Eurasian bank (Kazakhstan) is ready to buy state blocks of big companies

/IRBIS, June 23, 00/ - REUTERS informs, with the reference to the chairman of Eurasian bank, Aleksandr Mashkevich, that the bank, which controls several major metallurgical enterprises of Kazakhstan, prefers their further privatization through sales of the state blocks of shares to strategic investors. He said portfolio investors would not make serious investments, as strategic investors were the ones who pushes the development of the production, expansion of the market. It is said that the bank has stakes in Aliuminii Kazakhstana, TNC Kazchrome, Sokolovsko-Sarbaiskoe obedinenie and Evroaziatskaya energeticheskaya korporatsya. A few years ago these companies were part of "blue chips" privatization program of the government, which meant the sales of the part of their state blocks of shares on the stock market, is said. However, they were removed from this program by the government in this year. Mashkevich believes that international financial institutions are more willing to finance privatized companies which are managed by a single investor. He said that the company should have a majority of the stake in order to find an international financial institution to finance it. The government of Kazakhstan has a majority of stake in all companies controlled by Eurasian bank, and Mashkevich says the bank has no problems with the state as a shareholder. He said they had the same goal with the state.