On 1-2 February Almaty hosted Inaugural Central Asian Capital Market conference “Integration with Global Capital Markets” which was organised under auspices of the London Stock Exchange and The Agency on the regulation of activities of the Regional Financial Centre of Almaty (RFCA).   The cooperation agreement between London Stock Exchange and RFCA was signed on 26 November during the official visit of President of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Kingdom. 

The conference was organised by Advantix Ltd (UK based business communications agency) in cooperation with the Regional Investment Brokers: JSC Almaty Investment Management and JSC Centras Securities.

Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Mr. Karim Masiov highly appraised the conference and its objectives in the official address to the delegates.

Welcome address [25 Kb]

Kazakhstan’s vision is to become the financial centre for Central Asia offering companies a diversified investment platform to raise equity finance on the national and international markets. The conference provided important cross-industry and cross-country dialogue on potential opportunities for developing a Central Asian Financial Centre and providing a framework for accessing the Global capital markets.

The creation of a strong and active Central Asian capital market will help to ensure the successful future of many national companies looking for new capital to sustain their growth. The recent dual listing by KazMunaiGas Exploration & Production established the case for successfully raising capital both on the KASE and the London Stock Exchange, an example which could be followed by many others.

The conference offered a wide range of discussion topics addressing Debt and Equity finance issues.  It also looked closely at the current state of the local capital market and at the opportunities for foreign investors wishing to participate in that market. As part of the IPO discussion theme, the conference analysed recent listing practises and business models used by KazMunaiGas Exploration & Production, Samruk Holding, Halyk Bank, KazKommerzBank, Shalkia Zinc, Max Petroleum and many others offering practical information exchange between advisers and local companies preparing for an IPO.

Over 380 delegates took part in the conference representing companies from Kazakhstan, Central Asian Republics Caucasus and Russia as well as financiers, marker regulators and investment communities from United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, USA, Turkey, Italy and United Arab Emirates. The delegates supported organisers’ initiative to run the conference annually. Post conference reports and presentation materials will be published in “materials” section on 26 February 2007.