Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund decides on running IPOs of its subsidiaries

Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund Board of Directors approved July 20 a draft program of running IPOs of its subsidiaries, the Fund’s Press Service reported. “The Program has been developed with due consideration of recommendations put forward by independent consultants (…) According to the Program, IPOs will be stagedly run starting from 2012”, the Press Service elaborated. Speaking at the Nur Otan party congress on February 11 President Nazarbayev instructed the Government to launch an Initial Public Offerings (IPO) for the People before the end of 2011. The program is known as People’s IPO. According to the President, shares of Samruk-Energo (generation and transmission of electrical energy), KEGOC (national electric power grids operator), KazPost (national postal service) were going to be floated before the end of 2011. Shares of KazMunaiGaz (national oil and gas company), Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (national railway company) and KazAtomProm (national atomic company) are to be offered for the IPO in 2012-2013. According to President Nazarbayev, the IPO for the general public will enable citizens to purchase shares of the largest Kazakh companies, giving them a new tool for investments and savings. The Board of Directors also approved of the scheme to distribute the 2010 net income. Consequently, $62.3 million out of the net income will be paid in dividend into the state budget. Coupled with payments made throughout the year, the government’s dividend from the Fund in 2010 stood at $553 million (15% of the Fund's profits).