BSI Investment Arm to Go Public

EghtesadOnline: Sepehr Saderat Financial Group Company, the investment arm of Bank Saderat Iran, plans to offer on Sunday 20% of its shares in Iran Fara Bourse, the junior equity market.

News ID: ۷۵۱۰۲۵

19 September 2020

The offer includes 6 billion shares, 5.4 billion of which is supposed to be sold via an initial public offering and the rest to investment funds.

Each share is tagged at 10,100 rials and people can buy a maximum 1,100 shares, according to a notice on the IFB website.

Share orders will be processed based on book-building method for both IPOs.  Book-building is a process by which an underwriter attempts to determine the price at which an IPO will be offered. Price discovery involves recording investor demand for shares before arriving at an issue price.

As one of the major subsidiaries of BSI, Sepehr Saderat Financial Group Company was founded in 2014 in Tehran. It offers financial services and invests directly or indirectly in industrial, commercial and transportation projects via 12 branches, subsidiaries and associated companies.

Hamed Hamedinia, an official with the company, described the listing as major BSI move to offer assets and reduce non-bank activity.

IPO earnings would also significantly improve its balance sheet, Hamedinia told a press briefing posted on the company’s website.

The listing is estimated to generate 60.6 trillion rials ($242 million).

In the same vein, Hojjatolla Seidi, the BSI boss said Sepeher Financial Group is BSI’s key asset.

The banker said the IPO revenue would stay at the market and the company will act as market marker to help improve its stability and support blue chips stocks.

Listing on the bourse has gained pace in recent weeks after calls from senior economic officials urging market regulators to expand the market by listing more companies. Earlier, the government had said it would offer tax breaks to companies joining the share market.