Uzbekistan Presidential Resolution PP-145 — Privatization of Large Enterprises with State Participation on International Markets

Mechanism

PP-145 is the operational framework resolution for Uzbekistan's 2025–2028 privatisation wave. It works in tandem with the same-day Presidential Decree UP-70, which approved the annual 2025 Privatization Program — together they form the legal and programmatic spine for what the government describes as the largest state-asset disposal since independence.

Three-tier segmentation

IPO/SPO pipeline (12 enterprises, all minority stakes)

The resolution names 12 companies for capital-market placement but does not publish a fixed schedule in the body text; implementation timelines have been signalled through government briefings and confirmed by international advisors:

NMMC is the highest-profile transaction: Rothschild & Co. has been named as lead advisor for the LSE dual-listing. Pre-IPO NMMC capitalization is estimated at USD 5–10 billion (Rothschild/government briefings, April 2025). At 10–15% on-market this represents USD 500 mn – 1.5 bn in public float, making it the largest CIS mining IPO since Polymetal's 2011 LSE listing.

Navoiyuran (top-5 global uranium producer, ~3,500 tU/yr, primary Rosatom offtake but under renegotiation) is particularly watched given the post-2022 Western utility effort to de-risk Russian nuclear fuel supply; a dual-track Western institutional book would directly support US/EU uranium-supply-chain diversification goals.

Franklin Templeton Asset Management, as trustee of the Uzbekistan National Investment Fund (UzNIF), is coordinating IPO preparation for several companies in the pipeline.

Public-tender pipeline (29 enterprises)

For 23 of the 29 enterprises in this tier, the state is divesting 100% of its stake; the remaining 6 are at 90%+ with strategic minority retention. Named enterprises include UzAuto Motors (the GM-JV automotive company), Uzbekistan GTL, Uzmetkombinat (steel), and Uzbektelecom (which appears in both tiers: a domestic SPO + a trade-sale of residual block).

Implementing architecture

A State Privatization Commission (chaired at Deputy Prime Minister level) was constituted to oversee the programme. International investment bank advisors are mandated for each large-SOE transaction. The London Stock Exchange was designated as the primary international venue for the mining SOE IPOs, with the Tashkent Stock Exchange as the domestic co-listing venue for all 12 transactions.

Downstream implications

• Gold supply chain: NMMC produces ~3.2 Moz Au/yr (top-15 globally). A LSE float

creates a publicly traded vehicle for Western institutional exposure to Uzbek gold without direct M&A; flow-through to gold-streaming / royalty companies likely once NMMC is listed.

• Uranium diversification: Navoiyuran's H2 2026 IPO would be the first publicly

traded non-Russian uranium vehicle from the CIS; US and European utility offtakers are watching as a potential hedge vs. Kazatomprom concentration risk.

• Copper supply chain: AMMC (~150 kt Cu/yr, 2030 plan 400 kt/yr) IPO creates a

benchmark valuation for Uzbek copper — relevant for EV supply-chain investors and any future Western DFC/EXIM co-investment (cf. the Feb 2026 US-UZ Critical Minerals MOU).

• CIS privatisation signal: First major IPO programme from a Central Asian sovereign

since Kazakhstan's 2014–2016 "People's IPO" wave. Success would accelerate similar programmes in Tajikistan (aluminium) and Kazakhstan (state bank SPOs).

• Responds-to linkage: This resolution is the implementing architecture through which

(a) the Feb 2026 US-Uzbekistan Critical Minerals MOU's DFC/EXIM co-investment mandate finds expression in equity entry points, and (b) the USD 2.6 bn March 2025 critical- minerals national programme's capital requirements can be part-funded via IPO proceeds.

Open questions

• Will the NMMC IPO proceed on schedule (H2 2025) given historically volatile gold-equity

valuations and the complexity of dual-listing in London + Tashkent simultaneously?

• How will Rosatom's existing offtake agreements with Navoiyuran (long-term uranium

supply contracts) be disclosed to Western institutional investors ahead of the 2026 IPO?

• AMMC's 2030 copper ramp-up plan (150 → 400 kt/yr) depends on capital-intensive

concentrator expansion — will PP-145 proceeds fund this or will the IPO be conditional on a parallel Chinese/Western project-finance package?

• State commission has authority to adjust stake sizes, formats, and timing — how much

flexibility is retained if market conditions deteriorate?