Today, the Astana International Exchange (AIX) hosted a solemn ceremony on opening the trading in securities of Air Astana JSC. The Chairman of the Management Board of Samruk-Kazyna JSC Nurlan Zhakupov and the President of the airline Peter Foster participated in it.

In addition to the AIX, unconditional trading began on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). A day earlier, unconditional trading in global depositary receipts (GDR) opened on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

The Air Astana Group became the first Kazakhstani company to place shares simultaneously on three exchanges within the country and abroad.

The price per global depositary receipt was $9.5, and per ordinary share -KZT1,073.83. As part of the placement by 3 selling parties - Samruk-Kazyna JSC, BAE Systems PLC and the company itself - $370 million was attracted. The company’s appraisal at the time of the placement was about $847 million.

As a result of the placement, 58% - $214 million - of the total placement was allocated to Kazakhstani investors. More than half of this amount was distributedamong Kazakhstani retail investors.

42% of the offer is placed on the international market.

“There was great demand from local and international institutional investors, as well as from retail investors. This indicates the high investment attractiveness of the airline and the economy of Kazakhstan as a whole, and the faith of the local and international markets in the development prospects of Air Astana”, - Nurlan Zhakupov, the Chairman of the Management Board of Samruk-Kazyna JSC, said.

After the placement, the share of Samruk-Kazyna JSC in the company decreased from 51 to 41% of the total number of outstanding shares of the company, and the share of BAE Systems PLC - from 49% to 15.3%.

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The Air Astana Group is the largest airline group in Central Asia and the Caucasus region by market share. The company was founded in 2001, and shareholders invested $17 million, including the state. During this time, Air Astana paid $156 million in dividends to shareholders (the state accounted for about $80 million) and over $711 million in taxes.