TEHRAN – The managing director of Iran Privatization Organization (IPO) announced that the privatization plan is underway based on the scheduled timetable.

Gholamreza Kord Zanganeh stated that the shares of 15 companies have been offered at the Tehran Stock Exchange in the Iranian calendar month of Azar (Nov. 21-Dec. 20), the Mehr News Agency reported on Monday.
He also stated that the supply and demand situation in the market affected the privatization process.
Referring to the National Iranian Copper Industries Company, MAPNA Co., Mobarakeh Steel Complex, Khuzestan Steel Company, and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) as some of the companies which have been privatized so far, he said: “These were all lucrative and profitable companies. Fortunately, the effect of the recent global financial crisis on Iran’s economy has been negligible.”
The official went on saying that the IPO plans to offer the shares of two power plants in the next two weeks. Also, a 5-percent block of the shares of Bank Mellat, as the first would-be privatized bank, will be offered on the stock market for price assessment in the current month.
According to the Fourth Five-Year Socioeconomic Development Plan (2005-2010), the Privatization Organization of Iran affiliated to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance is in charge of setting prices and ceding shares to the general public and on the stock market.
In 2007, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei requested that government officials speed up the implementation of the policies outlined in the amendment of Article 44, and move towards economic privatization.