Samruk-Kazyna and Oman Investment Authority plan $150 million joint fund
The sovereign investors agreed to set up the vehicle by the end of 2026 on a parity basis, alongside an oil and gas framework between KazMunayGas and OQ.
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Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund, and the Oman Investment Authority plan to set up a joint fund with total capital of $150 million at the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) by the end of 2026, Samruk-Kazyna said on 6 October.
The two signed an agreement to establish a joint investment structure. The fund will be capitalised on a parity basis, the statement says, which implies $75 million from each side. It will invest in joint projects, primarily in Kazakhstan and Oman; The Astana Times described it as a dedicated mechanism to finance bilateral investment initiatives. The documents were signed in the presence of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during the state visit to Astana of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said.
What else the sovereign investors signed
The fund was one of several agreements involving Samruk-Kazyna's group. Its oil and gas company KazMunayGas signed a framework agreement with OQ Exploration and Production New Ventures LLC, which the fund's statement says provides a basis for identifying and assessing potential investment opportunities in the oil and gas sector in Kazakhstan, Oman and other countries.
The Astana Times reported that Samruk-Kazyna and the Oman Investment Authority also signed an agreement on the key terms of a joint project called Blue City Rixos, and that Nurlan Zhakupov, who heads Samruk-Kazyna, said the KazMunayGas agreement was intended to support the joint implementation of oil and gas projects in both countries. The newspaper described the KazMunayGas document as a strategic cooperation agreement in geological exploration. Neither document's financial terms were disclosed in the reports reviewed.
The same report said the wider package signed during the visit covered investment protection, air services, finance, energy, geological exploration and business cooperation, and included an agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments and a memorandum of understanding between the two finance ministries.
A Gulf shareholder for the Eurasian Development Bank
A separate agreement brings Oman into the Eurasian Development Bank. The EDB and Oman's Ministry of Finance signed an agreement on the terms of the bank's presence in Oman on 6 October, the bank said. The Astana Times reported that Oman is set to become the EDB's eighth shareholder and its first member state from the Gulf region, and quoted the bank's chairman, Nikolai Podguzov, as saying the agreement would strengthen ties between Central Asia and the Gulf.
The national chamber of entrepreneurs, Atameken, and the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry also agreed to set up a Kazakhstan-Oman Business Council, the newspaper reported, naming tourism, digitalisation and artificial intelligence, agriculture, energy, mining, construction and logistics as areas of interest. It added that Kazakh businesses view Oman as a potential gateway to markets in the Gulf, South Asia and East Africa.
What the fund announcement leaves open
The announcement describes a plan rather than a launched fund. The Samruk-Kazyna statement does not name a manager, set out an investment period or target return, list sectors, or say how investment decisions will be governed between the two shareholders. It also does not say whether the vehicle will be registered under the AIFC's own fund rules or whether outside investors will be invited to join.
Those details will matter to any co-investor. A parity structure gives each sponsor an equal economic stake, and the documents published so far do not describe how votes, board seats or vetoes will be divided between the two. Nor do they say whether the fund's projects will draw on the Blue City Rixos terms or the KazMunayGas framework, or stand apart from them.
The Astana Times framed the package as part of Kazakhstan's effort to broaden the geographic base of its foreign investment beyond its traditional partners. Samruk-Kazyna said the agreements signed provide a foundation for further expanding investment and business cooperation between the two countries.