51% Stake Sold in BIM Investment Arm

Bank of Industry and Mine sold off a 51% stake in its investment arm, Industry and Mine Investment Company on Tuesday on the capital market, BIM’s head of subsidiaries and general meetings manager, Abolfazl Najjarzadeh, announced. Over 2.29 billion shares with a base price of 1,900 rials per share were offered on Tehran Stock Exchange in a block sale. The sale made BIM the first bank to sell off its excess asset, as other banks’ downsizing attempts, including Bank Saderat and Melli, have yet to succeed. Iranian banks have been mandated by articles 16 and 17 of the law on “removal of obstacles to competitive production and boosting the country’s financial system” to privatize at least 33% of their excess assets every year to abandon what lawmakers considere “non-banking activities”, the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad reported.