The Supreme Leader agreed with a presidential request to vest limited stocks of government-run companies that are owned by millions of Iranians in a bid to help boost economy. RNA – The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, agreed with a presidential request to vest limited stocks of government-run companies that are owned by millions of Iranians in a bid to help boost economy.
Ayatollah Khamenei issued a decree on Tuesday ordering the government to enable owners of the Justice Shares to trade their stocks in the market and reach the profits accrued on the shares during the past years.
The Justice Shares were issued in 2006 during the former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad administration. The plan started in line with the amendments made to the Article 44 of the Iranian Constitution which obligates the government to move toward economic privatization.
More than 49 million Iranians own the currently unvested shares. It is estimated that the value of the stocks owned by each shareholder has increased from an initial price tag of 10 million rials to 80 million rials ($500).
In his decree to the government, Ayatollah Khamenei regretted the fact that vesting of Justice Shares had taken so many years as the law specifies a minimum of two years as the holding period for the shares.
The Supreme Leader also set a series of conditions for allowing the Justice Shares to become tradable, saying shareholders should be able to choose which government-run company they like to own a stake in.
He said the government departments need to prepare conditions for listing of state-run companies as soon as possible.
Experts believe trade at Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) would further boom once Justice Shares become tradable in Iran Fara Bourse, a TSE subsidiary for trade of securities and other instruments.
The TSE has already broken record highs this year with growing number of new investors joining in. The overall value of the market reached over $198 billion on Tuesday after main index TEDPIX rose 3.03 percent to top 845,353 points.
Farhad Dejpasand, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, said on April 25 that the government has planned to list its shares in three banks and two insurance firms to raise over $1 billion in new finances as more public firms set up initial public offering (IPO) in a stock market where there is an unprecedented upsurge in trade.
“The listing for the five government-run entities, namely, Bank Mellat, Bank Tejarat, Bank Saderat, Alborz Insurance and Amin Reinsurance, will take place late next week in the Tehran Stock exchange (TSE),” Dejpasand said.
FNA
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