Early Warning System

Regions

Europe and Central Asia

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Countries

Kazakhstan

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Approved

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Voting Date

Jan 10, 2024

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

Air Astana JSC

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Construction
Transport

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Equity

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 41.99 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 370.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Feb 15, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Feb 14, 2024

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the EBRD, the project consists of an equity investment in global depositary receipts of Air Astana JSC, a joint-stock company incorporated in Kazakhstan. The investment was made as part of the Company's IPO, which took place on 9 February 2024.

The IPO proceeds will finance (i) the company's fleet expansion and renewal programme; (ii) construction of a maintenance facility; and (iii) acquisition of a flight simulator.

Early Warning System Project Analysis

For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

People Affected By This Project

People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Private Actor Relationship

A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Private Actors Description

As stated by the EBRD, Air Astana JSC is the flag carrier of Kazakhstan and a leading airline in Central Asia.

In 2022, the Company's revenue was US$ 1.03 billion (EUR 979.8 million) and EBITDAR was US$ 288.2 million (EUR 273.5 million). In the 12 months ending in September 2023, the Company's revenue and EBITDAR accounted for US$ 1.2 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) and US$ 320.0 million (EUR 295.4 million).

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	AIR ASTANA JSC_KZ	Client	Transport

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Client - Air Astana JSC:

Treasury Department
Email: treasury@airastana.com
Website: www.airastana.com
Address: 4A Zakarpatskaya street, Almaty, 050039

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html