2000-02-07 Kazak Corporate News - Finance
Article Index
Finance
A consortium led by the accounting firm Ernst & Young has received the nod from Kazakhstan’s government to consult on the sale of a stake in oil producer MangistauMunaiGas (MMG).
MMG is one of several partially-privatised enterprises slated for the government’s blue chip program to sell some or all of the remaining state-owned shares. The private firm Central Asia Petroleum owns a majority 60% stake in the enterprise. Up to 30% of MMG will be put up for sale, along with 25.2% of Aktobemunaygas, and stakes in the Ust-Kamenogorsk Titanium-Magnesium Plant and Kazakhmys. In addition to Ernst & Young, the IDEY Ltd. consortium includes Petroconsults, a subsidiary of the IHS Energy Group, and the law firm Denton Hall Valdez Krug. (Golden Eagle Partners)
Telecommunications
Kazakhtelecom’s 1999 revenue grew 18% from 1998 to KZT 30 billion or 2% of the country’s GDP, said Nurlan Sakipov, President of Kazakhtelecom at a conference in Astana. He estimated a 13% to 15% growth in revenue in 2000. The company plans to invest USD 37 million out of USD 50 million granted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) late last year. Mr Sakipov specified that the largest share of the company’s revenue in 1999 came from international and domestic outgoing traffic. (Interfax)
Power
Kazakhstan’s national power grid operator KEGOC announced that the accounting firm KPMG has won a tender to conduct auditing services. Arthur Anderson previously provided auditing services for KEGOC. According to a KEGOC spokesman, the company needs to have an international audit conducted in order to obtain loans. In December 1999 KEGOC signed a five-year loan agreement with the EBRD for USD 45 million. This money is to be directed towards upgrading the safety and quality of power transmission and distribution. The World Bank also recently approved a loan for the power grid operator. (Interfax)