Assel Mukazhanova appointed as Acting Chief Executive Officer of the AIX

Astana International Exchange (“AIX”, “Exchange”) is pleased to announce that Assel Mukazhanova was appointed as Acting Chief Executive Officer of the AIX from 16 January, 2023. Previous CEO of the AIX, Renat Bekturov, was appointed as the Governor of the Astana International Financial Centre by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan on 6 January, 2023.

Assel Mukazhanova has been successfully working for the AIX since December 2017 as Head of Public Issuers and from October 2022 – as Chief Markets and Products Officer, and member of the Exchange’s Management and Executive Committees. She was in charge of the Markets divisions: Retail investors, Mining, Public Issuers, Belt&Road Initiative, Product Development.

Tim Bennett, Chairman of the AIX’s Board of Directors, stated:

“I would like to thank Renat for the outstanding contribution he has made to AIX for the last two years, which were challenging but yet fruitful for the Exchange. AIX looks forward to working with him as he leads the development of the AIFC to the next level to bring more investment and financial benefits to the economy of Kazakhstan. Assel Mukazhanova is well known in the market as a high professional who is sincerely interested in advancing the capital market and we are grateful to her for her willingness to take on the role of Acting CEO.”

Assel Mukazhanova, Acting CEO of the AIX, noted:

“First of all, I would like to assure all AIX partners and stakeholders that we will continue to make every effort to contribute to further development of the market. My special thanks to the Board of Directors represented by Tim Bennett and Renat Bekturov for their trust in me. I believe that thanks to the leadership of Tim and Renat as well as the work of the entire AIX team for today AIX is an accomplished and successful project. One of the key targets for us will be to maintain the drive to innovations and development – huge work was done, more to come!”

Assel Mukazhanova had started her career back in 1992 in Foreign Operations of Bank Turan. She has more than 25 years of experience in the financial and banking services industry and before joining AIFC/AIX, Assel held a role of Executive Director at JSC “Kazkommertsbank” focused on international banking, capital markets, investor relations, M&A and strategy issues.

Mrs. Mukazhanova has a great experience of working with the international business community being deeply involved into various milestone fund raising transactions including but not limited to syndicated loans, Eurobonds, securitization, private placements. She played a leading role in M&A transactions in the past and has been working on strategy development projects. Assel has been taking active part in pre-IPO transactions with strategic investors followed by one of the first international IPOs from Kazakhstan as well as the recently done IPO of NC JSC “Kazmunaygas”.

Assel graduated from the Kazakh Academy of Management with a degree in International Business and she also followed executive academics at London and Harvard Business schools.

Appointment of Assel Mukazhanova as Acting CEO is a subject to approval by the Astana Financial Services Authority.

Reference:

AIX was formed in 2017 within the Astana International Financial Centre development framework. AIX shareholders are AIFC, Goldman Sachs, the Shanghai stock exchange, the silk Road Fund, and NASDAQ, which also provides the AIX trading platform. The exchange operates within a regulatory environment based on the principles of English Law, thus providing a reliable investment environment. The mission of AIX is to develop an active capital market in Kazakhstan and the region by providing clear and favorable conditions for attracting financing to private and public businesses. AIX develops special segments for mining companies as well as infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road initiative. More details: www.aix.kz

The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is an independent jurisdiction that started operations in 2018. In accordance with the Development Strategy until 2025, the key focus of the AIFC is to consolidate as a universal platform connecting the countries of the EAEU, Central Asia and the Caucasus. www.aifc.kz