It was not just the smart address. Commodity-rich Kazakhstan's companies were seduced by London as a funding source. They wanted the regulatory and corporate governance thumbs-up of a London listing, the traditional home of mining companies. City investment bankers, lawyers and accountants were meanwhile drawn by the promise of a new fee source. But Grigory Marchenko, governor of its central bank, wants to spoil their fun. He says Kazakh companies will in future turn to the Middle East and Hong Kong as well as London, because UK investors deserted them during the financial crisis.
Mr Marchenko is only half right. If he was thinking of Kazakh mining companies such as Kazakhmys or ENRC, investors treated them the same as other London-listed miners with emerging markets-based activities. They fled Kazakh stocks in the turmoil but returned with the rebound. Ditto for Chilean copper miner Antofagasta and Mexican silver producer Fresnillo.
Anyway, what alternatives did ENRC or Kazakhmys have? Listing in Almaty would not have provided access to London's liquidity, nor given them visibility among international investors or research analysts. True, Johannesburg might have been an option for ENRC, but South African investors would probably have preferred local stock Samancor instead. In Sydney much the same would have been true, only with International Ferro Metals, which is London-listed but Sydney-headquartered and has operations in South Africa.