Justice Shares Worth $600m Sold

Owners of the so-called Justice Shares sold 8 billion shares worth 136 trillion rials ($600 million) since the ban on the trade was lifted last May. 
Justice Shares are shares of government-owned companies that were given free to the six lowest income deciles almost 15 years ago. Shareholders were not allowed to sell the shares until recently. Now they can sell 60% of their portfolio.  
Most shares were sold in the first few months of the current fiscal year when the stock market was in an upbeat mode and there were enough buyers, according to Mohammad-Reza Pourrezaee, an official with the Central Securities Depository of Iran, ILNA reported. 
"To be able to sell shares there [also] must be a buyer," he said, recalling that shareholders are facing difficulties in selling their shares due to the bearish bourse. 
"More than 90% of shareholders who registered sale orders have not been paid due stock brokers' failure to sell," he added. 
Justice Share portfolio includes 49 state-owned companies in the auto, metal, mining, and agriculture, petrochemical and banking sectors. A total of 35 companies are already listed with the stock market and another 14 are planning an initial public offering.

To encourage shareholders to keep their shares and discourage them from rushing to sell, banks have announced readiness to issue credit cards for owners accepting their shares as collateral.