Kazakh authorities will transfer ArcelorMittal Temirtau to domestic private investor - PM

ASTANA. Nov 1 (Interfax) - The Government of Kazakhstan intends to involve a private Kazakh investor in the process of nationalizing ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC, who will have to invest at least $3 billion over three years, Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said.

"As for the state's plans to be the owner [of the plant] and to invest budget money, we have no such plans. We have a plan. We must attract a private investor and the investor must invest at least $3 billion over the next three years," Smailov told reporters on Wednesday.

The investor must invest at least $1.3 billion of this amount immediately, because "the current situation at the enterprise requires an immediate solution to issues of industrial safety, labor safety, modernization of equipment and expansion of production," Smailov said.

The Prime Minister said the investor must be Kazakh.