Kazakhstan sets ‘people’s IPO’ for 2012

ASTANA – The Kazakhstani government has scheduled an initial public offering (IPO) of shares in several companies within the Samruk-Kazyna sovereign wealth fund for the second or third quarter of 2012, Lenta.ru reported August 23, quoting Economy Minister Kairat Kelimbetov.

The plan would make hundreds of thousands of Kazakhstanis shareholders in some of the country’s largest companies. The first state-owned companies whose shares would become available are the electrical grid operator KEGOC, the airline Air Astana and the oil pipeline operator KazTransOil, Kelimbetov said.

The companies would sell 5-15% of their shares, he said. President Nursultan Nazarbayev suggested such sales in February, calling them “people’s IPOs.”