Central Bank approves Bulat Utemuratov's purchase of Alliance Bank and Temirbank

Kazakhstan businessman Bulat Utemuratov has received a permission from the National Bank, the central bank in Kazakhstan, to finalize his deal to purchase Alliance Bank and Temirbank, Tengrinews reports citing the official website of the Committee for Control and Supervision of Financial Market and Financial Organizations of Kazakhstan’s National Bank.

"The central bank’s board issued a resolution giving Bulat Utemuratov a permission to become a major shareholder of Temirbank JSC and Alliance Bank JCS,” the message said. The Central Bank enacted the resolution on March 20.

The billionaire is purchasing 79.88% of the common stock in Temirbank and 16% of the common and preferred stock in Alliance Bank. This leaves Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan's state-run wealth fund, the controlling shareholder of Alliance Bank with 51% of the common and preferred stock.

The Chairman of Alliance Bank Maksat Kabashev said that the cost of Alliance Bank and Temirbank could range from $500 million to $1 billion but the price paid by Utemuratov to purchase these banks has not been unveiled yet.

“The process of recovery of Temirbank will start immediately after the closure of the deal. As for Alliance Bank – it will be a joint effort together with Samruk Kazyna and the creditors to determine the path to restore the capitalization, liquidity and profitability of the bank,” said Utemuratov.