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52 I Eurasia bne November 2020
Kaspi on the cusp? Assessing the significance of Kazakh fintech firm's smash stock market debut Kanat Shaku in Almaty
Kaspi.kz’s wildly successful initial public offering (IPO) on October 16 has given a general boost to the global financial technology (fintech) and e-commerce sectors. Its global depository receipts (GDRs) rose as much as 33% on debut day, raising Kaspi’s valuation to $8.4bn from $6.5bn when its shares began trading. The GDRs closed 23% higher than the listing price on the same day at $41.50 on London Stock Exchange (LSE).
A month prior to Kaspi’s listing, Forbes Kazakhstan ranked the company first among the top e-commerce firms in Kazakhstan in 2020. The status was awarded within the TOP KZ Retail E-Commerce ranking compiled annually in collaboration with international consulting company Baker Tilly Kazakhstan and the Digital Association of Kazakhstan.
Forbes also mentioned that Kaspi.kz e-Commerce sees well-known internation- al brands – such as Adidas, O'STIN, UGG,
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New balance, DECATHLON, DeFacto, Marks & Spencer, Nike, Reebok, KOTON, SPORTMASTER, ALDO, SKECHERS, Ecco and many others – selling through it.
Earlier, Moody’s ratings agency published comments on Kaspi.kz’s primary business, Kaspi Bank.
“Kaspi Bank's Ba2 local and foreign currency deposit ratings are based on its Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA)
of b1 and Moody's expectation of a high probability of support to the bank from the government of Kazakhstan (Baa3), which results in a two-notch uplift from Kaspi Bank's BCA,” Moody’s said. The high probability of support was likely the result of Kaspi Bank’s systemic importance in Kazakhstan.
“Kaspi Bank's BCA is underpinned by the demonstrated resilience of its business model and capital position through the cycle, the bank's strong profitability metrics and its granular funding base,” Moody’s added.
“Our Kaspi.kz Super App has now reached 8.5 million monthly users, further cementing its market leading position. Our e-Commerce platform, the largest e-commerce business in
the country, is seamlessly integrated into our app and our team continues
to work tirelessly to improve user experience,” Forbes Kazakhstan quoted Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO and co-founder of Kaspi.kz, as saying.
“We have expanded delivery to 54 cities and increased the range of products
to almost 400,000. For the first eight months of this year, our users made 2.6 million online purchases for almost 200 billion tenge [$467mn]. The amount
of purchases grew 125%, the number of purchases by 150% compared to last year," he added.
Setting a benchmark
In September, Yandex made a bombshell announcement. It said it intended to acquire Russia’s only pure online bank, Tinkoff Bank, for $5.5bn. The news caused