President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed a presentation on accelerating the transformation of Uzbekistan Airways and preparing it for an initial public offering (IPO), according to the president's press service.
It was noted that last month, the National Investment Fund for the first time placed $690 million in assets on the international market, signaling Uzbekistan's readiness to operate under global capital market rules. Demand exceeded supply by four times, with major investors placing orders worth nearly $3 billion.
The goal is to complete IPO preparations for Uzbekistan Airways, Uzsanoatqurilishbank, Uzbekgidroenergo, National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan, and Uzbektelecom within this year.
Using Uzbekistan Airways as an example, the organization of these processes was discussed. Representatives of Franklin Templeton diagnosed the national airline's operations and developed a transformation program comprising 115 measures. If fully implemented, the program could increase the company's operating income by $120 million per year.
Potential additional revenue could come from optimizing routes, increasing direct sales and improving customer service, reducing turnaround times, minimizing flight cancellations and delays, enhancing efficiency of system enterprises such as catering and technical maintenance, quickly adapting to market conditions, and attracting qualified specialists.
These measures could increase the airline's market value from $1.6 billion to $2.3 billion. However, it was noted that despite the program being developed several months ago, its implementation has been slow.
The head of state stressed the need to radically improve management quality, strengthen financial discipline, maintain reporting according to international standards, and improve the credit rating to prepare the company for the international capital market.
The plan is to sell 15-20% of the national airline's shares through an international IPO by the end of the year. Practical measures include objective assessment of the company's performance, enhancing its investment attractiveness, removing special aircraft from the company's balance sheet, and introducing a mechanism to compensate for services provided under state orders.
The presentation also noted that high tourism growth rates are creating new demands on the airline. Since the beginning of the year, the number of tourists visiting the country increased by 27.5% to nearly 5.5 million. Particularly significant growth was seen from China, Malaysia, Japan, and the United States.
However, the national airline is not adapting quickly enough to this growth, with delays in expanding its aircraft fleet. Therefore, the task was set to organize the procurement system on a special basis, make prompt decisions on fleet expansion, and introduce international practices in these processes.
The president emphasized that all opportunities exist to turn Tashkent into a major aviation hub in Central Asia. This requires coordinating cooperation between Uzbekistan Airways, Uzbekistan Airports, and the New Tashkent airport on a unified system, developing infrastructure, routes, and transit network in an interconnected manner.
Officials were instructed to launch a separate project office for systematic transformation of enterprises in the National Investment Fund's portfolio, attract specialists with knowledge of international financial market requirements and practical experience to company management bodies, develop a clear IPO preparation schedule for each enterprise, and strictly monitor its implementation.
Source: www.gazeta.uz