KazTransOil eyes $100 million “people's IPO”

Kazakhstan's oil pipeline monopoly plans to raise more than $100 million through an initial public share offering (IPO) as part of the central Asian country's "people's IPO" program, the deputy head of its parent company said.

According to Reuters, KazTransOil, 100 percent owned by state oil and gas company KazMunaiGas, will be among the first state-run enterprises to list on the local stock exchange in a drive to attract ordinary Kazakh investors. No date has been set for the proposed IPO.

"It's a big political task. We want the people of Kazakhstan to participate in our prosperity," Daniyar Berlibayev, the deputy chief executive of KazMunaiGas, said.

Asked how much KazTransOil planned to raise in the offering, he said: "It will be more than $100 million."

Kazakhstan, central Asia's largest economy, plans to invigorate the small local stock market and to raise about $500 million from the first round of IPOs, with between 5 percent and 15 percent of the companies' shares being sold to retail investors and local pension funds.

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