Sustainable Fitch Affirms Qazaqstan Investment Corporation JSC’s ESG Entity Rating at ‘3’

         Sustainable Fitch has affirmed Qazaqstan Investment Corporation JSC’s (QIC, a subsidiary of JSC NMH Baiterek) ESG Entity Rating at ‘3’ and increased its entity score to 60 from 59.

         This reflects the continued development of QIC’s sustainability strategy and increased transparency in non-financial disclosures.  

         QIC makes private equity investments into funds and projects, with a mandate to finance and provide financial support for Kazakhstan’s non-energy sector, diversifying the economy and promoting sustainable development.

         The overall environmental impact of QIC’s business activity is derived from its investments into various economic sectors. Positively, QIC is increasing investments in green, mainly renewable energy, projects. As of 2023, the green projects’ value reached KZT17.4 billion (USD38.1 million), representing 9.2% of the total investment portfolio, slightly up from 9% in 2022.

         QIC’s significant exposure to SMEs drives economic growth and provides employment opportunities. QIC’s investments in SMEs cover sectors such as healthcare and education. Investment policy of QIC prohibits investments in sectors such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling and weapons production.  

         Sustainable Fitch positively assessed QIC’s governance profile due to its robust board structure with three independent directors out of six.

         QIC’s core business supports multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably goals 2 (zero hunger), 3 (good health and well-being), 7 (affordable and clean energy) and 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure).

         More details here.

References:

Qazaqstan Investment Corporation JSC – is a private equity fund, established in 2007. Its main mission is to develop private equity and venture capital financing in Kazakhstan in order to promote sustainable economic development of the country. It is a subsidiary organization of Baiterek NMH JSC. More information can be found at https://qic.kz/ru.

Sustainable Fitch's ESG Ratings offer a global solution to assess Environmental, Social and Governance performance of all asset classes at an entity, framework and instrument level, helping the ESG financial community make better, informed decisions. It has developed a modular analysis framework, enabling it to provide a Second Party Opinion (SPO) and a monitored suite of ESG Ratings including Entity Rating, Framework Rating and Instrument Rating.

ESG Ratings indicate an entity’s performance, commitment, and integration of environmental and social considerations into its business, strategy and management, and the effectiveness of governance. The ratings are provided on a scale of ‘1’ to ‘5’, with ‘1’ being best and ‘5’ the worst.