Bank Linked to Kazakh Leader Buys Kcell Stake After Share Slump

A financial group linked to Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, bought a stake in what was once the most expensive mobile operator in the post-Soviet equities universe, after the share price plunged by half this year.

Jusan Bank bought a 9.08% stake in Kcell offered by state-run Kazakhtelecom on the stock market, the lender’s spokesman Kuat Dombay said by phone Thursday. Earlier in the day, Kazakhtelecom said it was offering a 24% stake to “a wide range of investors in open trading” and would maintain controlling ownership. It wasn’t immediately clear who else acquired shares.