JSC "NMF "Samruk-Kazyna" has acquired 100% of the shares of the oil company Phystech II. The transaction was carried out through a share swap worth 8.1 billion tenge.
According to Ulysmedia.kz, from mid-2024, the sole shareholder of Phystech II was the State Property and Privatisation Committee of the Ministry of Finance. Previously, the company was owned by businessman Kairat Boranbayev.
"Samruk-Kazyna's acquisition of Boranbayev's assets is part of the process of nationalising property obtained through criminal means. It is reported that the government of Kazakhstan plans to include Phystech II in the privatisation plan, indicating the state's intention to return the company to the private sector after carrying out the necessary transformations", the statement reads.
It is noted that Phystech II's assets are currently under the trust management of the company "KMG Engineering", which is part of the Samruk-Kazyna holding structure.
According to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), Phystech II, registered in Aktau in 2015, specialises in geological exploration, survey work, oil field development and oil production.
As of 1 October 2024, the company's equity capital stood at 21.9 billion tenge, including authorised capital of 13.7 billion tenge. In the first nine months of 2024, Phystech II posted a net profit of 513.6 million tenge.
For context, in March 2023, Boranbayev, his business partner Roman Nakhanov, and the former deputy chairman of the board of QazaqGaz, Taiyr Zhanuzak, were sentenced to 8 years in prison for the theft of funds on an especially large scale in the quasi-public sector.
Later, the sentence was overturned because Boranbayev entered into a plea deal with the investigation. At the same time, reports emerged in the media that in June 2023 he had compensated the material damage amounting to 14.5 billion tenge.
Furthermore, it was reported that Kairat Boranbayev had voluntarily returned assets worth over 90 billion tenge to state ownership and transferred 30 billion tenge to the Education Infrastructure Support Fund.
Soon after, Boranbayev admitted his guilt, agreeing to a deal with the prosecutor, after which his sentence was reduced to 6 years in prison with confiscation of property.
As part of voluntary cooperation with the investigation, he transferred to the state the oil and gas field "Karazhanbas Severny" with an estimated value of 35.4 billion tenge, the limited liability partnership "KazTurboRemont Service Centre" worth over 9 billion tenge, "AsiaGazChundzha" LLP worth 14 billion tenge, and much more.
Later, the court granted the businessman's petition and commuted the unserved portion of his sentence to restriction of liberty.
In November 2023, Boranbayev was released from the penal colony. In May 2024, Deputy Chairman of the AFM (Agency for Financial Monitoring) Zhenis Elemesov told journalists that Boranbayev had already returned 134.5 billion tenge to the state.