/REUTERS, September 14, 04/ - Kazkommertsbank Kazakhstan's largest bank, said on Tuesday it was considering plans to launch an equity offering worth at least $100 million in London next year.

The bank also said it was suing the Central Asian state's finance ministry in a bid to overturn a $30 million back-tax claim. The claim has unnerved investors working in the oil-rich nation.

"We are discussing an equity offering for next year," Managing Director Andrei Timchenko told reporters. "The decision is likely by the end of this year."

"We have a good story to sell -- we have listings, we have infrastructure, the only thing missing is liquidity."

Kazkommertsbank, which accounts for roughly a third of all assets of Kazakhstan's fast growing banking sector, needs to boost capital to continue its rapid growth and meet the tight prudential criteria set by the markets regulator.

Another Kazkommerts managing director, Aidar Akhmetov, said the bank was locked in a lawsuit with the government, because it viewed the government's back-tax claim as "wrong calculations".

The finance ministry's $30 million claim after what Kazkommerts managers said was a "routine tax inspection" quickly acquired political overtones in the run-up to Kazakhstan's Sept. 19 parliamentary election.

An adviser to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev sent jitters to businessmen in June after he accused Kazkommerts head Nurzhan Subkhanberdin of financing an opposition party.

Yermukhamet Yertysbayev dubbed Subkhanberdin "Kazakh Khodorkovsky" - a reference to ex-CEO of Russia's oil giant YUKOS Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose trial for fraud and tax evasion is widely seen as Kremlin punishment for his political ambitions.

"We expect to come to a reasonable compromise (with the government)," said Kazkommerts Managing Director Magzhan Auezov.

"The magnitude of the (government's) claims may seem substantial, but not as substantial as reflected in the press," Timchenko said. "Comparisons with Khodorkovsky are clearly unfounded and unjustified."

[2004-09-14]