Kazakhstan's National Bank buys 6.5% stake in Air Astana

ALMATY. Feb 15 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Kazakhstan has purchased over 23 million common shares of Air Astana for 24.9 billion tenge worth of pension assets from the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF) during the national airline's initial public offering (IPO), the bank said in a Thursday press release.

The National Bank bought 23,168,975 shares, representing 6.5% of all shares issued by Air Astana, at a face value of 1,073.83 tenge per share, the press release said.

"The decision to invest pension assets from the UAPF in common shares of Air Astana JSC was supported by the company's stable financial performance, as well as its high profitability, which will allow the airline to pay stable dividends in the future. This investment will enable the UAPF's clients to become shareholders of one of the leading air carriers in Central Asia," the press release says.

Air Astana's IPO is taking place on three stock exchanges: the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), the Astana International Exchange (AIX) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The total deal size for the IPO is $370 million, putting the value of Air Astana at $847 million.

Air Astana said earlier that the IPO will result in gross proceeds of approximately $350 million, or $370 million (assuming full exercise of the over-allotment option), of which approximately $120 million will be used by the company to support its growth strategy.

The offering is comprised of a domestic offer of 7,533,109 GDRs sold by BAE and 60,393,877 shares sold by Air Astana and Samruk-Kazyna, as well as a global offer of 14,187,643 GDRs sold by BAE.

Conditional dealings in the GDRs were conducted on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on February 9, 2024 under the ticker "AIRA". The London admission and commencement of unconditional dealings in the GDRs on the LSE was expected at 8:00 a.m. on February 14, 2024. Conditional dealings of the GDRs were conducted on the Astana International Exchange (AIX) were expected to commence on or around February 9, 2024. Unconditional dealings in the shares and GDRs on the AIX and in the Shares on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) commenced on February 15, 2024.

After the IPO, Samruk-Kazyna's stake in Air Astana will decrease to 41% from 51% and BAE Systems' to 15.3% from 49%.

The official exchange rate on February 15 is 447.17 tenge per $1.