The Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan does not confirm the alienation of Rosatom’s shares in affiliated uranium enterprises in Kazakhstan to third parties. This is stated in the department’s response to a request from inbusiness.kz about whether Uranium One, a subsidiary of Rosatom, really plans to sell three of its five shares in uranium enterprises in Kazakhstan jointly with Kazatomprom JSC.
Earlier, such a probability was reported in one of the specialized telegram channels. One of the potential buyers of the shares of the Russian company in the message was the Chinese corporation China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).
“In accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 193-1 of the Civil Code, it is established that the alienation of strategic facilities is possible on the basis of a decision of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan to issue a permit and in the manner determined by the legislative act of the Republic of Kazakhstan on state property. According to the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 06/30/2018 651, the uranium industry is included in the list of strategic objects.Chapter 13 of the Law “On State Property” establishes the procedure for encumbrance or alienation of strategic objects owned by individuals and non-state legal entities.Thus, all applications for the alienation of strategic objects are considered in accordance with the above At the same time, to date, the ministry has not received any applications for the alienation of stakes in subsidiaries of Rosatom State Corporation,” the ministry’s commentary says.
In response to a request from inbusiness.kz, the press service of the Kazakh representative office of Rosatom noted that information relating to corporate participation in projects in Kazakhstan is classified as confidential information. A representative of the Moscow office of CNNC did not answer the questions of the correspondent of the publication in e-mail.
“The company does not comment on possible mergers and / or acquisitions, acquisitions and / or disposals of the assets of Kazatomprom and its partners. Being a public company, we always demonstrate maximum transparency regarding any changes and act in accordance with the information disclosure policy,” – Kazatomprom’s response to a request from inbusiness.kz says.
Recall that the Russian nuclear state company participates in the share production of uranium in Kazakhstan through its “daughter” Uranium One in such enterprises as: “Karatau” – 50% of the share of participation, “Khorasan-U” – 30%, JV “Akbastau” – 50% , JV “Zarechnoye” – 49.98% and JV “Southern Mining and Chemical Company” – 70%. Earlier, inbusiness.kz reported that Rosatom could buy a 49% stake in the uranium joint venture Budenovskoye, but the Russian state corporation did not refute this.
At the end of February, the Kazakh government allowed Uranium One Netherlands B.V., Uranium One Utrecht B.V., Uranium One Rotterdam B.V. alienate a 50% stake in Karatau LLP, 30% in Khorasan-U (Khorasan-U) JV LLP, 70% in Southern Mining and Chemical Company JV LLP, respectively, in favor of Uranium One Joint Stock Company Group”. JSC “Uranium One Group” is part of the Uranium One division of the state corporation “Rosatom”. At the same time, according to the government, the beneficiaries of the shares did not change.