As Spot previously reported, shareholders of national postal operator O‘zbekiston pochtasi (UzPost) did not approve a 100 billion soum loan from Wildberries. The funds were proposed to be raised at the Central Bank’s refinancing rate.
The press service of the State Assets Management Agency commented on the situation surrounding UzPost. The agency said reports circulating on social media about the company’s privatization and the loan were inaccurate, stressing that no documents on the sale of the state-owned stake have been finalized.
The agency is currently the largest shareholder in the postal operator. Shares previously held by state organizations, enterprises and banks, totaling 92.9% of UzPost’s charter capital, were transferred to the state asset.
“Large companies such as Wildberries and Uzum Market have expressed interest in acquiring this stake. However, no documents on the privatization of the state-owned stake have been finalized to date”, the agency said.
The agency also highlighted UzPost’s “difficult financial period and transformation”. Over the past three years, the company’s average annual net profit amounted to 800 million soums, while its profitability declined to 0.2%.
UzPost’s revenue in the first half of this year amounted to 313.6 billion soums, down 17% from 2025. The company’s performance was affected by the suspension in May of distributing traffic violation notices, which had been one of UzPost’s main sources of revenue.
Following the termination of services for the Interior Ministry’s Road Safety Service, the company expects a loss of 1.7 billion soums for the first nine months, the State Assets Management Agency said. Meanwhile, the operator’s bank debt has reached 45.3 billion soums.
The agency noted that UzPost also needs a major modernization of its postal infrastructure amid the growth of e-commerce. The cost of the modernization is preliminarily estimated at more than 300 billion soums.
The modernization program includes purchasing trucks and electric vehicles, installing additional parcel lockers, renovating postal facilities and upgrading the sorting center. UzPost also plans to transition to a modern IT system.
To introduce modern management models and attract investment, UzPost plans to cooperate with WB Int Export, the State Assets Management Agency said. During negotiations, the Uzbek Wildberries entity expressed its readiness to provide a 100 billion soum loan.
The deal was included in the agenda of an extraordinary general shareholders' meeting as a major transaction under the law. However, no decision was made on the issue at the September 21 meeting due to a lack of agreement on the loan amount, interest rates and repayment schedule, according to the agency.
“The issue may be considered again once the loan terms have been fully clarified”, the agency said.
The agency also explained the inclusion of WB Int Export representatives on UzPost’s supervisory board. According to its press service, the decision is aimed at “introducing a modern corporate governance system and monitoring the targeted use of planned investment funds.
The postal operator
In June 2025, UzPost’s list of affiliated parties was changed. Aloqabank, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and legal entities in which the ministry holds more than 20% were removed from the list. They were replaced by the AMSA, entities affiliated with the agency, and the National Investment Fund of Uzbekistan (UzNIF).
All three new entities held stakes of 20% or more in UzPost. In September, the 25% stake in UzPost that was initially planned to be transferred to UzNIF was instead transferred to the Agency for Management of State Assets.
On October 12, reports emerged that UzPost had been privatized. The buyer of the state stake was reported to be a Russian marketplace, with Wildberries among the names mentioned.
The following day, UzPost confirmed plans to attract investors amid the privatization reports that had emerged at the end of the previous week. The company cited growing demand for diversification, convenience and technology amid the expansion of e-commerce and declining demand for traditional postal services.
The investment was intended to modernize infrastructure, develop logistics, introduce digital solutions, expand the branch network, including in rural areas, and create modern facilities for processing and delivering mail and parcels, UzPost said.
A source familiar with the situation told Spot that the state stake in UzPost had been acquired by RVB, the joint company of Wildberries & Russ. RBC also reported, citing two sources in the Russian market, that Wildberries had taken part in the privatization of the postal operator. One of the sources said the marketplace had extensive plans for Uzbekistan.
Uzbek digital ecosystem Uzum expressed readiness to invest in UzPost and increase deliveries through the postal infrastructure to 10% of all orders on Uzum Market. The group said it planned to invest $1.5 billion in Uzbekistan over the following three to four years. Uzum later announced that it had submitted an application to participate in the bidding for UzPost.
“We are confident that the postal service is one of the state’s most important assets, so its management should take into account not only business interests but also national interests. The postal service performs a number of important social functions and provides thousands of jobs across the country. It is precisely the synergy with an Uzbek IT company that would allow all UzPost partners — whether Uzbek or foreign, large or small — to be brought together”, Uzum said.
In October, the Anti-Corruption Agency called on the State Assets Management Agency to ensure openness and transparency in the sale of a 29.4% state stake in the postal operator. The agency also reminded authorities of the legal requirement to publish information on assets being privatized on the Open Data Portal.
In September, the State Assets Management Agency, which received a 25% state stake in UzPost in autumn 2025, commented for the first time on reports of the alleged partial privatization of the national postal operator. In an interview with Spot, Deputy Head of the agency Alisher Miraliyev said the reports had no basis.
“If there had been a change in the shareholder structure, securities market regulations would require the issuer itself to publish information about the change in ownership. So these were only rumors and had no basis”, Miraliyev said.
No negotiations on the sale of UzPost are currently underway. The company continues to operate and develop, while no decision on its privatization has been made at this time.
The English version of this material was generated with the assistance of AI translation tools and may differ slightly from the original text.
