Major ISP HiWeb Back on Capital Market

EghtesadOnline: As of Monday, shares of major Iranian Internet service provider HiWeb were traded on the Tehran Stock Exchange again after its ticker symbol was frozen last December.

News ID: ۷۸۳۸۲۰

27 August 2018

According to TSE, HiWeb's books at the time did not meet the organization's requirements for firms to be listed on the capital market, local technology website Peivast reported.

The Securities and Exchange Organization froze ISP's shares in December 2017 due to ambiguities in its books, said Mohammad Alizadeh, the head of SEO Issuers Supervision Department.

HiWeb has handed in a revised version of its books to TSE which has been ratified by authorities, according to Financial Tribune.

HiWeb had floated 10% of its shares in an initial public offering at TSE back in Sept. 2017 with the price of each share discovered at 4,795 rials (5.07 cents).

The number of floated shares has been increased since then reaching 11% of its total shares and the value of each has hiked 20.39% reaching 5,773 rials (6.1 cents).

The firm's market value currently stands at 23.092 billion rials or $244.15 million at the free market exchange rate of 94,580 rials for the USD.

***Merger Deal on Hold

Furthermore, Peivast reports that HiWeb's merger deal with another major Iranian ISP Pars Online has been put on hold. The report does not elaborate on the reason.

Signed on October 29, the agreement had envisaged HiWeb merging with its rival Pars Online through acquisition of all the latter's shares, with the two companies operating under the HiWeb brand.

With the introduction and growth of third and fourth generation mobile telecommunication technologies in recent years, ISPs have observed a noticeable decline in revenues as users in increasing numbers are turning to mobile services to surf the net.

The merger was to provide the two ISPs with the much-needed financial muscle to ward off mobile operators' growing dominance in the market.