Kenes Rakishev climbed one line adding 280 million to his portfolio

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The collapse of oil and gas prices, geopolitical unrest and the pandemic caused by the worst virus in a century — all this dealt a heavy blow to traditional business. But not all investors and businessmen in Kazakhstan were affected by it so much. Some managed to save capital and even increase it. Among them is venture capitalist Kenes Rakishev, Forbes reports.

Kenes Rakishev, who rose only one line, from 7th to 6th place, but at the same time added $280 million to his fortune: it was $610 million, it became $890 million. Rakishev's assets include 100% of Fincraft Group LLP, where 29% of BTA Bank JSC was transferred as a contribution to the authorized capital (68.8% went into trust management without transfer of ownership rights). In addition, in July 2019, Rakishev sold 22.5% of the Russian gold mining company Petropavlovsk to Roman Trotsenko, a member of the Russian Forbes list. Kazakhstani businessman plans to return to Russian gold mining and is considering purchasing three far Eastern mines.

This year, the publication of the rating of the richest businessmen in Kazakhstan was postponed from May to October – in the spring, uncertainty was high and it was not clear how the pandemic would affect the global and domestic economy. Everything, however, turned out to be better than it could have been, especially for big businesses and some industries like gold mining and telecommunications. Nevertheless, the total wealth of Kazakhstan's top 50 decreased by $3.62 billion to $25.08 billion. That lead to massive reshuffle: those who relied on high-tech and diversified business benefited from the slump. Kenes Rakishev is exactly in this pack.

Billionaires lost one club member and $3.7 billion in a year. In the last year their total wealth was $16.4 billion, this year it is $12.7 billion. The average net worth was $501.7 million, down from the previous rating by $72.3 million. Thus, the pandemic and the fall in commodity prices have pushed large Kazakh businesses five years back, when the combined wealth of the top 50 was $25.52 billion.

With a fortune of $ 890 million, Kenes Rakishev is ranked sixth in the Forbes ranking.

Kenes Rakishev owns 50% of Fincraft investment house JSC (former BTA securities JSC), 95.85% of Fincraft Resources JSC (former SAT & Company), 100% of Fincraft Group LLP (former Novacom Corporation LLP), a stake in Standard Insurance company JSC and 18.3% of NetElement fintech company, whose shares are traded on Nasdaq.

In past Kenes Rakishev owned 98.19% of BTA Bank JSC. Since 2015, BTA Bank does not have a banking license, but it owned banks of the same name in Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Ukraine. In 2019, 93.21% of BTA Bank CJSC in Kyrgyzstan was sold and its subsidiary BTA Moscow LLC was registered. In June 2020, 29% of BTA Bank JSC was transferred to Fincraft Group LLP as a contribution to the authorized capital, and 68.79% was transferred to trust management without transfer of ownership rights. Kenes Rakishev manages assets of the bank.

Kenes Rakishev is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fincraft Resources JSC. He is the chairman of the of the Association of young entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken" national trade chamber. Kenes Rakishev is known as co-founder of the first private charity fund in Kazakhstan. Kenes Rakishev is active investor in high-tech startups in robotics, AI and decentralized computations.