Kazakhstan’s Air Astana targets $300mn proceeds in IPO

Air Astana (KC, Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev) has revealed the price range for the dual listings on the London and Kazakhstan stock exchanges that it announced in mid-January. It is aiming for gross proceeds of about USD300 million, of which around USD120 million will be raised by the company itself.

This would result in an expected market capitalisation for Air Astana Joint Stock Company of between USD770 million and USD962 million, it outlined in a filing to the bourses on January 29.

In the initial public offering (IPO), to take place on the London Stock Exchange and Kazakhstan’s AIX and KASE markets, the indicative price range for the offering of new and existing shares has been set between USD8.50 and USD11.00 per global depositary receipt (GDR) and USD2.13 to USD2.75 per share.

The final price will be determined following a bookbuilding process and is expected to be announced on or around February 9, along with full details of the offering in a prospectus, the company said. Trading will then commence in London on the morning of February 14 and in Kazakhstan on or around February 15.

Both of Air Astana’s shareholders - Kazakhstan’s Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund and the British aerospace and defence company BAe Systems - will divest shares and GDRs in the float.

“The response to the offering and strong investor interest have been very positive,” CEO Peter Foster claimed, adding that proceeds from the IPO would go towards “supporting the company’s growth strategy.” He elaborated: “As one of the fast-growing airline groups, we firmly believe that Air Astana represents an attractive investment proposition, [...] creating long-term value for our future shareholders.”

Air Astana took delivery of its 50th aircraft on January 20 with the arrival from the Airbus assembly line at Hamburg Finkenwerder of A321-200NX(LR) EI-DKG (msn 11665), the ch-aviation fleets module shows. The carrier has declared a strategy to increase the size of its fleet to 80 aircraft by the end of 2028. It posted an operating profit of USD149 million for 2022.