Unsold government assets in three banks and two insurance companies will be on offer again next week, the deputy economy minister for banking, insurance and state companies' affairs said.
In May the government offered its assets via an exchange-traded fund and hoped to earn 170 trillion rials ($770 million).
However, the offer was not welcomed as the government had expected, and it could only make 58.86 trillion rials ($267 million), according to Abbas Memarnejad, Fars News Agency reported.
Bank-based ETFs, known as the ‘First Financial Intermediary’, holds 17% of government stake in Tejarat Bank, 17% in Bank Mellat, 18.32% in Bank Saderat Iran, 17.34% in Alborz Insurance Company and 11.44% in Amin Reinsurance Company.
In the first offer buyers could buy a maximum of 20 million rials of ETF units. In the second phase they will be able to purchase 50 million rials ($227) each, Memarnejad said.
As per the framework, having a trading code is not obligatory for buying ETFs and the public too can buy using their national IDs as trading codes. However, they must have a trading code if they decide to sell their ETFs in the stock market.
Unlike the initial phase, the second phase is likely to be attractive given the high gains of the ETF units in the stock market.
Considering a 20% discount, the closing price of each ETF unit was 100,000 rials, which, according to Memarnejad has now soared to 270,000 rials.
Divestment Plan
Offering government shares via ETFs is in line with efforts to shed government shares in major companies.
The government wants to offer stakes in giant refinery, metal and auto companies in the coming weeks via two more ETFs, one offering shares in four refineries and the other shares of metal and auto companies.
The refinery ETF will include a 20% stake each in Tehran Oil Refining Company, Isfahan Oil Refinery and Tabriz Oil Refinery.
The metal and auto ETFs reportedly hold 12.05% of government stakes in the National Iranian Copper Industry Company, 17.2% in Mobarakeh Steel Company, 14.04% in Iran Khodro (IKCO) and 23% in SAIPA.
