Kazakh Central Bank Seeks Private Equity and Hedge-Fund Managers

Kazakhstan’s central bank will select private equity fund-of-fund managers and fund-of-hedge-fund managers to place as much as $300 million as the Central Asian nation plans its first alternative investments.

The tender requirements stipulate that potential private- equity managers must have $5 billion or more in assets and at least ten years of investment experience, the Almaty-based central bank said in e-mailed statements today. Prospective hedge-fund managers must have five years of experience as well as $5 billion or more under management. The approximate size of both mandates is $50 million to $150 million, and applications close by the end of this month.

Since establishing the National Oil Fund in 2000, Kazakhstan has set aside $58 billion of oil profits to preserve wealth for the country’s future generations and protect the economy from external shocks. The fund is now seeking to boost returns in higher-yielding investments by diversifying into new asset classes.

The central bank said private equity fund-of-funds will be permitted to invest in mezzanine, primary and secondary private- equity funds, with their strategies limited to growth capital, special situations and buyouts. Funds of hedge fund strategies were limited to global macro, event-driven, credit, long/short equity, multi-strategy, fixed-income arbitrage and managed futures.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jason Corcoran in Moscow at jcorcoran13@bloomberg.net; Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty at ngizitdinov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net