Bulat Utemuratov

Bulat Zhamituly Utemuratov (also called Bolat, , Bolat Jamitūly Ötemūratov; born 13 November 1957) is a Kazakh businessman, public figure, diplomat and philanthropist.

Early life and education Utemuratov was born in 1957. His father worked in the judiciary and was a prosecutor, and his mother worked as an accountant. Utemuratov graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Almaty Institute of National Economy in 1981.

Career After Kazakhstan became an independent country in 1991, President Nursultan Nazarbayev selected Utemuratov to go to Vienna and find economic opportunities for the new republic. He helped broker Kazakhstan's first line of credit with Bank Creditanstalt. Subsequent reports suggested that Utemuratov and his family members made more than $1 billion from the sale. From 2003 to 2006 he was secretary of the security council and head of the presidential property management directorate from 2006 to 2008.

From 2008 to 2013, Utemuratov, was described as an "adviser to the president" and held a role as a special representative to Kyrgyzstan. This close relationship with Nazarbayev led to Utemuratov being given the nickname "the grey cardinal" in Kazakhstan. The Times quoted a spokeswoman for Utemuratov saying he: "is neither a middleman, nor proxy for President Nazarbayev" and that he had not profited from his relationship with the President.

Kassa Nova, formerly owned by Utemuratov, was established in 2009 and was acquired in 2020 by Freedom Holding Corp for an approximate $41 million.

After Samruk-Kazyna SWF closed a sale of its shares in Temirbank and part of its shares in Alliance Bank to Utemuratov in May 2014, ForteBank was created.

As of 2013, Utemuratov was a key investor of the projects managed by Verny Capital investment group, together with VEON he also owned two telecommunications operators –"KarTel" in Kazakhstan Utemuratov is the main shareholder of ForteBank; he owns the Burger King franchise in Kazakhstan and has holdings in hotel sector

Utemuratov is a tennis enthusiast, and has invested in development of the sport in the country. He is President of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation since 2007. In September 2019, Utemuratov was elected as ITF Vice-president.

Glencore In 2011, when Glencore the Swiss-based mining and commodities company, announced its initial public offering (IPO) in London, the company said that some of the proceeds would be used to buy back the Kazzinc Glencore's copper subsidiary shares held by Verny Capital. In 2012, Glencore bought the Kazzinc shares back from Verny Capital for $1.359 billion, including $400 million in cash and the rest in Glencore shares. In 2013, Glencore-controlled zinc producer Kazzinc, acquired the Vasilkovskoye gold mine in Kazakhstan from Verny Capital. As part of this transaction, Verny was given shares in Kazzinc, Kazakhstan.

In 2012, Glencore's Kazzinc subsidiary bought a 56% in a private school called Haileybury Astana for $23 million.

In 2013, Glencore gave a loan to Astana Property Management (APM), a company owned by Bulat Utemuratov via Verny Capital. The loan was to finance APM's construction of the Talan Towers hotel and apartment complex in Astana, Kazakhstan. Glencore loaned a total of $237 million to the project but the miner was forced to write off $96.5 million in 2018 after reported poor performance. Since that transaction, Utemuratov and Glencore have done several other deals together. In 2015, Glencore bought Utemuratov's Gulfstream private jet in an undisclosed transaction. The freezing injunction of the English Court in relation to the assets of Bulat Utemuratov was lifted in December 2020 following a settlement between the two parties. Utemuratov was one of 30 oligarchs and members of the Kazakh elite who, Hodge claimed, had benefited from their ties to the Nazarbayev regime. Hodge said: “Bulat Utemuratov is a former chief of staff to Nazarbayev. A US diplomatic cable reported allegations that Utemuratov was the president’s "personal financial manager" and his own website assesses his personal wealth at $3.9 billion.”

Personal life Utemuratov is married to Utemuratova (Baishuakova) Azhar Abzhamiyevna. He has two sons