Oman, China, and EADB to Create $500M Direct Investment Fund for Central Asia and Caucasus

Oman's State General Reserve Fund (OIA) and five other institutions signed a letter of intent in Beijing on October 20 to establish a direct investment fund for Central Asia and the Caucasus with a target volume of 500 million dollars. A formal agreement is expected in early November 2025.

Besides OIA, participants include China Investment Corporation and Shenwan Hongyuan Securities (China), Uzbekistan's Fund for Reconstruction and Development, Turkey's Armed Forces Pension Fund OYAK, and the Eurasian Development Bank (EADB). OIA leads the initiative; an Omani entity is planned to serve as the fund manager.

The fund will be named Central Asia and Caucasus Private Equity Fund. OIA has identified five target markets—Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Priority sectors include logistics, renewable energy, mining, agriculture, food production, and healthcare. The strategy involves acquiring equity stakes in regional companies to finance their growth.

Organizers intend to attract sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors; the volume of commitments already made is not being disclosed.

Daniyar Imangaliyev, First Deputy Chairman of the EADB Board, stated that the fund will help regional companies enter new markets and will attract additional international capital to member states of the bank.

The initiative builds on existing EADB-Oman cooperation: on October 6, the bank and the Sultanate's Ministry of Finance signed an agreement on EADB operational presence in the country—a step toward potential Oman membership as a shareholder of the bank, which would make it the first Gulf state among the bank's founders.