KazTransOil said to pick UBS as IPO adviser as Kazkommerts named

LONDON. December 13. KAZINFORM Kazkommerts Securities, a unit of Kazkommertsbank, Kazakhstan's largest lender by assets, was picked to advise JSC KazTransOil on its planned share sale next year, the state-owned pipeline operator said.

According to Bloomberg, KazTransOil is also selecting a foreign consultant for the initial public offering after choosing Kazkommerts Securities, Asem Nusupova, KazTransOil's managing director for economics and finance, said in a phone interview today. She declined to name the foreign firm considered for an advisory role.

UBS AG, Switzerland's biggest bank, may be hired as an adviser, a person familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified because the information isn't public.

Kazakhstan plans a divestment program, offering shares in assets owned by the National Wellbeing Fund Samruk-Kazyna to citizens through so-called people's IPOs. Kaztransoil and Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Co. are the "closest to being ready" for sale, Economic Development and Trade Minister Kairat Kelimbetov said in August, adding that the government will offer holdings of 5 percent to 15 percent of shares in companies.

Kaztransoil, which operates about 5,495 kilometers (3,415 miles) of oil pipelines, increased crude shipments to 49.3 million metric tons in the first 11 months of the year, a 3 percent rise from a year earlier, according to the company's website.

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