The land was bought by the former co-owner of BTA Bank, Mukhtar Ablyazov. As Mukhtar Ablyazov was convicted and fled aboard Kenes Rakishev begun the process to reclaim the assets stolen by M. Ablyazov. One of it is 450 ha in one piece in one of the most expensive places in Russia – Domodedovo district of Moscow region. Kenes Rakishev sold the land plot of 450 ha to the “Rusich” group of companies. All funds will be returned to Kazakhstan.
Kenes Rakishev is in charge of reclaiming the scattered assets left by M. Ablyazov. It is legally challenging task but Rakishev and his team were quite successful in it. To day they managed to return billions USD to the BTA Bank.
The land plot has been purchased by the Rusich group which for undisclosed amount. There are price tags reported by sources close to the negotiations. The price of 450 ha was sold is somewhat between USD 15,7M and 7M. It is a fairly low price, as analysts state. The reason for the flush sale is BTA’s intention to get rid of the land which is definitively out of the bank’s main operations.
The land plot, a part of 2800 ha in total, was purchased by Mukhtar Ablyazov in 2008. It was purchased on a peak price and soon the market collapsed. After extensive investigation a number of financial fraud episodes were discovered. In 2009 BTA Bank was nationalized. Since then BTA’s new management led by Kenes Rakishev battles for the bank assets across the World.
BTA Bank still owns 100 ha of premium land in the New Moscow boundaries, and 1,7 ha in Domodedovo town.
Who is Kenes Rakishev
Kenes (Kenges) Rakishev is a prominent investor and entrepreneur regarded as one of the most influential businessmen in Kazakhstan. Rakishev has business interests spanning technology, oil & gas, finance, shipbuilding, and metals & mining industries, and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of several industry leaders including Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries, SAT & Company, Net Element and Vyborg Shipyard.
He is also Chairman and Co-Founder of Sirin Labs, which has developed the world’s first blockchain smart phone Finney, and Managing Partner at Singulariteam-1 and Singulariteam-2 venture capital funds that focus on innovative tech companies. Throughout his career, Kenes Rakishev has held high-ranking positions in the public and private sector. His past public roles include working as an advisor to the Interior Ministry and the Department of Education in Kazakhstan. Early in his career, Rakishev worked at Bank TuranAlem in the client relationship department and at KazTransGas in the marketing and commerce department. Between 2000 and 2002 he worked at Intergas Central Asia as Director of Marketing.
He then served as First Deputy General Director of Exports for KazMunayGas before returning to KazTransGas as Deputy General Director of Marketing and Commerce.
From 2004 until 2005, Kenes took on the role of General Director at Mercury LLP before starting as CEO and Chairman of the Board at SAT & Company, a role he continues to hold to this day.
Since October 2004, Rakishev has been the Vice President of the Union of Chambers of Commerce of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the First Vice President of the Association of National Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In October 2012, he became Chairman of Net Element International Inc. and in May 2013 he was appointed Director of Singulariteam GP Ltd. and Singulariteam PTE Ltd. In 2013, he also founded Sirin Labs together with Moshe Hogeg and Tal Cohen. Later that year, in December, Rakishev became a Non-Executive Director of Central Asia Metals Plc., a role which he held until 2018. In February 2014, he became Chairman of the Board of BTA Bank.
Kenes Rakishev’s investment portfolio
Kenes Rakishev’s investments in metals and mining include interests in SAT & Company and Petropavlovsk. In finance and payments processing, he has invested in BTA Bank, Standard Insurance and Net Element. Previously, he also invested in Kazakhstan’s most profitable retail chain Magnum and TV channel Channel 7.
Rakishev provides asset management through Fincraft Investment House and makes tech-oriented venture capital investments through his Singulariteam-1 and Singulariteam-2 funds.
At the end of 2017, Rakishev’s blockchain consumer electronics company Sirin Labs raised more than $157 million through the 5th largest ICO to date, to develop the world’s first blockchain smartphone Finney.
Nicholas de Krammer, а self-taught economic analytic with heave mathematical background. Math behind the economics (and economics behind math) is the strong side of the author. Contact him at nicholas.dekramer@economicinform.com
