The transfer of a 40% stake in the mining holding ERG to the Samruk-Kazyna fund may be linked to the company's need for financing, believes economist Arman Batayev, author of the Finmentor channel. In his view, the government could have used this asset to support the fund, and in the future, Samruk-Kazyna could list ERG and its other companies on the stock exchange, reports infohub.kz.
The expert notes that the stake transfer was done through a mutual offset without any cash movement: the government paid for a new issue of Samruk-Kazyna shares with ERG shares. Batayev suggests that the ERG stake will then be transferred to Tau-Ken Samruk, the fund's specialized mining company.
The main advantage for ERG is access to financing from Samruk-Kazyna. Previously, the State Property Committee of the Ministry of Finance had no way to directly finance the company from the budget. The fund, however, can raise funds on international capital markets and channel them to subsidiaries, including ERG, for investment projects or refinancing expensive loans.
Batayev emphasizes that ERG is currently significantly underfunded and has a high debt burden, including to Russian creditors. Samruk-Kazyna could help with debt refinancing and launching new projects. At the same time, ERG's problems become the fund's problems.
The expert also sees potential in monetizing the asset through the capital market. Samruk-Kazyna could conduct an IPO of ERG, as the holding was previously a public company. Additionally, the fund could create its own exchange-traded fund (ETF), including 10-20% stakes in mature portfolio companies such as ERG, Kazzinc, Kazakhtelecom, and Kcell, and list this ETF on the London or Hong Kong stock exchanges.
"Listing an ETF that would pool minority stakes in the largest portfolio companies would solve one of Samruk-Kazyna's key tasks: attracting significant capital to finance new investment projects without constantly increasing the debt burden," Batayev said.
According to the expert, the issue of privatizing Samruk-Kazyna's assets is serious, as the financing of the economy in a potential crisis depends on the holding's stability.
Earlier it was reported that the state stake in Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) was transferred to the management of Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund. In May 2026, ERG reported that Nature Energy Solutions Ltd., owned by Kazakhstani businessman Shakhmarat Mutalip, had bought a 39.3% stake in the mining group. The stake was acquired from Patokh Shodiyev, who owned 18.6% of ERG, and from the heirs of Alexander Mashkevich, who held 20.7% of ERG. Another 20.7% of ERG belongs to the Ibragimov family.