Kazakhstan's Alliance Bank May Sell Stake to Outside Investor
2007-11-28 07:34 (New York)
By Nariman Gizitdinov and Benjamin Rahr
Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- AO Alliance Bank, Kazakhstan's
largest consumer lender, may sell a stake in the company to an
outside investor.
``We are open for talks to sell the stake to a strategic
investor that understands our strategy,'' Chairman Margulan
Seisembayev, said in a Nov. 23 interview in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
``The stake, which may be sold, depends on investor appetite and
the end of turmoil in the international markets. There are no
negotiations under way yet,'' he added.
Alliance Bank, Kazakhstan's fourth-largest lender by assets,
is seeking to raise money to fund its expansion in a country
that has about 3.3 percent of the world's oil. The economy of
Kazakhstan, which grew almost 11 percent to $80.4 billion last
year, is attracting international investors, including Italian
bank UniCredit SpA.
Seisembayev, who owns about 25 percent of Seimar Alliance
Financial Corp., the parent of Alliance Bank, said the company
is seeking a ``large international bank with technologies in the
consumer-lending business'' as a partner.
The lender is also planning to cut costs and increase its
investment in technology to help boost profit. It will reduce
the size of its distribution network, including branches and
independent sales staff, by about 30 percent by 2009, the
chairman said.
Alliance Bank may also sell asset-backed securities to raise
$200 million to $300 million next year, Seisembayev said. It
might refinance existing loans if market conditions are good, he
added, without giving further details.
The company, which raised $704 million in July by selling
global depositary receipts in London, boosted its assets to
1.22 trillion tenge ($10.1 billion) as of Oct. 1. It plans to
attract an increasing amount of deposits in Kazakhstan.
Profit in the first nine months of the year rose more than
sixfold to 30 billion tenge. The bank has 2 million customers in
its home country.