UzNIF to Prepare Uzbekistan Airways For IPO
The Uzbekistan National Investment Fund (UzNIF) is initiating preparations for the initial public offering of the state carrier Uzbekistan Airways. This was recently reported by Bloomberg following statements from Marius Dan who serves as the chief executive of Franklin Templeton Central Asia.
To facilitate the upcoming public listing the fund will begin the process of selecting equity capital market consultants this June. These appointed financial advisors will assist the national airline as well as several other prominent state businesses currently held within the wider UzNIF portfolio.
It emerged in mid-June that the government plans to float up to 20% of the national carrier’s shares on the open market. In anticipation of this highly anticipated IPO the airline is currently undergoing a comprehensive corporate transformation programme which was carefully designed with strategic assistance from Franklin Templeton.
This sweeping reform strategy consists of 115 distinct steps designed to streamline corporate governance, boost overall financial performance and bring the carrier’s day-to-day operations fully into line with rigorous international industry standards.
Surging profits and reduced costs
The ambitious privatisation push comes at a time of robust financial health for the aviation company. Over the past year the state carrier recorded a net profit of 1.2 trln soums which represents a massive 73.5% increase compared to the previous twelve months.
Alongside this surge in revenue the company has also demonstrated significant improvements in its operational efficiency. Annual operating expenses were successfully slashed by more than half, dropping from 1.5 trln soums down to just 700 bn soums over the same period.
