Iran to privatize Alborz Insurance Company

Some 5 percent of Iran's state-run Alborz Insurance Company's shares will be floated on the stock market in line with the government's accelerated privatization policy.

Head of the Iranian Privatization Organization (IPO) Gholamreza Kord-Zanganeh says the shares would be offered on the Tehran Stock Exchange on October 7 by inviting bids from private investors.

He did not say at what price the shares would be floated in the sell-off.

Iran plans to transfer its three large insurance companies - Dana, Alborz and Asia - to the private sector under the currently prevailing interpretation of Article 44 of the Constitution.

The three are among those state companies slated for privatization in the first half of the current Iranian year (starting on March 21).

The companies must prepare and present their plans and last year's audited accounts to the Stock Exchange for approval. However, only one of the three, Alborz, has finalized its plans. although the government was keen to privatize all three in short order.

Article 44 stipulates that the country's economic system shall be based on public, cooperative and private sectors.

A 2004 amendment to Article 44, however, has set in motion a ten-year plan to privatize eighty percent of Iran's state-owned assets.

Kord-Zanganeh also went on to say that the remaining shares of all state-run banks will be offered to private investors by March 20.

Three state banks - Mellat, Tejarat and Saderat - have offered just about 5 percent of their shares to private investors so far.