Innovational National fund cuts its share to 33.3% in the first Kazakhstan venture fund "Areket"

/INTERFAX-KAZAKHSTAN, Almaty, November 8, 06/ - National Innovational Fund JSC (NIF) cuts its share in the authorized capital of The Fund of high technologies "Areket" JSC. "Today I have the honor to inform of increase of the authorized capital of the venture fund to $30 m. If before we invested in venture funds together with private capital "one for one", the share of the state inflow will make now 33.3%," the chairman of Board of NIF Nurbek Raev at the press conference on Wednesday in Almaty. He reminds that "Areket" is the first Kazakhstan venture fund, founded by NIF together with TuranAlem Securities. Up to the present time the authorized capital of the venture fund totaled $4 m., at that NIF owned 49%-share in the authorized capital, TuranAlem Securities - 9%, the rest part was held by other investors. Moreover, according to his words, by April of next year shareholders of the fund intend to increase its authorized capital to $50 m. In this case the share of the state part in "Areket" will reduce to 20%. "The given step towards finishing the capitalization (to $30 m. - "IF-K") is the meaningful event of the fund, seeing that the fund will get publicity of the biggest domestic venture fund in the country," the managing director of TuranAlem Securities Dosym Bespaev, participating in the conference, gave his comments. Increase of the authorized capital, according to his words, gives the opportunity to the fund "to finance the projects in different scale". "If before the average volume of investments per one project totaled $1 m., currently the average size of investments per one project is $5-10 m., and the total volume of projects, which we can submit for consideration, makes about $100-170 m.," D. Bespaev noted. By the present time of being the venture fund has considered 120 projects, 4 out of them is at the financing stage. As an example, he mentioned the project for production of heat-insulated materials on the basis of basalt fiber. Construction of the plant Basalt- Technology, located near Almaty, was started last year, and on October 26 of the current year the plant produced the first stuffs. The main initiators of the project are the group of physical entities, who act also as designers of technologies and owners of the patent. "Areket" owns 53%-share in Basalt- Technology LLP. However, the venture fund plans to come out from the authorized capital of this company in 3-4 weeks. At the present time the production frontier of the plant includes the output of heat-insulated cloths and mats, heat-insulated basalt plates. The production capacity of Basalt-Technology makes 650 kg. of the output an hour. As N. Raev informed, at the primary sage the volume of investments in the project totals about $3 m., $1 m. has been already invested At the second stage Basalt-Technology LLP intends to start the construction of 3-4 similar plants over Kazakhstan and does not exclude the allocation of some production units in near foreign countries. Moreover, it is planned to develop the production of "sandwich-panels" with usage of basalt plates for vertical integration of the production chain. For these purposes the company will need extra investments to borrow for the total of $25 m. NIF was founded by the resolution of the government of the republic in May of year 2003. At the present time it enters into the state fund "Kazyna", which was established in March of year 2006 and appears a managing company, created for the purpose of diversification of Kazakhstan economy by way of coordination of national institutes of development and execution of investments projects in non-rough economy sector. At the present time the fund includes 7 institutes of development of Kazakhstan: the state bank of development, investment and innovation funds, the state corporation for insurance of export credit and investments, the fund of development of small entrepreneurship, the center of marketing-analytical investigations and the company "Kazinvest". [2006-11-08]