Major shareholder of Jusan Bank is leaving KASE

First Heartland Securities controlled by Galimzhan Yessenov, a son-in-law of Akhmedjan Essimov, former mayor of Almaty, announced that it has decided to conduct the delisting of its shares from the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), the exchange said in a statement.

This decision was made by the sole shareholder of the company, Yessenov, on October 3.

«First Heartland Securities will voluntarily surrender the license it obtained on March 27, 2018. The management board of the company should take all necessary actions related to the process of license termination in a manner required by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Approve voluntary delisting of First Heartland Securities common shares from KASE,» the exchange reported on its website.

Yerke Nurkenov, deputy chair of the company’s board, has been put in charge of the delisting. He is also responsible for collecting documents and other measures needed to complete the process. According to First Heartland Securities, (even though it is formally a broker, the company operates like a holding) the surrender of license and delisting of the company’s shares from KASE is aimed at optimizing the group, eliminating of duplication of functions and boosting its efficacy.

«The Jusan group already includes a company that provides a wide range of modern investment solutions on the securities market and has a license for investment portfolio management, brokerage and dealer activities given by the Agency on Regulation and Development of the Financial Market. This is First Heartland Jusan Invest. In the future, the company will focus on performing its functions as a bank holding for Jusan Bank,» First Heartland Securities said.

According to KASE, the First Heartland Securities shares haven’t been traded since September 22. The company has 54 million common shares, with 8.3 million of them being traded publicly.

On the day of the trading suspension, Galimzhan Yessenov demanded that minority shareholders of First Heartland Securities sell their stakes as he became the owner of 95% of all shares of First Heartland Securities. Currently, he possesses 97.98% of the security. This means that once all shares of the company are concentrated in the hands of Yessenov, there will be no trade with the stock on exchange.

Yessenov has obtained control over First Heartland Securities after long court proceedings. In February 2023, the General Prosecutor’s Office asked the court in Almaty to recognize it as illegal to transfer 99.7% of the First Heartland Securities shares from Pioneer Capital Invest, a company registered in Kazakhstan, to Jusan Technologies registered in the U.K. and controlled by Jusan Holdings (which belongs to New Generation Foundation registered in the U.S.). At the time, Jusan Technologies also obtained units in several investment funds and £10 million in cash.

The General Prosecutor’s Office wanted First Heartland Securities to be returned under Kazakhstan’s jurisdiction along with $277.9 million in dividends for 2020 plus $48 million in penalties.

In the summer of 2023, Yessenov obtained from Jusan Technologies 95% of First Heartland Securities’ shares, 9% of Kazakhtelecom’s shares and almost 15% of Kcell’s shares (previously, a 14.87% stake in the mobile operator was controlled by Pioneer Technologies S.A.R.L.). As a result, Yessenov received 100% control over Jusan Bank: 20% directly and 80% through First Heartland Securities.