On October 13, the Uzum digital ecosystem sent an official request to the State Assets Management Agency stating it wished to purchase stakes in the Uzbekistan Post postal operator.
Uzum said that it had not yet received an official response from the Agency.
The company confirmed its readiness to bid to purchase the government’s stake in the postal operator.
"We believe that the postal service is one of the most important assets of the state, and therefore its management must be carried out taking into account not only business but also national interests," Uzum said in a statement.
The company added: "The postal service performs a number of vital social functions, providing thousands of jobs across the country, and it is the synergy with the Uzbek IT company that will help maintain a balance between efficiency and social impact, as well as align the interests of all UzPost partners, whether Uzbek or foreign-based, large or small businesses."
The company noted that UzPost was one of Uzum's key partners. Uzum Market and UzPost collaborate on over 650 order pickup points (52% of the total 1,250 points).
As reported earlier, the government's stake in UzPost could be privatized and that the buyer could be a Russian online platform (reports have surfaced online that this could be Wildberries). The deal has not been officially announced.
Uzbekistan's 2025 privatization program planned to put a 29.4% stake in UzPost up for public auction. In September, the company increased its authorized capital by transferring 50 post office buildings in Tashkent.
On October 14, the Russian news publication RBC also reported that Wildberries & Russ had bid in the privatization of Uzbekistan Post. The deal had been in the works for some time, and the Russian marketplace had extensive plans in Uzbekistan, one of the publication's sources noted.
UzPost itself confirmed plans to attract investment for modernization and digital transformation, neither confirming nor denying the privatization rumors.
UzPost previously failed to disclose the transfer of a 25 percent stake from the National Investment Fund—one of the largest shareholders of Uzbekistan Post—to the balance sheet of the State Assets Management Agency. This important fact was not published on the company's corporate website or on the Unified Corporate Information Disclosure Portal.
