Major Iranian PSP Gears up for TSE Initial Public Offering

EghtesadOnline: Saman Kish Electronic Payment Company (SEP) is set to have its initial public offering on Tehran Stock Exchange on Sunday.

News ID: ۷۸۲۸۱۲

03 June 2018

The TSE-listed 1.8-trillion-rial ($42.8 million) company was ready to float its shares in early March. The IPO, however, was postponed due to revisions in valuation reports and Securities and Exchange Organization’s subsequent concerns.

Yet in less than three months, SEP has wooed the SEO and cleaned up its books. It will offer a 10% stake in the company amounting to 180 million shares, according to Financial Tribune.

There will be a purchase cap of 5,000 shares priced at 6,200-6500 rials ($0.14-$0.15) per share, Bourse Press reported.

SEP is one of Iran’s largest payment service providers with 1,236 employees and 100 branches, offering services to banks such as Sepah, Refah, Saderat, Saman, Tose’e, Ansar and Melli.

With a 17% share of total market transactions, SEP is the second largest PSP after Behpardakht Mellat.

SEP’s major shareholders include Bank Refah with 30%, Bank Saman with 27.8%, Saman Bank Brokerage Company with 15.2% and Saman Insurance with 15%.

Nilson Report, a credible source of news and analysis of the global car and mobile payment industries, published a list of top 150 payment services provider in the world on October 2017, which had seven Iranian acquirers among the top 100.

Saman Bank’s e-payment company ranked 26th on the list, with more than 1.97 billion transactions. SEP improved it ranking by 8 spots year-on-year, recording the best improvement in standings among Iranian PSPs.

TSE is planning to float the shares of 12 companies in the current fiscal year (started March 21), according to the exchange’s listing and public offering manager, Esameil Dargahi.

No official list has been released yet, but several names have surfaced so far via market insiders and companies themselves.

They include Asiatech, Pasargad Arian Communication and Information Technology Company, MAPNA Employees Investment Company, Minoo Industrial Group, Persia Oil and Gas Industry Development Company, Ghadir Electricity and Energy Investment Group, Jey Oil Company, Zangan Distribution Transformer Company, Behpak Industrial Company, Petroleum Equipment Industries Company and Saba South West Power Generation Company.

TSE had a host of IPOs last year, which were sustainably less than what it had planned for.

According to ISNA, TSE expected at least 15-20 IPOs for the year, while it only succeeded in floating seven.

The limited number of IPOs was in part due to the exchange’s internal problems. TSE, for instance, had updated its trading system infrastructure, causing a forced two-month pause in offerings from late October. The companies themselves had to deal with a new standard of financial data reporting and most of the major investors were reluctant to float their shares for the time.