "Kazakhtelecom" after acquiring 983 ordinary shares, which is a 9,19% stake in the company.
And at the beginning of the third decade of September, Yesenov announced an offer to buy back ordinary shares of JSC First Heartland Securities from minority owners at a price of 51 tenge per share.
Berik Kaniev
In July of this year, Lancaster Group Kazakhstan bought a 50% stake in Air Sai Caspian Contractor from the Italian Saipem and now owns 100% of the company. According to Lancaster Group, cooperation with Saipem continues on the basis of contracts.
"Er Sai Caspian Contractor" was founded in November 2003 as a joint Kazakh-Italian enterprise, the founders of which were LLC ERC Holding (Lancaster Group) and Saipem International BV (ENI Group Company). It provides contracting and subcontracting services to oil-producing companies in the Caspian region, carries out construction work on the sea and in the coastal zone, engineering and design work, provides services for the assembly of metal structures and logistics.
Eldar Sarsenov
In July of this year, Eldar Sarsenov became the sole owner of the Tekeli mining and processing complex (TDPK). For the first time, the businessman appeared as part of the founders of the company in December 2022, together with Gulmira Koibagarova (in different years she owned shares in Nurbank, Altynex Company - during the transition to ultimate shareholders).
THPK is a city-forming enterprise engaged in the production of foundry and cast iron in the city of Tekeli, Almaty region. It was formed in 2006 as part of Kazzinc JSC. According to the company, a new blast furnace production facility with a production capacity of 400 tons of cast iron per year is located on the basis of TDPK. According to the results of 2022, the company paid more than 1,4 billion tenge in taxes. The company also includes "Altyn Sarai" LLC, which is engaged in the construction of non-residential buildings.
Bakharidin Ablazimov
According to the audited reporting of JSC "Maten Petroleum" for 2022, Bakharidin Ablazimov's share in the company decreased from 5 to 3,3%.
In mid-October of last year, the majority owner of the company - the Sino-Dutch Sino-Science Netherland Energy Group, which owns a 95 percent stake - offered to buy out the shares of another shareholder at a price of 7699 tenge per piece. Around this time, part of the businessman's share was realized. Ablazimov could sell 1,7% for 10,5 billion tenge (more than $22,2 million at the average exchange rate for that period). According to this estimate, the total value of JSC "Maten Petroleum" is more than $1,3 billion.
We will remind that in 2014, the businessman and his partners sold a 95% stake in Sino-Science Netherland Energy Group for $380 million. Before this, the majority shareholder was Dinmukhamet Idrisov (No. 16 in the rating), who owned 52% of the shares. Minority shareholders were Ablazimov (he retained 5%) and Yerzhan Dostibayev with 30 and 18%, respectively.
Farrukh Mahmudov
In May of this year, Orbis Manufacturing (formerly Orbis Kazakhstan) signed an agreement with EXEED International on the production of cars in the Republic of Kazakhstan. This happened during the Kazakh-Chinese investment round table in Xi'an during the state visit of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the People's Republic of China. The project for the construction of a factory complex with a capacity of 80 cars per year, which was previously planned for implementation in Astana, was moved to Almaty in order to create an automobile manufacturing cluster together with other manufacturers. The plant will be built in the industrial zone of the city. Due to the postponement of construction, the launch dates have been pushed back to the end of 2025. The total volume of investments will amount to 72 billion tenge. At the initial stage, the opening of the factory complex will create 1500 jobs.
At the first stage, the Kazakh enterprise will produce three models of EXEED cars with further expansion of the model line of the brand. In particular, full-cycle production (CKD) will be established with body welding and painting of the VX full-size SUV, the TXL mid-size crossover and the LX compact crossover. The sale of manufactured cars is planned through Orbis Auto, which is developing the EXEED dealer network in Kazakhstan.
President of Scat Volodymyr Denisov (left) and Chairman of KDA Talgat Lastaev
Volodymyr Denisov
According to the financial reporting depository, JSC Scat Airlines purchased 14 Boeing aircraft in 2023. Nine of them were purchased, the remaining five were leased. According to published data, the company prefers the 737-8 model from the 737 MAX series - 12 of these were purchased.
Scat is quite actively replenishing its air fleet: by this time, in 2021, with eight planes, and in 2022 with six more. In total, the company purchased 28 aircraft in three years. At the same time, the cost of airplanes varies greatly. For example, the company's financial report states that the company bought one Boeing 737-800 from the Next-Generation 737 series in March 2023 for 7,88 billion tenge (about $17,5 million at the average exchange rate of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan for that month). At the same time, for four 737-8 aircraft, the estimated amount of leasing payments for 12 years will be $385,18 million ($96,3 million per unit).
In addition, in September 2022, Scat acquired 40% of the shares of Red Sea Airlines (Arab Republic of Egypt) for 383,3 million tenge (about $806 thousand). The company was registered in 2021, but began flying at the end of 2022 after receiving an operational certificate.
Scat is also continuing construction of a new international terminal at Shymkent Airport.
Marat Sarsenov
In June of this year, Eastcomtrans LLC presented the new transport and logistics center "Zhetigen" in the Almaty region with an area of 51,2 hectares, of which 20 hectares have already been developed. The length of railway tracks will be more than 13 km, 6 km of which are existing.
The TLC's one-time storage capacity is more than 8000 DFU (twenty-foot conventional unit of measurement of the capacity of cargo vehicles). It is equipped with a terminal for transshipment of bulk cargo with a capacity of more than 500 tons per year. The loading-unloading front will be 80 wagons at a time.
3 billion tenge of own funds of Eastcomtrans LLC were invested in the construction of the TLC, excluding the purchase of the land plot. Additional investments in the amount of about $100 million are planned for three more phases of construction.
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