Mikheil Lomtadze’s Purchase of Wycombe Wanderers: Does football promise a bright future for Central Asia?

High Wycombe is a large town approximately 30 miles west of Central London, and I have lived in the area since moving from France at the age of 2. The area is relatively lively, with a busy town centre, and boasts regular travel links to Birmingham and London. However, on my arrival at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2019 I quickly discovered not many people living north of Wolverhampton have heard of the town (unless they follow the English Football League). 

In May 2024, I woke up to the surprising news that Wycombe Wanderers - the town’s only professional sports team - confirmed a take over of 90 percent of the club’s shares by Georgian-born Kazakhstani billionaire, Mikheil Lomtadze, who has a net-worth of an estimated 5 billion USD. This unexpected acquisition left me intrigued to find out what attracted Mr Lomtadze to my hometown’s football club, and whether other places in the West could see an increase in Central Asian investment, thus bringing new money to their respective communities. Will this be a one off, or can other Central Asian magnates repeat this feat, in a similar vein to recent investments from the Middle East? 

Lomtadze’s company ‘Kaspi.kz’ was founded in 2008, and has since transformed itself into the largest technology company operating out of Central Asia. The company strongly focuses on fintech and diversifying itself within the e-commerce sphere, including the development of what Kaspi.kz refer to as the “super app”, in which a mobile application allows users in Central Asia to regulate all banking payments and daily bills through their systems. A modern fintech company with its roots in Kazakhstan may surprise many in the West, but Lomtadze’s futureproof venture seems appealing for those interested in new and emerging markets. Therefore, the company’s interest in entering the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in late 2019 demonstrates the appeal to Lomtadze of joining Western markets, with a strong potential of expanding Kaspi’s wealth and thus developing its methods in markets which are new to the company. However, the relationship with the LSE did not start well, and at the end 2019 Lomtadze pulled the company’s listing following what he determined to be ‘poor market conditions’. However, the following year marked Kaspi.kz’s listing on the LSE, highlighting the company’s desire to continue its expansion towards the West, potentially carving a future path for other companies of the region in Western development and investment. Four years after Kaspi.kz’s introduction to the West, the company has left the LSE, citing low volume of trade and high costs endured while listed, moving to the more technology-focused NASDAQ market in early 2024. 

Some transparency issues have been raised following reports of previous elite public involvement in the company. Following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian and post-Soviet links in large companies have been discouraged and penalised in the West through sanctions to limit the presence of these actors. Kairat Satybaldy, the close nephew of former Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev, was previously a top-3 shareholder in Lomtadze’s company. Forbes journalist David Dawkins believes the sale of all Satybaldy’s shares would reduce red flags over the political involvement in Kaspi.kz from Kazakhstan’s elite, which could have drawn negative attention from regulators of the LSE prior to their initial public offering (IPO). Although Kaspi deny any current involvement of Mr Satybaldy in the company, his close relationship to his uncle alongside strong political and economic connections highlight potential issues occurring for Mr Lomtadze and his Western assets if proven in the future.  

Following the agreement struck between Wycombe’s current American owners and Mr Lomtadze, the future of the club looks bright. The new owner is aiming to improve the club’s academy by introducing branches in England and Kazakhstan collectively, and this was stated in a post on Kaspi.kz’s X (formerly Twitter) account which affirmed that £18 million would be pumped into the project. If successful, the future of Wycombe Wanderers alongside youth football in Kazakhstan looks to be bright under Mr Lomtadze’s plans.