Astana International Exchange (“AIX”, “Exchange”) is pleased to present its results for the nine months of 2023.
Since its inception back in 2018, AIX has been focused on building and maintaining a close relationship with the business community in Kazakhstan and beyond, and it resulted into a solid pipeline and hence gradually growing trading turnover and revenue generation.
Consistent and comprehensive development of solutions geared towards the clients’ needs, adherence to international standards as well as continuous fine-tuning of the technical infrastructure supported by attraction of international market participants are paying off and contributing into further development of the market.
Assel Mukazhanova, CEO of the AIX, noted:
“Throughout the previous five years AIX has been focused on building a modern and world-class infrastructure, creating a sizable and diverse ecosystem and all those efforts have been bringing fruits, which reflected in the results of operation for 9 months of 2023. We stick to the adopted strategy making minor adjustments responding to the changing environment.”
AIX results as of 1 October 2023:
- The trading turnover for the nine months of 2023 has exceeded $220m vs $172m for the full year 2022 (and vs. $120m in nine months of 2022 showing an increase by 83%).
- The official AIX list totals 151 securities listed by 94 companies.
- Overall, capital raised since AIX went live amounts to almost $4bn.
- There are 32 trading members from Kazakhstan, China, and European countries.
- 8 Custodians, including 3 international players and 6 Global Custodians now have sub-accounts with AIX CSD via Custodians.
- opened with AIX Central Securities Depository (AIX CSD) exceeded 1 million with further potential to grow in the coming months.
Polymetal’s transfer of Primary Listing to AIX and Redomiciliation to AIFC
The gold mining company Polymetal International plc. (“Polymetal”), one of the world’s top 10 gold and silver producer, has become the first issuer to transfer its primary listing of shares from the London Stock Exchange to the Astana International Exchange and to register in the special legal jurisdiction of the AIFC. Currently, Polymetal is the largest company registered at AIFC and the largest mining company traded on the AIX with a market capitalization of $2 bn.
Throughout the process of the redomiciliation, over 4,000 Polymetal shareholders from the UK, US, Europe, and other jurisdictions transferred shares to the AIX Registrar or AIX CSD.
By the results of September 2023 alone, the average daily turnover of transactions of POLY shares totaled over $150k. The peak of daily volume of POLY trades reached $805k. while before the redomiciliation the daily volume averaged $64k.
Tabys app upgrade
The re-domiciliation of Polymetal has served as a driver for further development of the AIX mobile App, Tabys, which has been tested for onboarding foreign retail investors and has been well received by them. To ensure the prudent and quick, to the extent possible, KYC (“know your client”) and onboarding process, the WorldCheck global database deeply integrated via API (Application Programming Interface) has been broadly employed.
The Tabys application has been fine-tuned and introduced the wallet solution where investors can see the dividends credited to their accounts. Cash funds can be held by investors in the wallet free of charge or withdrawn and transferred directly to their own bank card account.
The national oil operator KazMunayGas JSC was the first to test AIX’s Tabys mobile application back in November 2022 which enabled retail investors to purchase shares directly from the shareholder. As agreed with the shareholders and the KEGOC JSC, Kazakhstan electricity grid operating company, Tabys will be used during the forthcoming share offering which shall help to broaden the investors base.
Assel Mukazhanova, CEO of the AIX, said:
“KEGOC is a purely domestic dividend story which is obviously the most wanted asset among local investors since utility is one of sectors which is less sensitive to external economic shocks and thus it is a great opportunity for citizens of Kazakhstan to become co-owners of national power grids operator.
Retail investors are able to use AIX Tabys application which is the fastest, user-friendly and simplest way to take part in IPOs/SPOs in Kazakhstan. The only requirements are to have a smartphone with internet connection, ID and a bank card.”
Liquidity management program
It is a new product that is designed to service funding needs within one group of companies enabling such companies to issue debt instruments within just a few days. The Liquidity management program has been designed to address the needs expressed by local businesses. There is a growing interest in this product and the total amount of issues within Liquidity management program of various issues has amounted to 12 with a value of $337 m.
Reference:
AIX was formed in 2017 within the Astana International Financial Centre development framework. AIX shareholders are AIFC, 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
The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is an independent jurisdiction that started (AIFC) is an independent jurisdiction with a favourable legal and regulatory environment and a developed infrastructure for starting and doing business, attracting investment, creating jobs and developing Kazakhstan’s economy. https://aifc.kz/