Pension Fund of Kazakhstan Pulls Its Capital from Halyk Bank

The Unified Accumulative Pension Fund has sold 6.11% of Halyk Bank’s common stocks it had owned. The news went public after the bank published an extract from the register of shareholders as of January 19, 2022.

At the end of last year, Halyk Bank, which is under control of Timur and Dinara Kulibayev, son-in-law and daughter of the former president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, decided to buy «not more than 845,775,546 stocks or 7.2% of outstanding share capital.» The bank had offered $0.425 per share and $16.78 per global depository receipt (GDR). Halyk Bank was going to use $354.8 million of its internal funds for stock buybacks.

On December 2, 2021, Halyk Bank announced that over December 3-9 it was going to admit bids for GDR buyback on the informal market. On December 10, the bank bought stocks on the regulated market.

On January 19, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) updated its register of Halyk Bank shareholders. The list of major stockholders has decreased from three entities to two. The Unified Accumulative Pension Fund has pulled its capital from the bank. The fund used to possess 6.11% of the bank’s common stock. 

As of today, the Kulibayevs own 69.52% of the bank via their company Holding Group ALMEX; 28.69% of the shares belongs to The Bank of New York (nominee shareholder).

Halyk Bank is the biggest bank in Kazakhstan. As of October 1, 2021, its total assets were about $25.9 billion. Over the last eight months, the bank generated $759.6 million of net revenue. Halyk Bank’s shares are traded on London Stock Exchange and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange. After the protests in Kazakhstan began, the bank’s stocks traded on LSE dropped from $16.86 (January 4) to $12.6 (January 19).