Uzbekistan Further Simplifies Its Privatization Procedures

The President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has signed Resolution No. PP-4381 dated July 1, 2019 (the "Resolution"), which is aimed, inter alia, at further simplifying privatization procedures. The Resolution recognizes that public assets are often valued at exorbitant prices because of the lack of unified practices on their evaluation, which leads to delays in privatization and necessitates step-by-stop lowering of prices.

In this regard, the Resolution provides for the simplification of privatization procedures by allowing the following:

Public assets may be sold at a price below the nominal value if public bidding leads to the reduction of the price below such a value; State-owned stakes in certain companies (the list of such companies is expected to be approved by the government) may be sold in the absence of pre-emptive rights of other shareholders through public bidding. The opening price shall be determined according to the net asset value as of January 1, 2019, based on the company's audited balance sheet; Investors may pay for the state-owned shares in national currency (i.e. Uzbekistani som) from their accounts at the clearing houses of commodity exchanges and from Loro accounts opened at Uzbekistani banks; Underwriters may operate without providing an auditor's report; Professional securities market participants may operate without providing a certificate of their education. Moreover, the Resolution authorizes the Agency for Public Assets Management and state-owned enterprises...