(bne) – The range of publicly traded equities for Kazakhstan-focused funds to invest in has so far been limited mainly to the commodity and banking sectors. But the planned “People’s IPO” program is set to change that, ushering in an age of exchange-traded funds.

(more…)

(bne) – Kazakhstan set itself apart from the rest of Central Asia with several billion-dollar listings on the London Stock Exchange. Mongolia has since burst onto the international scene, with the $650-million Mongolia Mining Company IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in October 2010.

(more…)

(bne) – Private equity in Kazakhstan has so far been small scale and sporadic, despite growing interest from global firms. But the creation of nine funds with government backing has suddenly made over $1 billion available for private equity investment and the task in 2011 will be to put this money to work.

(more…)

(bne) – In an economy dominated by the natural resources sector and next door to the world’s largest manufacturer, diversifying the economy is no easy task. KazNex Invest, Kazakhstan’s investment and export promotion agency, is trying many different ways to make this happen.

(more…)

(bne) – The Kazakh government aims to attract private sector funding for its multi-billion-dollar industrialisation program, which spans sectors from agriculture to metallurgy, according to Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev.

(more…)

(bne) – After a first close on $100 million in June, the Kazakhstan Capital Restructuring Fund (KCRF) will soon start investing into financially distressed companies in the Central Asian country.

(more…)

(bne) – With rising commodity prices lifting the economy in the final months of last year, there is a sense of things returning to normal in Kazakhstan.

(more…)

(bne) – Tengry Finance has been active in the Kazakh financial services market for 12 years. After a buyout in 2008, the firm became the most active investor on Kazakhstan’s securities market. It has now adapted its strategy to crisis conditions.

(more…)

(bne) – Almaty-based asset management firm Seven Rivers Capital has a finger in a number of pies. Already the manager of the multi-billion-dollar G4 City project and the Hanwha Kazakhstan fund, its newest vehicle, the LogyCom Perspective Innovations fund, represents its first foray into venture capital.

(more…)

(bne ) – Clemente Cappello doesn’t mind when Azeris laugh at the name he picked for his fund. The Sturgeon Fund was named after the fish that is an emblem of the Caspian region. The sturgeon’s production of valuable caviar is, he says, a metaphor for the fund’s strategy of extracting value from the region.

(more…)