Uzbekneftegaz still planning IPO, looking for best time to offer shares

TASHKENT. June 27 (Interfax) - Uzbekneftegaz is still planning to go public, but is waiting for the best time for an initial public offering, head of Uzbekneftegaz's Gas Chemicals Department Alisher Bakhadirov told journalists.

Plans for an IPO have not been reconsidered, but a definitive timeframe is not yet clear, Bakhadirov said. "Maybe the timeframe will be something else. [...] We wouldn't want to sell our portion for cheap. And [we're taking into account] seasonal fluctuation and geopolitical risks - everything, everything, everything to find the optimal moment when to come forward," he said.

"We're working first of all to transform the structure. Big work is underway to optimize business processes, to digitalize processes, transition to new reporting procedures. All this work is going as planned, and we hope that in the near future, as we already said earlier with the relevant decision, we'll pass on to the next step. We were the first among big state-owned companies to be able to issue Eurobonds. We hope that we will also be first" with an IPO, Bakhadirov said.

There are no plans to divide up the business into separate segments such as production, processing, and petrochemicals, Bakhadirov said. "We are strategically confident that the business doesn't need division, because those intersections that have developed over years, they provide the greatest benefit when the business is whole and unbroken," he said.

An Uzbek presidential decree was published in April on beginning to privatize leading fuel and energy, mechanical engineering, and transport companies. The decree includes instructions to begin work with an experienced investment bank to privatize Uzbekneftegaz before the end of 2022, including through an IPO offering no less than 49% of shares.