Iranian government sells 5% of its shares in Dana Insurance Co. in IPO

Bloomberg: The Iranian government sold all 5 percent of the shares in Dana Insurance Co. that were made available in an initial public offering, the Tehran Stock Exchange said.

Bloomberg

By Ali Sheikholeslami

The Iranian government sold all 5 percent of the shares in Dana Insurance Co. that were made available in an initial public offering, the Tehran Stock Exchange said.

The government raised 13.7 billion rials ($1.4 million) from more than 5 million Dana shares sold today, the TSE said on its website. The stock sold in nine minutes, representing 614 trades, the TSE said.

Dana is the third insurance company in which the government has offered shares, after Asia and Alborz, Mahdi Azadvari, a broker for the Bourse Bimeh Iran Brokerage, said Aug. 11 from Tehran. The government had a 61 percent stake in Dana before the sale. The Social Security Organization is the second-largest shareholder, with more than 23 percent, with the rest owned by Iranian employees’ pension and investment funds, Azadvari said.

The Dana IPO is part of an effort by Iran’s government to sell state assets to reduce public debt and boost the economy. The country’s constitution requires the government to sell many of the companies it owns. It is allowed to keep a 20 percent stake in each. Some government-owned companies are excluded from the sales, such as Bank Melli and Iran Insurance, Azadvari said.