Nations sale marks the end of an era
Saidenov: Kazakhstan faces up to the down side of rapid growth
WHEN CITIC GROUP snapped up Nations Energy of Kazakhstan for $1.9 billion in December 2006, the deal was both a coup for the Chinese conglomerate and an indication of the increasingly frenzied attempts of foreign companies to grab assets in leading energy-producing countries.
Not only had resources-to-banking-to-construction conglomerate Citic beaten all of China’s leading oil and gas majors to land the Canadian-owned oil producer – in itself an eyebrow-raising event, but more intriguingly, the Beijing-based company’s all-cash bid was not the highest offer. Nations Energy’s shareholders were approached with several higher tenders but chose Citic because it was able to stump up the cash in a matter of days.
Citic’s competitors in the chase for Nations Energy reads like a who’s who of the world’s up-and-coming...
