INTERVIEW-Kazakh's Ordabasy seeks investors, fresh capital

By Mariya Gordeyeva

ALMATY, April 23 (Reuters) - Kazakh oil-to-machinery group Ordabasy Corporation JSC ORDB.KZ wants to focus on its core business by selling assets to foreign investors, and plans a $500 million Eurobond next year, its chairman said on Wednesday.

Companies in Kazakhstan, Central Asia's biggest economy, are keen to dispose of non-core assets to raise cash and offset the painful effects of the global liquidity squeeze on the domestic economy.

Ordabasy Chairman Dinmukhamet Idrisov told Reuters his company, which had previously sought to branch out into various sectors to raise its profile, has now singled out oil, electricity and petrochemicals as core businesses.

"We plan to issue a Eurobond for $500 million in 2009," he said. To raise additional money for its core projects, Ordabasy plans to sell Amanat, a medium-sized insurance company, he said.

"We have been in talks with Ingosstrakh about the sale of our insurance business," he said, referring to Russia's second-largest insurance company.

Ordabasy is still a small player on the Kazakh market. Last year it produced 475,000 tonnes of crude (about 3.5 million barrels), compared with Kazakhstan's total output was 67.5 million tonnes in 2007.

Ordabasy will seek foreign investment to expand its energy business, Idrisov said.

"We have three oil fields, two of which are already producing oil," he said. "We want to sell up to 50 percent in each of these (operating) companies to foreign investors."