Bulat Utemuratov

In March 2020, the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation allocated KZT 200 million to combat COVID-19 in the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty. 94 thousand COVID-19 rapid testing kits were provided by the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation to the city health departments of Nur-Sultan and Almaty.

In May 2020, the businessman allocated USD 6 million for the construction of 150 new homes for flood-affected residents of the Makhtaaral district of Turkestan region.

Bulat Utemuratov is vice-president and a board member of the International Tennis Federation (since September, 2019).

Systematic work is being done to train juniors and experienced athletes to participate in international tournaments. In total, Kazakhstan juniors won over 90 international tournaments, including various Grand Prix. The men's national team of Kazakhstan confidently keeps in the World group of the Davis Cup; in 2019 it entered the final stage of the world team tournament once again.

In September 2019, Bulat Utemuratov was re-elected as ITF Board member and appointed ITF Vice President. On the latter appointment ITF President David Haggerty said: ‘...successful business leader Bulat Utemuratov adding great knowledge from inside and outside the world of tennis....’. In October, 2019 Kazakhstan Tennis Federation held a charity exhibition match with participation of world tennis legends Rafael Nadal and Novac Djokovic in Nur-Sultan.

In 2016, Bulat Utemuratov was chosen as one of the nominees in the "Business" category of the national project «El Tulgasy» (Leader of the Motherland) The idea of the project was to select the most significant citizens of Kazakhstan whose names are now associated with the achievements of the country. More than 350,000 people voted in this project, and Utemuratov was voted into 7th place in his category.

In February 2014 the The Bulat Utemuratov Charity Foundation was created with Bulat Utemuratov as a member of the Board of Trustees. The Foundation's mission is to help Kazakhstan become a better place for people's life today and in the future by promoting health, education and culture development.

Subsequent reports suggested that Utemuratov's stake in ATF had been larger than previously known and that he and family members made more than $1 billion from the sale. The deal turned out to be a poor one for Unicredit and within a year of acquiring ATF, the Italian bank had written down the value by €500 million. Unicredit sold ATF in 2013 for just $500 million.

Glencore International, the Swiss-based mining and commodities company, acquired the Vasilkovskoye gold mine in Kazakhstan from Utemuratov's Verny Capital. As part of this transaction, Verny was given shares in Kazzinc – Glencore's copper subsidiary in Kazakhstan. When Glencore announced its initial public offering (IPO) in London in 2011, the company said that some of the proceeds would be used to buy back the Kazzinc shares held by Verny Capital

In 2013, Glencore gave a loan to Astana Property Management (APM), a company owned by Bulat Utemuratov via Verny Capital. The loan was to finance APM's construction of the Talan Towers hotel and apartment complex in Astana, Kazakhstan. Glencore loaned a total of $237 million to the project but the miner was forced to write off $96.5 million in 2018 after reported poor performance.

In 2012, Glencore bought the Kazzinc shares back from Verny Capital for $1.359 billion, including $400 million in cash and the rest in Glencore shares. Since that transaction, Utemuratov and Glencore have done several other deals together and this has raised concerns about the nature of the relationship. In 2015, Glencore bought Utemuratov's Gulfstream private jet in an undisclosed transaction.

In 2012, Glencore's Kazzinc subsidiary bought a 56% in a private school called Haileybury Astana for $23 million. The company wrote off this investment and in 2016 transferred it to Utemuratov's charity for free. The school was opened by President Nazarbayev.

Since 2010, Kazakhstan is regularly ranked among the world's top tennis nations. From September 2015, Utemuratov has been a board member of the International Tennis Federation. In 2017, the International Tennis Federation and Asian Tennis Federation awarded Bulat Utemuratov for transcendent merit in the development of tennis in the region.

After the 2009 crisis, the following banks were created: Kassa Nova, the first microcredit bank in Kazakhstan and ForteBank, a business bank. In May 2014, Samruk-Kazyna SWF closed a sale of its shares in Temirbank and part of its shares in Aliance Bank to businessman Bulat Utemuratov. Bulat Utemuratov is a key fund investor (not a shareholder) of Verny Capital investment group, together with VEON he also owns two telecommunications operators –"KarTel" in Kazakhstan and "SkyMobile" in Kyrgyzstan operating under the brand: Beeline. In October 2019, Bulat Utemuratov was in the top three of Forbes list of the 50 richest businessmen of Kazakhstan with an estimated capital of US$ 3,4 billion.

From 2008 to 2013 he was described as an “adviser to the President” and he also held a role as a special representative to Kyrgyzstan.

Since 2007, Bulat Utemuratov has been the President of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation.

In the frame of his mandate of President of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, Bulat Utemuratov has developed various charity associations in relation with this sport for Kazakh youth. Upon his initiative, the "Team Kazakhstan" Tennis Academy was created specifically to train promising players of the national tennis team. Since 2007, he is the President of the Tennis Federation of Kazakhstan. He actively develops tennis and donated more than US$ 80 million in the establishing of country's national teams, development of children's tennis and construction of tennis infrastructure in all major cities of Kazakhstan.

Since 2006, under Bulat Utemuratov's patronage, the Narxoz University is developing into a leading educational institution in the Central Asia region aimed at international higher education standards. The businessman investedUS $ 40 million to upgrade technical equipment, develop sport and social infrastructure, modernise educational process and attract international staff. There are scholarship programmes for talented students.

This included Secretary of the Security Council from 2003 to 2006 and head of the President's private office from 2006 to 2008.

In 1999 Utemuratov was a member of The Bureau of the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

Bulat Utemuratov is one of the most prolific entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan. His first large project was the development of the “ATF Bank” and its successful sale to UniCredit (from 1995 until November 2007). During that time, the bank grew from a small financial institution to a large multi-regional and multi-product financial group with 160 branches. Unicredit acquired ATF Bank for $2.1 billion in 2007 and Utemuratov reportedly made $785 million from the sale.

After Kazakhstan became an independent country in 1991, President Nursultan Nazarbayev selected Utemuratov to go to Vienna and find economic opportunities for the new republic. After Utemuratov returned, he stayed close to President Nazarbayev and held several senior roles in the Kazakh government.

Children: sons Alidar Utemuratov (born in 1979) and Anuar Utemuratov (born in 1983), daughter Dinara (born in 2003).

Bulat Zhamituly Utemuratov (also called Bolat, Kazakh: Болат Жамитұлы Өтемұратов , Bolat Jamıtuly Ótemuratov; born 13 November 1957) is a Kazakhstani businessman, public figure, diplomat and philanthropist.