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Jess Ma

Kazakhstan’s businesses should prioritise long-term fundraising ambitions rather than quick wins in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets, a managing director of the Central Asian country’s sovereign wealth fund has said.
Saltanat Satzhan, managing director for development and privatisation at Samruk-Kazyna, said she also aimed to have state-owned rail operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) listed in Hong Kong by the end of the year.
KTZ, wholly owned by the government through the fund, has filed listing applications in Hong Kong, London and Astana.
The planned listing would mark the first company under Samruk-Kazyna to go public in Hong Kong.
Satzhan stressed that KTZ was much more than a domestic railway, describing it as a vital geopolitical stabiliser connecting China with Europe.
“If you invest in Kazakhstan’s national railway, you’re not just investing in the domestic operator, but in the connectivity of the companies that connect China and Europe,” she said during a panel discussion at the Astana Finance Days forum on Thursday.
“That’s why we are hoping we can go public by the end of this year, and we are anticipating this transaction.”
According to the company’s prospectus, facilitating the “high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative” is among the reasons for choosing Hong Kong as a listing venue.

“Given all the geopolitical conditions, given what’s happening in the world right now, everyone needs a very resilient [route] to connect China to Europe,” Satzhan said.
The belt and road scheme is Beijing’s plan, launched in 2013, to improve trade and economic integration across Asia, Africa and Europe.
Commenting on her country’s capital market links with China, Satzhan said Kazakhstani companies should aim to build a long-term presence in the neighbouring nation, rather than treating it simply as a convenient fundraising venue.
She said some of the sovereign wealth fund’s strategic companies, including national oil and gas company KazMunayGas and national rare metals and uranium producer Kazatomprom, already had deep-seated economic ties with China.
Satzhan also said Kazakhstan’s capital market activities could further leverage the country’s existing ties with China.
The total value of “panda bonds” – yuan-denominated debt issued by foreign entities in the Chinese market – offered by the sovereign wealth fund has already reached 10 billion yuan (US$1.49 billion) this year.
“If you want to go to China, don’t go just to get cheap money, attractive financing terms; go there earlier, not just when you need money,” Satzhan said.
“Go there to build relationships, to tell your story and to have this long-term presence with our great neighbour.”
In the same discussion, panellists from Hong Kong underscored the importance of the city’s bourse going global by attracting firms from beyond the mainland.

Johnson Chui, managing director and head of global issuer services at stock exchange operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), said the city could offer Kazakhstani companies broad international exposure to investors from both the mainland and beyond.
“Whether it’s in technology, finance, transportation or infrastructure, there are just so many sectors that Hong Kong and Kazakhstan could partner in,” Chui said.
HKEX signed a memorandum of understanding with the Astana International Financial Centre – a regional financial hub and special economic zone – during Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s trip to Kazakhstan in June.
The agreement establishes a framework for collaboration related to carbon markets, green finance and sustainable development.
Denise Jong, a partner at law firm Reed Smith, who has advised on cross-border transactions and listing-rule reforms in Hong Kong, said an underlying factor for the exchange’s growth would be to attract listings from around the world.
“It’s no longer about looking into your backyard to China. We need to look at connectivity across the globe,” she said.
Jong urged regulators to remain open-minded about emerging markets, arguing they should no longer assume firms from emerging markets needed to list in Hong Kong to improve their corporate governance, as entities such as Samruk-Kazyna already maintained robust standards.
“We’ll take care of the legal stuff, but the more exciting thing is to be led by the business case, and I think that also applies to the exchange,” she said.


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Managing director of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund also says rail operator KTZ aims to list in Hong Kong by end of year


Managing director of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund also says rail operator KTZ aims to list in Hong Kong by end of year.


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Kazakhstani firms eyeing Hong Kong, mainland China urged to take long-term view

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Managing director of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund also says rail operator KTZ aims to list in Hong Kong by end of year

Managing director of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund also says rail operator KTZ aims to list in Hong Kong by end of year