Halyk Bank — Strategic agreement in Uzbekistan

Halyk Bank announced a strategic agreement involving the acquisition of a 49% stake in fintech company Click, a leading digital payment services provider in Uzbekistan with over 20 million users (more than half of Uzbekistan’s total population) for US$176.4m. The agreement also covers the sale of a 49% stake in Tenge Bank (Halyk Bank’s fully owned bank in Uzbekistan) to Click’s shareholders for c US$60.8m. We consider this an important step in strengthening the position of Tenge Bank, Halyk’s priority foreign project. The transaction creates multiple collaboration opportunities across Click’s and Tenge Bank’s combined base, while allowing both to retain their current independent legal structures and to service their respective customer bases on existing terms. The transaction is pending regulatory approval in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. We will update our forecasts following Halyk’s H125 results.