Assets Worth Tens Of Billions: How The “Legacy” Of Bank Of Astana Is Managed

City Transportation Systems LLP (CTS) has put 53 land plots in Astana up for sale. All of these assets are part of the "legacy" of the defunct Bank of Astana, Orda.kz reports.

All the plots are located in the Nura district, but vary in purpose — from private construction to agricultural use. Their prices range from several dozen to several hundred million tenge.

The total value of the land amounts to 11.7 billion tenge.

A land plot in Burabay valued at 228 million tenge has also been listed for sale. CTS won it in court from Sortey Land Firm, which was itself a debtor of Bank of Astana.

The transport company is also selling non-residential premises in Astana for 25 million tenge, and nearly 16 hectares of land in Aqtau for 815 million tenge.

We previously reported on these auctions, highlighting examples of assets put up for sale. The state property auction site lists dozens of lots belonging to CTS. Among them: a production base in Almaty (145 million tenge), premises for a restaurant in Almaty (873 million tenge), an unfinished residential complex in Astana (3.7 billion tenge), 11 parking spaces in Astana (15.7 million tenge), and the Finngrad plant in St. Petersburg (9.8 billion tenge).

Formerly known as Astana LRT, City Transportation Systems kept $257.6 million — allocated for the construction of the city’s elevated metro — in Bank of Astana, which collapsed shortly after former president Nursultan Nazarbayev announced it was insolvent.

The bank began repaying clients with various assets, including land, real estate, and business shares. Based on the full list of sales, CTS inherited about 32 billion tenge in illiquid assets from the bank.

Debts

CTS itself remains deeply in debt by roughly 11 billion tenge. According to its financial report published on the AIX exchange, the municipal company ended the first half of 2025 with a loss of 11.4 billion tenge.

Operating profit was negative 598.7 million tenge.

For the first half of 2025, the company recorded a total loss of 11.5 billion tenge, bringing accumulated losses to 225 billion tenge. At the same time, CTS was recapitalized with 561 billion tenge through budget injections under the New Transport System program.

As of June 30, 2025, unfinished construction amounted to 363.6 billion tenge.

• Cash: 4.9 billion tenge (up from 3.6 billion at the start of the year)
• Loans: 16.6 billion tenge issued to China Railway Asia-Europe Construction Invest, one of the key LRT contractors
• Accounts receivable: 66.4 billion tenge, including old transferred claims (55.5 billion tenge) and debts from bus depots
• Fixed assets: 9.3 billion tenge, declining due to depreciation and asset sales
• Intangible assets: 661 million tenge

According to the report, the company survives on subsidies and state guarantees.

With accumulated losses at 225 billion tenge, the LRT project remains its biggest risk: vast sums are tied up in unfinished construction, financed through loans and government guarantees, with repayment still uncertain.

Original Author: Ilya Astakhov