According to the announcement published by the State Assets Management Agency on June 16 this year, applications for Express of interest stage of the privatization process of "Lotte City Hotel Tashkent Palace Hotel" (hereinafter - the Hotel) state share has been launched.

As reported previously, "KPMG Valuation and Consulting" company (hereinafter - KPMG) was attracted as a privatization consultant to carry out the process of privatization of this state-owned asset on the basis of the best international experience.

As part of the company's privatization processes, complex marketing activities were carried out by KPMG including through its network of international offices, as well as sending investment teasers to potential investors. As a result, KPMG has received expressions of interest from 15 international and local investors from the CIS, South Asia and Europe by August 8, 2022.

All proposals received by the State Assets Management Agency together with the privatization consultant were analyzed for compliance with the following criteria:

• absence of any judicial, administrative, arbitration or other proceedings that might result in a ban on participation in the privatization process;
• compliance with Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 660-II "On Counteraction of Legalization of Criminal Proceeds, Financing of Terrorism and Financing Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation";
• the applicant (or, in the case of a consortium, any member of the consortium) or any of its affiliated persons should not be included in the public sanctions lists of the European Union and the USA, as well as any of the major international development banks (the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank).

As a result of in-dept analysis of the proposals received KPMG in accordance with the abovestated criterias, proposals of 2 applicants out of 15 received were not allowed to the next stage.

Accordingly, applicants who have successfully passed the Express of interest stage will be invited to participate in the next Submission of non-binding offers stage of the privatization process, and Process Letter with detailed information on this stage will be addressed to them.

In order to confirm their future participation in the privatization process, applicants are to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and then will be given access to a Virtual Data Room (VDR), which provides them with an Information Memorandum prepared by an international consultant, that contains the information necessary to prepare indicative non-binding offers for the purchase of the Hotel. The Information Memorandum includes both the Hotel's operational description as well as historical and forecasted financial data.

Non-binding offers for purchase of the Hotel are accepted by KPMG until October 7 of this year.

The State Assets Management Agency expresses its gratitude to all applicants who showed interest in the privatization process and submitted proposals, and also expresses its confidence in further mutual favorable cooperation with applicants who successfully passed the "Expression of Interest" stage of the privatization processes.