Kaspi.kz submits a formal letter of interest to participate in the privatization of the Humo payments system in Uzbekistan
August 27 2024 - 2:38AM
Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz (“Kaspi.kz”) has sent a formal letter
of interest to Uzbekistan’s State Assets Management Agency
(“SAMA”), indicating its interest in participating in the upcoming
privatization of the National Interbank Processing Center (“Humo”).
SAMA has unveiled plans to privatize a 100% stake in the Humo
payment system via a public negotiation process. Humo is one of two
payment systems in Uzbekistan and enables all aspects of the
payments process for banks and other payment providers. According
to SAMA, it has issued over 23 million Humo cards, connected over
200,000 points of sale and installed around 6,000 ATMs.
Mikheil Lomtadze, CEO and co-founder of Kaspi.kz, commented:
“Uzbekistan’s economy is growing fast, and I believe the country
is taking all the right steps to increase its attractiveness to
investors and companies like Kaspi.kz. The reforms carried out so
far demonstrate a strong commitment to an open and competitive
market economy, and will further boost economic growth.
Our shareholders include the likes of Fidelity, Blackrock,
Capital International and Baillie Gifford and are amongst the
world’s most respected investors in technology companies. We want
to give them a front row seat to Uzbekistan’s rapidly unfolding
transformation.
At Kaspi.kz, we are laser focused on designing innovative
digital products that improve the everyday lives of consumers. With
18 years’ collective experience, our team has deep knowledge of
digital payments.
We have seen first-hand just how transformative innovation in
payments can be for the economy and society. As we continue to lead
through innovation, we would be humbled by the opportunity to play
a part in Uzbekistan’s digital payments journey. We look forward to
discussing the privatisation of Humo further.”
The privatization is expected to proceed in three
stages: expression of interest, collection of non-binding proposals
and collection of binding proposals. At the final stage, bidders
must submit a guarantee payment amounting to at least 1% of their
proposed binding price offer.
About Kaspi.kz:
Kaspi.kz’s mission is to improve people’s lives by developing
innovative mobile products and services. To deliver upon this we
operate a unique two-sided Super App model – the Kaspi.kz Super App
for consumers and the Kaspi Pay Super App for merchants.
Through these Super Apps consumers and merchants can access our
leading Payments, Marketplace, and Fintech Platforms. All our
services are designed to be highly relevant to users’ everyday
needs and enable consumers and merchants to connect and transact,
using our proprietary payments network.
The combination of a large, highly engaged consumer and merchant
base, best-in-class, highly relevant digital products and a capex
lite approach, results in strong top-line growth, a profitable
business model and enables us to continue innovating, delighting
our users and fulfilling our mission.
Harvard Business School has written two case studies on Kaspi.kz
which it continues to teach to its MBA students.
Kaspi.kz has been listed on Nasdaq since January 2024.
Contacts
David Fergusondavid.ferguson@kaspi.kz+44 7427 751
275
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws, which statements
relate to our current expectations and views of future events. In
some cases, these forward-looking statements can be identified by
words or phrases such as “upcoming”, “believe,” “will,” “expect,”
“plan,” “opportunity” or other similar expressions. These
forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and
assumptions, some of which are beyond our control. In addition,
these forward-looking statements reflect our current views with
respect to future events and are not a guarantee of future
performance. Actual outcomes may differ materially from the
information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result
of a number of factors, including, without limitation, risks
related to the following: the growth of the Uzbek economy; our
ability to attract sufficient new customers, engage and retain our
existing customers or sell additional functionality, products and
services to them on our platforms; our ability to maintain and
improve the network effects of our Super App business model; our
ability to improve or maintain technology infrastructure; our
ability to successfully execute the new business model and reach
profitability of the e-Grocery operations; our ability to partner
with sufficient new merchants or maintain relationships with our
existing merchant partners; our ability to effectively manage the
growth of our business and operations; developments affecting the
financial services industry; our brand or trusted status of our
platforms and Super Apps; our ability to retain and motivate our
personnel and attract new talent, or to maintain our corporate
culture; our ability to keep pace with rapid technological
developments to provide innovative services; our ability to
implement changes to our systems and operations necessary to
capitalize on our future growth opportunities; changes in
relationships with third-party providers, including software and
hardware suppliers, delivery services, credit bureaus and debt
collection agencies; our ability to compete successfully against
existing or new competitors; our ability to integrate acquisitions,
strategic alliances and investments; our ability to adequately
obtain, maintain, enforce and protect our intellectual property and
similar proprietary rights; evolving nature of Kazakhstan’s
legislative and regulatory framework; our ability to obtain or
retain certain licenses, permits and approvals in a timely manner;
our ability to successfully remediate the existing material
weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and our
ability to establish and maintain an effective system of internal
control over financial reporting; dependence on our subsidiaries
for cash to fund our operations and expenses, including future
dividend payments, if any; and risks related to other factors
discussed under “Risk Factors” in the annual report on Form 20-F
filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 29 April
2024.
We operate in an evolving environment. New risks emerge from
time to time, and it is not possible for our management to predict
all risks, nor can we assess the effect of all factors on our
business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of
factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in any forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate
only to events or information as of the date on which the
statements are made in this press release. Except as required by
law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements
are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Joint Stock Company Kasp... (NASDAQ:KSPI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2024 to Oct 2024
Joint Stock Company Kasp... (NASDAQ:KSPI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2023 to Oct 2024