When the Kazakh government combined its industrial holding company Samruk with Kazyna, its investment fund for economic diversification, in October 2008, it created a sovereign wealth fund modelled on Singapore's Temasek. Within four months, however, this had been transformed into the bailout vehicle for the stricken Kazakh banking sector, taking stakes of just under 25% in Halyk Bank and Kazkommertsbank (KKB), and taking control at BTA Bank and Alliance Bank.
The resulting fund has charter capital of $25bn, and an asset base equivalent to 70% of Kazakhstan's gross domestic product (GDP). The extra responsibilities stretched Samruk-Kazyna's management capabilities, especially when BTA's creditors called for a repayment acceleration on the bank's Eurobonds in April 2009.
