Kazakhstan extends deadline by two weeks to accept applications for auction to sell Qazaq Air

ASTANA. Sept 27 (Interfax) - JSC Samruk-Kazyna National Wealth Fund has extended the deadline for accepting applications for the auction to sell from 49% to 100% of the shares in Qazaq Air, Samruk-Kazyna said in a statement.

According to the amended deadline, the final date to accept applications is now October 13, with the results of the auction to be tallied on December 29, 2023.

As reported, Samruk-Kazyna announced the auction on August 18. Applications had been planned for acceptance by September 28 incusive, with the results intended to have been announced on December 15. The starting price is set at 10.2 billion tenge, or $21.4 million at the current exchange rate, and potential buyers are required to remit respective guarantee deposits of 173 million tenge in order to participate in the two-stage auction.

"Attracting a private investor is aimed at creating new opportunities for developing the Kazakh air transportation market, including expanding the geography of Qazaq Air's flights and increasing the fleet," the airline previously reported.

Qazaq Air's hub is located at an airport in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital city.

The airline is part of Samruk-Kazyna's privatization plans for 2023.

Qazaq Air was founded in 2015, and is wholly owned by Samruk-Kazyna National Wealth Fund. The airline's fleet includes five Bombardier DHC-8-Q400NG aircraft. Qazaq Air posted revenue of 20.4 billion tenge and EBITDA of 3.9 billion tenge in 2022. The airline has a 7% share in the Kazakh aviation market.

The official exchange rate as on September 27, 2023, is 476.89 tenge/$1.