By Philip Stafford, FT.com site
Kazakhstan Kagazy, the paper and packaging and property developer, is set to raise $350m (£150m) for its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange this week.
The company said shares, in the form of global depository receipts (GDRs), will be offered at between $7.50 and $9.50 per share.
The fundraising exceeded Kagazy's initial plans to raise around $300m and the figure could rise to $402m if an over-allotment option is exercised in full.
The price will give Kagazy, which is Central Europe's largest producer of paper, a market capitalisation of between $650m and $750m. Among its other assets include Peak, a subsidiary company with some 500 hectares of real estate outside the Kazakh capital Almaty.
The offering includes $275m worth of primary shares to be issued by Kagazy as well as the sale of $75 million worth of shares offered by some of its main shareholders.
The shares are majority-owned by Maksat Arip, chief executive, and Baglan Zhunussov, chairman. "The offering on the London Stock Exchange will help us strengthen our position as a major industrial group in Kazakhstan with a diversified set of interests in paper and industrial real estate, broaden our investor base and fulfil our set of objectives, " said Mr Zhunussov.
Kagazy is the latest of a number of fast-growing companies from the Central Asian republic coming to London in search of capital and a higher international profile. The country has one of the region's fastest-growing economies with a banking system more developed than that of its neighbours, Russia and Ukraine. Most companies have opted for a secondary GDR listing instead of a primary listing of shares as the legal requirements are less onerous.
Kazakhmys is the only company from the region to have a primary listing although another mining group, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, is considering a primary listing in London.
A depositary receipt represents ownership of a number of a company's shares and can be listed and traded - in a different jurisdiction - independently of the underlying stock.
ING is the global co-ordinator, bookrunner and lead manager.