Kazatomprom shareholders fail to approve Uranium One deal on abstentions

Kazatomprom shareholders did not approve a contract to supply natural uranium to Uranium One Group because 88.34 per cent of voting shares abstained, the company said in an 8 October announcement. The same meeting approved a spot-term uranium sale to a Chinese buyer.

Two contracts, two outcomes

The meeting also replaced one of Samruk-Kazyna's representatives on the board. Absentee voting was counted on 7 October. Holders of 227,377,117 shares, or 99.21 per cent of the 229,197,526 voting shares, submitted ballots, the company said. Both contracts were put to the meeting as major transactions in which Kazatomprom has an interest. The 21 August notice said the meeting on those two items was convened at the initiative of the board of directors, by minutes dated 20 August.

The spot-term contract with State Nuclear Uranium Resource Development Company Limited (SNURDC) passed with 201,531,278 votes in favour (88.63 per cent), 14,757,296 against (6.49 per cent) and 11,088,543 withheld (4.88 per cent), the results table shows. The notice described SNURDC as a subsidiary of State Power Investment Corporation, with physical delivery to the Alashankou railway station in China.

The Uranium One contract drew 12,248,357 votes in favour (5.39 per cent), 14,261,586 against (6.27 per cent) and 200,867,174 withheld (88.34 per cent), the same table shows. Kazatomprom said the resolution was not approved because of the abstentions, and that a simple majority of votes was required. The notice described Uranium One as a group within the management framework of Rosatom and a shareholder in three Kazatomprom joint ventures, with delivery to the Siberian Chemical Plant in Russia. It said the pricing, volumes and delivery schedules of both contracts cannot be disclosed because of confidentiality terms.

The abstaining block of 200,867,174 shares was larger than Samruk-Kazyna's holding of 163,377,456 ordinary shares, which the notice gave, so on the published figures other holders also abstained. The announcement does not say who abstained, or whether the board will return the contract to shareholders.

An earlier meeting went the other way. Absentee voting summed up on 11 August approved a letter of agreement to the long-term contract of 7 November 2025 with China National Uranium Corporation Limited, with 92.11 per cent of votes in favour.

A new Samruk-Kazyna representative

On the third item, 218,883,137 votes (96.26 per cent) supported ending the powers of Yelzhas Otynshiyev and electing Zhandos Kairgeldi for the rest of the board's term as a representative of Samruk-Kazyna's interests, with 2,433,968 against (1.07 per cent) and 6,060,012 withheld (2.67 per cent), the announcement shows. The notice says Otynshiyev's powers end because he was appointed chairman of the management board of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, and Kairgeldi is co-managing director for strategy and asset management at Samruk-Kazyna. The item was put forward by Samruk-Kazyna under a decision of its management board dated 18 August.

The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange reported on 4 September that Samruk-Kazyna's board of directors had on 27 August removed Otynshiyev from the fund's management board and elected Kairgeldy, leaving that board with seven members. Kazatomprom's filings render the surname Kairgeldi, while the exchange notice gives Kairgeldy.

The board that remains

In June, shareholders re-elected seven directors with 89.36 per cent of votes in favour, 6.85 per cent against and 3.79 per cent withheld, and kept the board at eight seats with three-year terms. The seven were Arman Argingazin, chairman and independent director; independent directors Armanbay Zhubaev and Nodir Sidikov; Samruk-Kazyna representatives Saltanat Satzhan, Aidar Ryskulov and Otynshiyev; and chief executive Meirzhan Yussupov. One seat was left vacant, and the 8 October announcement does not mention it.

Kairgeldi's profile on the KazMunayGas website lists him as a Samruk-Kazyna representative on that company's board, elected by shareholders on 13 August 2026. It also lists a seat on the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy board from July 2026 and the chair of the QazaqGaz board from August 2026. Counting the Kazatomprom seat, that is four boards on the companies' own disclosures.

Kazatomprom describes itself in the announcement as the world's largest uranium producer, with attributable production of approximately 20 per cent of global primary uranium output in 2025, and says its securities are listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Astana International Exchange.