Fifteen companies express interest in buying Mobiuz

Open bidding began in June this year. KPMG and Rothschild & Co were engaged as strategic and financial advisors, and over a two-month period they held talks with more than 100 potential investors.

According to the agency, by the deadline – 1 August 2025, 18:00 (Tashkent time) – the advisors had received expressions of interest from 15 companies (both foreign and local) based in the United States, Europe, Arab states, the Middle East, the South Caucasus, East Asia, and Central Asia.

The applications were assessed against set criteria: sufficient financial capacity, absence of legal obstacles, compliance with anti–money laundering and counter–terrorism financing laws, absence from EU, US, and international financial institution sanctions lists, and non–state ownership status.

The applicants were recommended to proceed to the next stage of the tender – submission of non–binding offers.

The contenders will sign non–disclosure agreements, after which they will receive access to the information memorandum and other data about the asset. The consultants will accept non–binding offers until 15 October 2025, 23:59 (Tashkent time).

Privatization of Mobiuz

Mobiuz is Uzbekistan’s fourth–largest mobile operator. According to BMI (a Fitch Solutions unit), by the end of last year the country’s mobile market had 35.6 million subscribers, with Mobiuz accounting for 20.9% of the market.

In 2024, Mobiuz recorded a net profit of $164 million and an EBITDA of $41 million.

Plans for the company’s privatization were announced in June 2025, when preliminary interest was expressed by investors from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Europe.

In July, Bloomberg reported that the government of Uzbekistan planned to raise $300 million from the privatization of Mobiuz. The State Assets Management Agency did not directly comment on this, but published key points from the article on its channel.

Kun.uz sent a number of questions to the Agency for State Asset Management about this privatization but did not receive answers for nearly a month:

• What was the purpose of publishing the key points of Bloomberg’s article?
• Is the indicative valuation of Mobiuz, according to the agency, $300 million or higher?
• Are there any additional strategic conditions beyond those listed in the official announcement of 9 June (investment in modernization, service quality, job retention, etc.)?
• What exactly is the role of Rothschild & Co in the privatization?
• How is the 2013 situation involving MTS, confiscation, and nationalization explained during talks with foreign investors?