- Air Astana hopes to raise $120m from going public in London and Kazakhstan
- BAE Systems and sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna will both sell shares
Kazakhstan’s flag carrier Air Astana has unveiled plans for a London listing in a rare victory for the UK capital’s markets.
Air Astana hopes to raise $120million (£95million) by going public on the London Stock Exchange and Kazakhstan’s AIX market in efforts to help fund its future expansion.
The deal will involve BAE Systems, which owns a 49 per cent stake in the airline, and sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna selling some of their shares.
Taking off: Air Astana hopes to raise $120million by going public on the London Stock Exchange and Kazakhstan’s AIX market to help fund its future expansion
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Almaty, Air Astana is the biggest airline in Central Asia and the Caucasus region, operating 50 aircraft on over 90 routes.
In the first nine months of last year, the company flew about 6 million passengers on around 41,000 flights via its own-brand airline or low-cost subsidiary FlyArystan.
By the end of 2028, Air Astana intends to boost its fleet to 80 aircraft to improve access to major aviation markets like China, India and the Middle East.
The firm also wants to grow ancillary revenue through FlyArystan and capitalise on increasing domestic business travel within Kazakhstan.
Peter Foster, its chief executive and group president, said: ‘As the largest airline group in Central Asia and the Caucasus, we are confident that our industry standing, market position and growth profile present a compelling investment opportunity.
‘This is an important milestone in our long-term strategy, and we look forward to welcoming new Kazakh and international investors as shareholders.’
Air Astana will be worth an estimated £750million following the flotation, which is set to happen sometime in February.
The move would represent much-needed relief for London’s capital markets, given their struggles to attract initial public offerings over the past year.
Just 23 IPOs happened on the London Stock Exchange in 2023, down about half from the previous year, according to EY.
Analysts have variously blamed this trend on Britain’s departure from the European Union, higher capital pools in the United States, and the UK’s stricter listing regime.
Plumbing products firm Ferguson, building materials supplier CRH Holdings and gold mining operator AngloGold Ashanti have all recently switched their primary listing from London to New York.
Softbank also decided to list semiconductor giant ARM Holdings on Wall Street despite heavy lobbying by the UK Government, while soda ash producer WE Soda abandoned a planned London IPO, citing ‘extreme investor caution’ in the UK.
Meanwhile, holidays group Tui is considering abandoning the LSE and putting its primary listing on Frankfurt’s MDax market.
