SSO to Offer 5% Stake on Stock Market

EghtesadOnline: Social Security Investment Company, the investment arm of the Social Security Organization (SSO), will offer 5% of its stake on the stock market, the SSIC managing director said.

News ID: ۷۴۹۳۸۶

07 January 2020

Mohammad Rezvanifar did not elaborate in the timeline for initial public offering but concurred that the listing process would take time given the size of the company, Financial Tribune reported.

“Shares to be offered will be in large numbers and the listing process apparently will take time,” IRNA quoted him as saying.

Rezvanifar implied that the IPO could such as to cover 10% of the company’s shares.

SSIC, which is known by its Persian acronym Shasta, controls nine holding companies operating in a wide range of sectors, namely petroleum, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, transportation and finance.

The holdings manage an estimated 200 subsidiaries, according to media reports.

Rezvanifar spoke about plans to overhaul the financial and administration structure of Shasta’s holding and subsidiaries, adding that reforms will include mergers, downsizing, liquidation and listing subsidiaries on the domestic capital market.

Over the past year, seven companies and one holding company has been listed on the stock market, he said, adding that would follow suit.

Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his men were credited for the immense size of Shasta as he gave the holding companies stakes in state-owned firms in lieu of huge government debts.

The holding companies and their affiliates have either been running at a loss or have underperformed for years.

According to Morteza Lotfi, a former head of Shasta, “the organization acquired more than 90% of its assets as a result of the government debt settlement and 70% of the companies are either loss-making or underperforming”.

The CEO of Tehran Stock Exchange Ali Sahraee earlier confirmed plans to list Shasta on the TSE, saying the company is striving to meet the legal listing requirements.

Sahraee did not elaborate on the timing of the IPO nor did he say how many of the company’s shares would be offered in the stock market.

However,   he expressed the hope that the listing could take place before the current fiscal is out on March 19.