At an SCMP Live panel in Astana, representatives of AIX, HKEX, Alem Capital Management and Gobi Partners discussed how Central Asian companies could connect with international capital, and what a more diversified route beyond traditional resource and trade links might require.
Central Asia sits between China, Russia, Europe and the Middle East and has long been viewed through the Silk Road, natural resources and trade routes.
For Kazakhstan today, another question is emerging: how can companies in the region connect more directly with international capital?
That question framed โCapital Pathways for Central Asia โ Dual Listings, RMB Funding, Private Capital and the Astana-Hong Kong Route.โ Speakers included Assel Mukazhanova of AIX, Johnson Chui of HKEX, Askar Bilisbekov of Alem Capital Management and Thomas G. Tsao of Gobi Partners, with SCMPโs Eugene Tang moderating.
Why Kazakhstan Is Looking Outward
For Assel Mukazhanova, the starting point is companiesโ financing needs.
โI think the most important thing is that we look at the needs of our clients,โ the AIX chief executive said, referring to companies seeking to raise capital internationally.
Investment banks are central to that process, Mukazhanova said, because they know investorsโ appetite and can help companies choose which market to approach.
Kazakhstanโs natural-resource base creates financing demand that the domestic market cannot necessarily meet, pushing AIX to seek links with other financial centres.
โWe would like to connect with as many financial centers as possible,โ Mukazhanova said.
Interest in Hong Kong was visible at the event, where companies were exploring its stock market as one possible route to international capital.
Regulatory Familiarity and Private Capital
Thomas G. Tsao argued that Hong Kong could give frontier-market companies greater investor confidence.
Comparing the situation with an earlier generation of Chinese startups, Tsao said, โIt was like why in the old days a lot of Chinese startups wanted to list on Nasdaq. It was because of the perceived and actual regulatory standards.โ
He sees a similar effect potentially emerging around Hong Kong: โI think right now Hong Kong Stock Exchangeโฆ they raise the bar. And so I think for Kazakhstan startups, going to Hong Kong, there is that halo.โ
For investors unfamiliar with a startupโs jurisdiction, that familiarity can matter. Tsao said Hong Kong can make companies easier to approach because โpeople are more familiarโ with its regulatory regime.
Askar Bilisbekov brought the private-market perspective. Alem Capital Management is running two funds, including a venture capital fund investing in funds regionally and globally, and plans an infrastructure fund.
โMy space is venture capital, private,โ Bilisbekov said, noting that he was not yet focused on the IPO space.
Together, the comments pointed to a financing landscape in which private funds, investment banks and public markets can serve different stages of a companyโs growth.
People and Cross-Border Networks
Tsao also pointed to people, not only markets, as a source of connectivity. He described Central Asiaโs younger generation as a โvery young, dynamic, mobile-first, digital-native population that’s ready to go.โ
He said young people in the region can โseamlessly interface with Russiaโ and often move between different cultural and business environments.
Tsao added that many speak English and Chinese, are familiar with China and Hong Kong, and have studied in the West. He sees that cross-border fluency as an advantage for companies working across major markets.
He posed the question directly: โWhere else in the world can you find a young population, highly educated, that can interface with the four biggest opportunities on the planet?โ
For technology investors, the question is whether Central Asian entrepreneurs can turn that mobility into companies that can operate across major markets. Tsao believes many can.
That cross-border ability fits Gobi Partnersโ investment philosophy.
โAt Gobi, we always believe in a very common saying, which is smaller borders, bigger opportunities,โ Tsao said.
Tsao illustrated Gobiโs Asian investment map with animals for different regions, with the snow leopard representing Central Asia.
He said Gobi was trying to build connectivity across Asia around the idea of โsmaller borders, bigger opportunities.โ
For Gobi, Central Asiaโs appeal lies partly in entrepreneurs, technology and capital moving across markets.
Tsao reframed the regionโs Silk Road role for the technology era: โIn the old days, centuries ago, the Silk Road ran through the Gobi Desert. In the future, we hope the Digital Silk Road runs through Gobi.โ
For Tsao, the Digital Silk Road was a way to describe how technology and capital could connect Central Asia more closely with investors and technology ecosystems across Asia.
For Kazakhstan, however, those connections still depend on whether companies can meet the requirements of each market and find investors for a specific stage of growth.
What a Capital Bridge Still Requires
During the audience Q&A, someone asked whether growing Chinese capital in Central Asia, particularly in mining, could create concentration risk.
A panelist responded that access through Hong Kong could broaden the range of investors and industries available to Central Asian companies, rather than concentrating funding in a single sector or source.
The discussion treated Hong Kong as a route into a wider international financial market, rather than as a single-source funding channel.
The panel sketched several routes to international capital: private funds, investment banks, AIX links with other financial centres and Hong Kongโs capital markets.
For venture investors such as Gobi, the story starts earlier, with founders who can build across borders.
For those founders, the appeal of the Astana-Hong Kong route is practical: access to investors who understand their businesses and can support their expansion. It connects the financing needs Mukazhanova described with the cross-border ambitions Tsao sees in the regionโs entrepreneurs.