The Iranian Privatization Organization transferred the ownership of government shares worth 13.2 trillion rials ($360 million at market exchange rate) to private owners in the first three quarters of the current Iranian year (started March 21).
IPO is the government body tasked with privatizing Iran’s heavily state-owned economy.
Over 88% of the stocks were sold on Tehran Stock Exchange, Iran’s largest. A meager 2.7% were offered in the Iran Fara Bourse over-the-counter market. And 8.7% of the shares were sold via tender.
Big investors bought most of the stocks, as 87% of the equities were sold in large blocks.
The privatization wave started in 2006 as part of an amendment to Article 44 of Iran’s Constitution decreed by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatolah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, aimed at decentralizing state enterprises through privatization.
Close to 370 trillion rials ($63 billion at the time) worth of stocks were privatized from 2006 to 2009. However, most of the stakes were bought by quasi-government entities, whose decision-making is controlled by the government.
