Mobarakeh shares sold on Tehran Stock Exchange

On March 12, 2007, the Iranian Privatization Organization sold three percent of Mobarakeh Steel Co.'s shares on the Tehran Stock Exchange - after a long period of discussions about the privatization of some big Iranian state-owned companies. Mobarakeh, with a value of $3 billion, is the biggest Iranian steel company to have shares sold on the Tehran Stock Exchange. On March 12, 2007, about 474 million shares of Mobarakeh Steel with a value of 1,900 Rials ($ 0.2043) per share and a total value of 900 billion Rials ($ 96,774,193) were sold on the Tehran Stock Exchange. In addition, a further two percent of Mobarakeh's shares are to be sold before the end of the current Iranian year of 1385 (20.03.2007). The Iranian government is expected to transfer 60 percent of shares in state-owned companies to the private sector by March 2008.