Kenes Rakishev

Kenes Rakishev (born 1979, Keńes Hamıtuly Raqyshev) or Kenges, is a Kazakh businessperson who is close to the authoritarian regime in Kazakhstan.

He is the son-in-law of former Kazakh Prime Minister, Imangali Tasmagambetov.

Rakishev was born on July 14, 1979.

His father is Kazakh statesman Khamit Rakishev, who was the head of Kazakhstan's Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Rakishev is married to Aselle Tasmagambetova, daughter of Kazakh politician and diplomat Imangali Tasmagambetov.

Rakishev was head of marketing for KazTransGas and Intergas Central Asia and an advisor for the Kazakhstan Interior Ministry and Department of Education.

He has been chairman of Net Element, and SAT & Company.

In 2004, Rakishev was elected as the vice-president of National Sports Association of Kazakhstan.

In 2009, Rakishev headed the Almaty city branch of Kazakhstan Boxing Federation and in 2010 was elected as its vice-president.

In 2012, Rakishev invested $20 million in a social media platform for sharing photos and videos called Mobli.

He became a member of the company's board.

In 2014, Rakishev joined the board of directors of JSC National Company "Kazakhstan Engineering", a large holding combining 27 enterprises of the defensive industry and munitions factories of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

He left the board one year later, upon the appointment of Imangali Tasmagambetov as the new Minister of Defence.

Rakishev was ranked the fifth most influential businessman in Kazakhstan and the seventh richest person in Kazakhstan by Forbes Kazakhstan's annual ranking.

In 2014, Rakishev obtained a stake in BTA Bank from the Kazakh government, after the Kazakh dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev temporarily nationalized the bank.

Nazarbayev had seized BTA Bank from Kazakhstani billionaire and pro-democracy activist Mukhtar Ablyazov, who feuded with Nazarbayev.

Rakishev obtained a controlling stake in the company.

The main assets of the company were its claims against Ablyazov, estimated at $6 billion.

On February 6, 2014, JSC Kazkommertsbank and Kenes Rakishev reached a final agreement to acquire 46.5% of the shares of JSC BTA Bank each from JSC National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna.

The acquisition and subsequent merger of BTA and KKB were expected to create the largest universal bank in the region.

On February 14, 2014, Rakishev became the new chairman of Kazakhstan-based BTA Bank's board of directors.

The decision was made during an unscheduled meeting of the bank's shareholders.

In 2015, Rakishev controlled over 75% of SAT & Company's shares.

Rakishev is involved with venture funds such as SingulariTeam and Fastlane Ventures.

He was the controlling shareholder of the Kazakh commercial bank JSC "Kazkommertsbank" and the bank's chairman of the board of directors.

He is a shareholder of the Central Asia Metals PLC mining company.

In 2015, Rakishev bought Sedmoi Kanal (Channel Seven), a Kazakhstan national TV channel.

On January 19, 2015, by the decision of JSC Kazkommertsbank shareholders, Rakishev was elected as the new member of the board of directors.

In March 2015 he became the largest shareholder of JSC Kazkommertsbank, controlling the 16.02% of the shares by acquiring 127,777,704 of the ordinary shares.

By the beginning of August 2015, Rakishev increased his stake in Kazkommertsbank to 28.67% and then announced the preliminary agreement with Alnair Capital Holding (another large shareholder of the bank, controlling 28.08% of shares) to combine their respective shareholdings in Kazkommertsbank.

As a result of the proposed transaction, Rakishev would acquire legal ownership over the parent entity of JSC Alnair Capital Holding, becoming its General Partner and, as such, would effectively acquire control over voting and other rights of Alnair's shareholding in Kazkommertsbank (controlling 56.75% of bank's shares in total).

On December 29, 2015, the deal was closed and Rakishev became Alnair Capital Holding's General Partner.

In April 2016 Rakishev significantly increased his stake in Kazkommertsbank by reaching agreement with Nurzhan Subkhanberdin and JSC Central Asian Investment Company (CAIC) on acquisition of common shares of the bank owned by Subkhanberdin and CAIC.

Under the terms of this transaction, Rakishev acquired 115,486,789 common shares from CAIC.

As a result, Rakishev's direct holding in KKB increased from 28.67% to 43.15%, and he directly and indirectly (through JSC Qazaq Financial Group) controls 71.23% of KKB common shares.

Soon after the deal announcement Rakishev was elected as the Kazkommertsbank's chairman of the board of directors.

In 2018, Kenes Rakishev acquired a 22% stake in the London-listed gold miner Petropavlovsk PLC.

He bought the stake from Viktor Vekselberg, who exited the company after a boardroom dispute with its founders.

Rakishev sold the stake in Petropavlovsk a year later to Roman Trotsenko having turned around the miner’s performance.

Forbes magazine has estimated Rakishev’s net worth to be $960 million.