Air Astana intends to raise $120 mln in IPO on LSE, AIX and KASE

ALMATY. Jan 12 (Interfax) - Air Astana has announced it is looking at proceeding with an initial public offering of its global depositary receipts (GDR) and a concurrent offering in Kazakhstan in the form of shares and GDRs, the airline said in a Friday press release.

The offering is expected to comprise both new shares (or GDRs representing shares) to be issued by the company, raising gross proceeds of approximately $120 million to support the company's growth strategy, and existing shares (or GDRs representing shares) to be sold by Samruk-Kazyna and BAE, the press release says.

The GDRs will be listed and admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Astana International Exchange (AIX). Shares will be listed and admitted to trading on the AIX and KASE (the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange), the airline said.

Bookbuilding, including the price range announcement and a roadshow, is expected to be launched around the end of January 2024 subject to a subsequent positive decision by Air Astana Group.

The company engaged Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Jefferies International Limited as joint global coordinators and bookrunners and WOOD & Company Financial Services as joint bookrunner, the press release reads.

For its domestic IPO, the company has engaged JSC Halyk Finance as joint bookrunner, Freedom Finance Global PLC as lead manager and JSC BCC-Invest, JSC SkyBridge Invest and JSC Jusan Invest as co-managers.

Air Astana is owned by the Kazakh government through the Samruk-Kazyna National Wealth Fund (51%) and British BAE Systems Ltd. (49%). Air Astana wholly owns low-cost airline FlyArystan.