Air Astana JSC has completed the first phase of its share buyback program, which was launched on April 30, 2024, according to information released by the group of companies on February 18.
“During this phase, over 4.6 million shares were acquired for a total of $8.2 million to support employee incentive programs. The first transfer of shares to employees took place on February 17, 2025,” the press service of the national airline specified.
The Air Astana group began implementing its buyback program for common shares and GDRs from the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) and the Astana International Exchange (AIX) on April 30, 2024, as mentioned earlier. Initially, Air Astana announced a buyback of up to 4,786,800 shares, representing approximately 1.3% of the total number of issued securities for a total not exceeding $12 million (including additional costs).
In May 2024, the airline reported that, in accordance with the board of directors' decision, the program was expanded to include the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in addition to KASE and AIX.
Just a month later, in June, Air Astana announced an increase in the limit on the volume of securities purchased under the buyback program. “Due to the extremely low liquidity on KASE and AIX and considering full compliance with applicable legislation on preventing market abuse, the company announces that the buyback of shares and GDRs on KASE and AIX within the framework of the program may amount to, but will not exceed 50% of the average daily trading volume of shares or GDRs, respectively, on the exchange where the buyback is conducted,” Air Astana stated at that time.
It was initially stated that the buyback would occur in several phases. It was expected that the first part of the program would be completed no later than February 8, 2025.
Recall that on February 15, 2024, Air Astana completed its initial public offering simultaneously on three platforms: the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, Astana International Exchange, and the London Stock Exchange. The total size of the IPO transaction was approximately $370 million.
As of February 18, 2025, Air Astana shares are trading on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange at an average of 722.74 tenge per share. At the time of the IPO, the price per share was 1073.83 tenge.
According to the press service of Air Astana, the decision on dividend payments for the 2024 financial year will be considered by the group at the annual general meeting of shareholders, which will take place no later than May 31, 2025. According to the airline's dividend policy, the amount of dividends to be paid shall not exceed 20% of net profit.
As of January 1, 2025, 41% of Air Astana's shares were owned by the Samruk-Kazyna fund, 16.97% by Bae Systems (Kazakhstan) Limited, 6.51% by the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund, and the remaining shares were distributed among minority shareholders.