Iran set to privatise 80pc of state bank
Iran's Bank Mellat unveiled plans on Tuesday to sell a 80 percent stake to private investors despite being under US sanctions, making it the first state-owned bank in the Islamic republic to be privatised.
Mellat chairman Ali Divandari told reporters that talks were underway with a number of European and Gulf banks and that the sale will take place over the next two years.
The Mellat selloff is part of a privatisation drive ordered by the energy-rich nation's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2006 but which has made only sluggish progress since.
Mellat aims to sell five percent of its shares on Wednesday by "inviting price bids from private investors," Divandari said.
Another 15 percent would be sold over the course of the first year, with the remaining 60 percent sold in the second year.
Divandari said several investors have shown interest in buying "shares in blocks in order to play a managerial role" once the bank is privatised.
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