The Bank of New York Mellon

Centil Law Firm acted as legal counsel to The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) in the IPO of the National Investment Fund of the Republic of Uzbekistan (UzNIF) – the first international IPO in the history of Uzbekistan.

Our team consisting of Partner Umid Aripdjanov, Counsel Diyor Islambekov, Associate Sultan Mamataliev, and Trainee Ilhom Eshkurbonov advised on this landmark transaction. Diyor Islambekov contributed to the legislative groundwork supporting the deal, including work on the new Capital Markets Law and input into the drafting of several Presidential Decrees.

The international tranche was structured through a Global Depositary Receipt program established with The Bank of New York Mellon as depositary, with each GDR representing 64,700 ordinary shares and priced at $25.00 per GDR. This GDR structure was central to enabling international institutional investors to gain exposure to Uzbek equity while the underlying shares remained listed in Tashkent – bridging the local and international markets in a single transaction.

UzNIF completed a dual listing on the London Stock Exchange and the Republican Stock Exchange "Toshkent", raising approximately $603.6 million at a valuation of around $1.95 billion. The offering attracted cornerstone commitments from leading global institutional investors, including funds managed by BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Redwheel.