Joint-stock company «Sovereign Wealth Fund «Samruk-Kazyna» (, ), officially known as the National Welfare Fund "Samruk-Kazyna" (), is a
sovereign wealth fund
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as ...
and
joint stock company
A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certifi ...
in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
which owns, either in whole or in part, a number of major companies in the country. This includes the national
rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...
KazMunayGas
KazMunayGas (KMG) () is the state-owned oil and gas company of Kazakhstan.Kazatomprom, the Kazakhstani
flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations.
Histo ...
Air Astana
Air Astana () is an airline and the flag carrier of Kazakhstan. Based in Almaty, the airline was founded by the Government of Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna (51%) and BAE Systems (49%) and commenced operations on 15 May 2002. I ...
, and others. The state is the sole shareholder of the fund.
History
It was created in October 2008 with the merger of two funds, "Samruk" and "Kazyna", by decree of the president of Kazakhstan,
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev (born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakhstani politician who served as the first president of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019. He also held the special title of Elbasy from 2010 to 2022 and chairman of the Security Council of ...
.
The current chairman of the board of directors is Olzhas Bektenov.
Previously, then-Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev served as chairman and Umirzak Shukeyev as chief executive officer and chairman. Independent directors include Sir Richard Harry Evans, Alper Akdeniz, Wilhelm Bender.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev initiated the unification of national companies into a single holding under the control of the state.
The idea to unite all national companies into a single holding under state control was born by Nursultan Nazarbayev after his visit to Singapore in autumn 2003.
In 2003, the president of Kazakhstan met with Mr.
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew (born Harry Lee Kuan Yew; 16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean politician who ruled as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. He is widely recognised ...
and the management board of the TEMASEC, national investment Fund, which manages part of the state assets of Singapore. Nursultan Nazarbayev highly appreciated Lee Kuan Yew's activities in the field of state government and economy development and took into account the experience of the "Singapore economic miracle" in carrying out Kazakhstan's economic reforms.
After studying the experience of 13 world state holdings, it was concluded that one of the resources of Kazakhstan in increasing the long-term value and capitalization of national companies is to improve corporate governance.
In August 2006 by the decree of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan was founded JSC "Kazakhstan Holding of the State assets management "Samruk", an investment holding, whose mission was to improve the national welfare of the Republic of Kazakhstan and ensure the long-term sustainability of future generations.
First Board of directors and management board of JSC "Kazakhstan holding on state assets management "Samruk" was approved by the president of Kazakhstan and consists of highly qualified top managers. Currently, Alikhan Smailov has been appointed chairman of the board of directors. The first chairman of the board of directors was the head of the President Administration, Mr. Zhaksybekov A. R., later this position was taken by Sir Richard Evans. The first chairman of the management board was Mynbayev S. M., deputy chairman of the management board was Mr. Kulibayev T. A. The current chairman is Akhmetzhan Yessimov, a former deputy prime minister of Kazakhstan and the current father-in-law of Galimzhan Yessenov . Yessimov has been criticised for allowing Samruk to deposit about $350 million in cash with his son-in-law Yessenov's bank, ATF. The Holding also attracted foreign specialists from Germany, Mr. Wokurka Ulf and from Russia, Mr. Stepanko Michael.
At the first stage, only 5 national companies were included in the Samruk Holding, some of which are natural monopolies.
* JSC "national company "Kazakhstan Railways"
* JSC "national company "KazMunaiGas";
* JSC "Kazakhstan company on management of energy networks of "KEGOC"
* JSC "Kazpost"
* JSC "Kazakhtelecom"
At the second stage, 17 national companies operating in the mining, energy sector, related to the sea and air transportation of goods and passenger transportation, generation and distribution of electricity, metallurgy and pipeline infrastructure were included in the Holding "Samruk". In 2006, Samruk holding united 22 national companies, which accounted for 24% of Kazakhstan's GDP.
The state holding focused its activities on the following main issues:
· coordination of positions of various ministries and departments to determine long-term goals and objectives of state companies;
· the selection, motivation, evaluation of managers of state-owned companies, development of their skills; planning, budgeting and approval investment of state-owned companies; monitoring the activities of state-owned companies and the adoption of corrective measures;
· advising the Government corporate Finance.
In 2009 Samruk merge with Investment Holding Kazayna.
The fund is a member of the
International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds
The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) is a nonprofit international group of sovereign wealth funds managers which was established in 2009. It is based in London, England.
History
In 2009, a group of 23 leading state-owned in ...
and are signed up to the 24 Santiago Principles which are a voluntary standard of best practice endorsed by the members for the management of the Sovereign Wealth Funds.
Organizations owned by Samruk-Kazyna
The following is a partial list of organizations partly or wholly owned by the Samruk-Kazyna fund. The percentage of shares controlled by the fund is indicated in brackets. 576 subsidiaries and associated companies are included in the fund's group of companies (as of June 30, 2014).
* "KazMunayGas" NC (67,42%)
* "Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company" JSC (85%)
* "Kazakhtelecom" JSC (79,24%)
* "Kazpost" JSC (100%)
* "Air Astana" JSC (41%)
* "Samruk-Kazyna Contract" LLP (100%)
* "Samruk-Kazyna Invest" LLP (100%)
* "Samruk-Energy" JSC (100%)
* "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" JSC (100%)
* "Kazatomprom" JSC NC (75%)
* National Mining Company "Tau-Ken Samruk" JSC (100%)
* "Samruk-Kazyna Ondeu" LLP (100%)
* "Samruk-Kazyna Business Service" LLP (100%)
* "Qazaq Air" JSC (100%)
* "Kazakhstan nuclear power plants" JSC (100%)
* "GRES-2 Power Station" JSC (50%)
* "National Company "Aktau sea commercial port" JSC (100%)
* "AstanaGas KMG" JSC (50%)
* "Samruk-Kazyna Construction" JSC (100%)
* "National Company "QazaqGaz" JSC (100%)
* "Shulbinsk Hydroelectric Power Plant" JSC (100%)
* "Oskemen Hydroelectric Power Plant" JSC (100%)
* "CCGT Turkistan" LLP (100%)
Privatization
Samruk-Kazyna implements a privatization drive to foreign investors to further develop a market based economy.