A Saturday report on Saipa’s public relations website said that a process had started to evaluate and list 42% of shares of the company for the purpose of holding an initial public offering (IPO) in the near future.
It said the process had started after two meetings were held earlier this week between senior executives of Saipa and its subsidiary companies and officials from the Iranian judiciary.
The report said that the meetings had concluded in the signing of a plan to sell the first bloc of shares in Saipa, a large car manufacturer located near the capital, Tehran, with an annual output of more than 0.4 million vehicles.
It said Iran’s Securities and Exchange Organization will hold an IPO for Saipa after the bloc of shares is evaluated.
Saipa’s privatization has been in the pipeline since February, when the Iranian government concluded a similar move for the Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), the largest carmaker in the country with an annual production of nearly half a million vehicles.
The IKCO is currently controlled by CROUSE, a parts maker which has gradually increased its number of seats in the company’s board by buying more shares from the government in the past years.
A report last month said that the IKCO had reached a three-year record in monthly production by churning out 60,000 vehicles in September.
The Iranian government has divested a large part of its shares in car companies in recent years as part of a plan to create more competition in the industry.
That comes as key political and economic figures have opposed the privatization of leading carmakers in Iran, saying the move could seriously damage workers and customers in the country.
Press TV