More than two million investors took part in the initial public offering by the Social Security Investment Company on Wednesday – a development unprecedented in the history of Iran’s bourse.
The largest holding company, known by its Persian acronym Shasta, offered 8 billion shares on the Tehran Stock Exchange that was warmly welcomed by investors. Each share was priced around 8,600 rials.
Shasta generated 69 trillion rials ($437 million) from the sale to become the 335th company listed with the TSE, according to TSE managing director, Ali Sahraee.
Sahraee said the giant company added 3% to the market capitalization of the TSE, Securities and Exchange News Agency reported.
Shasta is the investment arm of the Social Security Organization (SSO), Iran’s largest pension fund and biggest insurance company roviding insurance services to wage-earners and voluntary coverage to the self-employed.
The multidisciplinary company controls nine holdings operating in a wide range of sectors, including petroleum, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, cement, transportation, telecom, shipping and finance. These in turn manage 187subsidiaries.
Listing Shasta on the stock exchange has attracted close attention from many quarters. The move was commended by the President Hassan Rouhani.
Speaking at a weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rouhani said the listing was in line with promises made by his administration to cut government intervention in the economy.
He praised managers of SSO and Shasta’s board of directors for their effort to list Shasta and recommended other ministers to follow suit, improve competitiveness and fight corruption.
The sheer lack of openness and transparency, corruption and state monopolies have long been a bane of the economy. Persistent calls by prominent economists and academia for promoting the private sector and improving oversight of conglomerates have so far not had the desired results.
“The stock market is locus for fighting corruption and helping transparency and competitiveness,” the president was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mohammad Shariatmadari, the minster of cooperatives, labor and social welfare, described the listing as “realization of a big pledge”.
“By listing Shasta, as the biggest multidisciplinary holding, a major step has been taken toward transparency and protecting the interest of shareholders. This is a win-win situation for them and the economy,” he twitted.
