Uzbekistan’s state-owned uranium producer Navoiyuran and mining heavyweight Navoi Mining & Metallurgical Company (NMMC) are exploring a listing on the London Stock Exchange. The move comes after Uzbekistan completed its first international IPO in May 2026, with national fund UzNIF raising $603.6 million through a dual listing on the London Stock Exchange and the Tashkent Stock Exchange.
The UzNIF deal set an important precedent. The fund, managed by Franklin Templeton, holds stakes of between 25 and 40 percent in 13 Uzbek state-owned companies spanning energy services to telecommunications. Shares were priced at $25 and opened higher on the first day of trading. Cornerstone investors included BlackRock, Franklin Resources, Red Wheel and the Allan & Gill Gray Foundation, which together subscribed to approximately $300 million worth of shares. The transaction valued the fund at $1.95 billion.
Attention is now turning to NMMC, one of the world’s largest gold producers with 3.2 million ounces produced in 2025. The company has selected Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase to explore a potential dual listing in London and Tashkent, targeting a valuation of around $20 billion including debt. The deal would involve the sale of a 10 to 15 percent government stake. Rothschild & Co. is also working alongside the banks as adviser. As for Navoiyuran, the uranium producer is explicitly named in a presidential decree from April 2025 as a candidate for upcoming listings, though the timeline has yet to be finalised.
The broader context is a privatisation strategy launched by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, through a decree identifying twelve state enterprises to be brought to market between 2025 and 2028. The goal is to attract foreign capital and develop a more mature domestic capital market. The first London IPO was designed to do precisely that: establish a valuation benchmark for all subsequent offerings. Uzbekistan holds some of the most significant uranium reserves in Central Asia, and the prospect of a Navoiyuran listing on international markets carries real weight in the global nuclear energy sector, where fuel supply security has moved back to the top of government agendas.
Should NMMC and Navoiyuran proceed, London would cement its position as the go-to venue for Central Asian natural resources. For the uranium market, a public listing of the Uzbek producer would mean greater transparency on volumes, extraction costs and capacity expansion prospects — data that is currently only partially available. A clear sign that the nuclear investment cycle extends well beyond reactors, reaching deep into the upstream supply chain.
