Kaspi.kz to acquire stake in Kolesa Group

The fintech group Kaspi.kz is going to acquire a 40% stake in the Kolesa Group holding, according to the company’s financial report published on the website of the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

The $88.5 million transaction is expected to be closed in the third or fourth quarter of this year. Kaspi.kz will acquire a 39.76% share from an undisclosed subsidiary of the Baring Vostok fund, which is also one of the key shareholders in Kaspi.kz itself.

Mikhail Lomtadze, head and co-owner of Kaspi.kz, will remain the largest owner of Kolesa Group. Under the upcoming deal, he will give 11% of its shares in Kolesa Group to Kaspi.kz in trust.

«Kaspi.kz is going to own about 51% of voting shares and will gain control over the board of directors of Kolesa. As a result, it will be able to consolidate the results of Kolesa into its financial report,» Kaspi.kz said in a statement.

Kolesa Group doesn’t reveal the names of all its owners. As of early July, Baring Vostok (26.1%), Mikhail Lomtadze (23.4%) and Vyacheslav Kim (22.27%) were the principal shareholders of Kaspi.kz. The group’s shares are also traded on the LSE and the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).

The Kolesa Group runs several IT projects including Kolesa.kz (a website to sell cars), Krisha.kz (online service for real estate), Market.kz (free classifieds) and Avtoelon.uz (a platform to sell cars in Uzbekistan).