Kaspi.kz IPO: Kazakh fintech postpones London float
The London float of Kazakh fintech group Kaspi.kz has been postponed due to “unfavourable market conditions” in the technology sector.
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The initial public offering (IPO) was set to be the largest by a Central Asian company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) since the 2008 financial crash after it was valued at $5bn.
The firm controls Kazakhstan’s third largest-lender Kaspi Bank and also runs online payments and fintech platforms.
The group said yesterday there had been “signifcant interest” in the offering, but “in light of currently unfavourable and uncertain market conditions, particularly in the technology sector”.
A source familiar with the matter said WeWork’s decision to cancel its public offering created concern about current conditions.
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Mikheil Lomtadze, chairman of Kaspi.kz’s management board, said: “We’ve come to the decision that the timing is not the best at the current moment for an IPO.”
The listing was considered a boost for the LSE after Kaspi.kz announced just last month it had picked the UK’s capital over New York.
In the first half of 2019, its total revenue was 226.8bn Kazakhstan Tenge (£473m), representing year-on-year growth of 34 per cent from the first half of 2018.
Its net income was 77bn Kazakhstan Tenge (£160.7m), representing year-on-year growth of 54 per cent from the first half of 2018.
The postponement comes in a year where the amount of public offerings on the LSE has fallen dramatically.
There were just 25 IPOs on the LSE by the end of September compared to 55 last year, according to Ernst and Young.
The amount raised from those offerings was less than the total raised by the Nasdaq, New York, Shenzen and Shanghai stock markets.