The number of publicly-traded Kazakhstani companies just doubled, to 2

Kaspi.kz (KSPI) raised $1 billion for selling shareholders in its Nasdaq listing, making it only the second Kazakhstan-based company to trade on a major US exchange. The other is brokerage and financial services provider Freedom Holding (FRHC), which has traded on the Nasdaq since its 2019 uplisting.

And while Kazakhstan has a smaller GDP than most countries that produce US listings, Kaspi.kz’s $17.4 billion market cap makes it the third-largest company at IPO since the start of 2022, behind only Arm (ARM) and Kenvue (KVUE).

Kazakhstan’s leading “super app”
Originally founded as a bank, Kaspi now operates a super app that includes banking, lending, payments, e-commerce, tax filing, rail and flight tickets, and more. During the last 12 months, it reported revenue of $3.8 billion, with net income of $1.7 billion (45% net margin). Revenue grew more than 40% last year.

The company has traded in London since 2020, however it is now seeking greater liquidity (and hoping for a higher multiple) with its US listing. On the LSE, daily volume over the past 90 days has been relatively low, averaging about $3 million worth of GDRs per day. 

Kaspi generates over 99% of its revenue in Kazakhstan, stating that it has about 13.5 million monthly active users (MAUs) in a country with a population of about 20 million. As one might expect, Kaspi’s F-1 filing pitches the strength of the Kazakhstan economy, demographics, etc., though the geographic concentration does come with obvious risks as well. Still, any investors wanting to put Kazakhstan in their portfolio now have two options instead of one.

Kazakh-SPAC
Technically, blank check company Oxus Acquisition (OXUS) is also officially headquartered in Kazakhstan, however the blank check company has no commercial operations, and plans to merge with Canadian plant-based CPG company Borealis Foods, as soon as February 2024.

US public markets could soon get a third Kazakhstani company. Nasdaq-listed SPAC Liberty Resources Acquisition (LIBY) announced in 2022 that it agreed to acquire energy company Caspi Oil Gas LLC, which is based in Kazakhstan and currently owned by Malaysia-based Markmore Energy. The deal is still pending.

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