Astana International Exchange (“AIX”, “Exchange”) and Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, held a Virtual Conference ‘Kazakhstan in Focus Day’. This specialized regional event brought together Kazakh companies and representatives of more than 40 global funds with total assets under management over $6.2trn.
The participants of a roundtable discussion talked about challenges and opportunities for the Kazakh economy and capital markets in a post-Covid world. High-profile participants shared their first-hand insights into ongoing processes in the Kazakh economy and privatization program of key state-owned assets as well as perspectives of structural change and growth opportunities.
Top managers of leading Kazakh enterprises – Samruk-Kazyna, Kaspi.kz, Kazakhtelecom, Air Astana, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, Magnum Cash & Carry – updated investors on most recent developments in their companies. They discussed transformation of their business models, approach to customers and long-term outlook.
Tim Bennett, CEO of AIX, commented:
“Given the right conditions, issuer, pricing, marketing to investors, and supportive Government policies, there is an ideal opportunity to give a boost to the development of Kazakhstan capital market this year.”
Alisher Abdykadyrov, Vice Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, said:
“Creation of a favorable and trusting environment for investments, protection of the rights and interests of investors, implementation of high standards of corporate governance, implementation of government support instruments will become a key task facing the regulation of Kazakhstan stock market in 2021.”
Yerzhan Tutkushev, Managing Director, Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund, said:
“There are lots of thigs the Government is doing to improve competitiveness of the economy in terms of investment attraction and our strategy is also aligned to bring international investors to Kazakhstan. Samruk-Kazyna is here to provide support as a long-term partner in various sectors. We stay positive and continue preparation for IPOs and keep monitoring market situation. If everything goes well 2022 will be a very promising period for a successful listing at LSE and AIX.”
Sofya Donets, Russia & CIS Economist, Renaissance Capital, noted:
“Kazakhstan has made the largest improvements of the scores at Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International so now it has one of the best results in CIS+ region (outscoring Russia as well as neighboring Azerbaijan or Uzbekistan). And we also saw an improvement in the Ease of Doing Business Index– during last ten years it has improved two times, which is quite impressive – to the positions close to Canada or Germany.”
Reference:
AIX was formed in 2017 within the Astana International Financial Centre development framework. AIX shareholders are AIFC, Goldman Sachs, the Shanghai stock exchange, the silk Road Fund, and NASDAQ, which also provides the AIX trading platform. The exchange operates within a regulatory environment based on the principles of English Law, thus providing a reliable investment environment. The mission of AIX is to develop an active capital market in Kazakhstan and the region by providing clear and favorable conditions for attracting financing to private and public businesses. AIX develops special segments for mining companies as well as infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road initiative. More details: www.aix.kz
AIFC. Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) was established on the initiative of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The constitutional law establishing AIFC was signed on December 7, 2015. The aim of AIFC is to form a leading center of international financial services. The objectives of AIFC are to assist in attracting investments into the country’s economy, create an attractive environment for investment in financial services, develop the securities market of the Republic of Kazakhstan and ensure its integration with international capital markets. www.aifc.kz