The controlling stake in Kvarts, the largest glass manufacturer in Uzbekistan, is now owned by the state again. This follows from the minutes of the extraordinary general shareholders meeting on March 19, published on the Openinfo.uz portal.
The State Assets Management Agency (SAMA) is now listed as the owner of 89.78% stake in the company.
This is the exact stake that was sold to Kuvasaycement in February 2023 for 265 billion soums. The deal included the full repayment by the buyer of the plant's loan obligations worth of 47.2 million euros.
At the meeting, the shareholders made a decision to early terminate the powers of the members of the company's supervisory board and approved new members of the supervisory board - from among officials of SAMA and the deputy chief of Uzsanoatqurilishmateriallari.
In addition, the shareholders approved the audit company Mezon Audit Perfect to conduct a financial audit of Kvarts for 2024. The maximum amount of the auditor's fee is set at 70 million soums. The same company conducted an audit of the enterprise for 2023.
At the moment, it is unknown whether the return of Kvarts under state control was the result of the cancellation of the privatization deal, nationalization, or another legal mechanism.
The Uzbekistan laws prohibit the revision and cancellation of privatization results (Article 24 of the Protection of Private Property and Guarantees of Owners' Rights Law), as well as the nationalization of investments (Article 21 of the Investments and Investment Activities Law).
Kvarts was commissioned in 1975, is the largest enterprise in Uzbekistan and all of Central Asia for the production of glass jars and glasses for the automotive industry, as well as firebricks, bottles, polished sheet glass, colored (green, gray and bronze) and tempered glass.
At the end of 2021, Kvarts’ net profit topped 54.7 billion soums - 16.2% more than a year earlier. In 2022, profit increased to 64.3 billion soums. This was due to the launch of a new production line and reaching real production volumes.
The company ended 2024 with a loss of 142 billion soums (in 2023, the loss was 21.7 billion soums). Net revenue stood at 521.9 billion soums, a decrease of 1.6% compared to 2023. A significant increase in the cost of goods sold led to a decrease in the enterprise's gross profit from 157.5 billion to 19.1 billion soums.
The plant was part of the United Cement Group (UCG), registered in Cyprus, which also owns Kyzylkumcement, Bekabadcement, Kuvasaycement in Uzbekistan, the Kant Cement Plant and Tekhnolin in Kyrgyzstan.
UCG is owned by Ulugbek Shadmanov. The media reported on his arrest in the UAE in December and extradition to Uzbekistan. His lawyer Mark Agnifilo called the arrest illegal.
