Bank Saderat Iran IPO tomorrow

Bank Saderat Iran is the third state-run Iranian bank which is going to be privatized, according to IRIB.

The bank has 30 overseas branches and has the ownership of four independently run banks in Uzbekistan, England (London Plc.), Bahrain (Future Bank), and Afghanistan (Aryan Bank).

Bank Mellat was the first Iranian bank that offered 750 billion rials (about $77.5 million) worth of its shares on February 18. A 5% block of Tejarat Bank shares were also offered on May 18 on the TSE as the second privatization-bound bank.

According to Iran’s Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005-2010) the Privatization Organization of the country affiliated to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance is in charge of setting prices and ceding shares to the general public on the stock market.

The current privatization effort calls for an initial public offering of five percent of the firms being privatized. Once the five percent is public, it will establish a market price which further offerings can be based on.

According to a study conducted by the International Monetary Fund in 18 countries, privatization adds 2 percent to the government’s gross domestic production per annum.

NK/MG

END

MNA