[2007-12-14]  Iran Bank Mellat entering bourse
Managing director of Privatization Organization disclosed that the stocks of the first state-run bank would be offered in the bourse within two weeks, Iran Daily reported.

Gholamreza Heidari Kord-Zangeneh told MNA that about five% of the shares of Bank Mellat would be floated.

He explained that steps are underway to present the shares of Bank Mellat and Bank Tejarat in the bourse. The official elaborated that the Bourse Organization has asked Bank Mellat to give some information and data for making its shares available in the stock market. Currently, the bank is drawing up the data, he added.

In related news, the managing director of Bank Mellat, Iran?s third largest state-owned bank, told reporters on Monday that Iran would in the following months float shares of Bank Mellat on the stock market, making it the first state-owned bank to come under the privatization plan with the aim of limiting state ownership.

?We will probably start by quoting five% of the bank?s shares by the end of the current year (March 2008) to evaluate the price of shares,? Ali Divandari added.

The privatization drive envisages selling off 80% of state-owned stakes in companies in the banking, media, transportation and mineral sectors.

The base price of the shares, which are also open for purchase by foreign investors, will be decided by the Privatization Organization. They will be floated on the Tehran stock exchange.

?We have held talks with foreign investors from Middle East and Europe who have voiced readiness to buy the shares,? Divandari said, without identifying them.

The sale of 80% of the bank?s shares under the privatization plan would take place over a period of three to four years, said an official, who asked not to be named.

The privatization drive is in line with Article 44 of Iran?s Constitution which envisages a reduction in state involvement in the economy.




Source: copyright(c)2007 Iran Mania ltd.