Eurasian Bank Does the Unexpected

    On Monday, Eurasian Bank informed the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) of the decision of the board of directors that it would be increasing its authorized capital to KZT 24.2 billion through the offering of a further 1,377,718 common shares (KZ1C31550011). The reason for the new issue is not clear, as the bank reports on its own website, “Strong support is provided by the bank’s shareholders through a succession of capital injections (the most recent capital increase was made in February 2009).”
    One of Eurasian Bank’s high profile shareholders is Alexander Mashkevich, who is a part owner of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC). Last year, Zhomart Yertayev, the now suspended chairman of the board of directors of Eurasian Bank, stated, “Our major advantage is that we have a strong shareholder who is very committed to supporting Eurasian Bank's development,” further adding that Mr. Mashkevich had stated publicly that the shareholders had “no intention of divesting their stake in the bank in the foreseeable future.”
    Apparently, the “foreseeable future” has arrived. Other major shareholders in Eurasian Bank include Patokh Chodiev and Alijan Ibragimov, who are both equal shareholders with Mr. Mashkevich in Eurasian Financial and Industrial Company, Eurasian Bank’s parent company, which earlier this year split into Eurasian Financial Corporation and Eurasian Industrial Corporation, separating Eurasian Bank from Eurasia insurance company, managing company and retirement fund.
    According to the company’s website, Eurasian bank provides a broad range of services across all business segments - corporate, SME and retail. Services range from traditional banking, including deposit taking, lending, trade finance, promissory notes, custody and depositary operations, safe-keeping operations, credit cards, cash and settlement operations, as well as leasing and factoring services. The Bank has retained its ratings in the light of recent changes in the Kazakh banking landscape. Currently Eurasian Bank is rated by Moody’s (“B1”/Negative), Standard & Poor’s (“B”/Negative), and Fitch (“B-”/Negative), according to KASE (kase.kz), Eurasian Bank (eurasian-bank.kz), KazTAG, Business News Europe, Investkz.com, Reuters, the Regional Financial Center of Almaty (rfca.kz), and the Silk Road Intelligencer.