Door opens for Citic purchase

The Kazakhstan government has decided it is no longer interested in buying the country's fifth-largest oil producer Karazhanbasmunai, opening the way for China International Trust&Investment Corporation (Citic) to complete the buyout deal with Karazhanbasmunai's owner, Canada's Nations Energy, writes Vladimir Afanasiev.

China's Xinhua news agency reported on 30 December that Citic and Nations Energy closed the transaction, without giving any further details.

In October, Nations Energy said it had reached a preliminary deal with Citic to sell it the 96.4% stake in Karazhanbasmunai for $1.9 billion.

However, Kazakh authorities said in November that they needed to investigate the deal to determine whether the government should use its pre-emptive right to buy the stake in Karazhanbasmunai.

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Door opens for Citic purchase