Kazakhstan to sell oil, power firms from 2012

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Kazakhstan will put oil companies, miners, and power firms up for sale in a major privatization drive which could start next year, the head of the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund said in an interview on Thursday.

The fund, which manages $70 billion of assets including national oil firm KazMunaiGas (KMG) KMG.UL, told Reuters it is planning to raise funds in an initial public offering dubbed the 'people's IPO'.

"We are talking about our main companies in oil and gas, electricity grid, energy generation and mining companies. During the first quarter of this year we will give our proposal to government and then it will be a political decision," National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna CEO Kairat Kelimbetov told Reuters Insider.

"I think it (the privatization) could start next year."

In October 2010, Kelimbetov told Reuters in London the wealth fund could sell 10-20 percent of KMG in a 2011 IPO, only to row back a couple of weeks later, saying there were no near-term plans to dispose of the oil major.

Central Asia's largest economy, which has faster growth than neighboring Russia, is benefiting from high oil prices and, with vast untapped reserves, is likely to attract investors.

"In the last 10 years it (investment into Kazakhstan) was close to $100 billion. I think it will be more or less close to this number in the next 10 years," Kelimbetov said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that the gathering could offer good opportunities for new deals.

"We need huge investment into the development of oil and gas, mining and uranium, we need huge foreign direct investment into Kazakhstan and we are looking for it," he said.

(Writing by Toni Vorobyova; Editing by David Cowell)