Most of us know the IR's plans for privatization (which I am all for) but things are starting to turn a little bonkers... (perhaps its my lack of understanding of economics compared to politics) To me it seems like everyday there are massive sales of shares... Perhaps it preemptive, sell them off before the economy becomes even worse and everything breaks down further (?). So some ppl could be having the inside track.

Perhaps they are just getting on with it or being too ambitious... What is everyone else's opinion?

Seeing a lot of articles like the following popping up:

Iran to sell over $4b worth of IMIDRO shares

TEHRAN, Oct. 21 (MNA) – Over 41 trillion rials ($4.3 billion) worth of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization’s (IMIDRO) shares will be offered in the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) by the end of current Iranian year (March 19, 2008), said IMIDRO head here on Sunday.

Ahmad-Ali Harati-Nik, also the deputy industries and mines minister added that steel, aluminum, copper, mine, and cement groups are privatized.

He put the organization’s current capital at over 32 trillion rials ($3.4 billion).

IMIDRO ranked second in terms of export among 100 leading companies in the country, the official boasted, announcing the organization sold 93.531 trillion rials (some $10 billion) worth of its products in the last Iranian year.

The center sold 61, 18, 9, 6, 2, and 4 percent of steel, copper, mineral, aluminum, cement, and other products respectively last year, Harati-Nik added.

The deputy minister said that the organization’s exports fetched Iran $2.457 billion in the previous Iranian year, indicating a 30 percent rise when compared to the figure of its preceding year.

Shifting to mineral explorations, he announced that investment in the sector doubled last year in comparison with its previous year.

www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=572386

Iran to offer 20% of telecommunication companies’ shares

TEHRAN, Oct. 21 (MNA) – The Tehran Stock Exchange will offer 20 percent of shares of Iran’s telecommunication companies on Oct. 27.

The German company Siemens will sell 12.28 million shares, with 5,000 rial ($0.53) price per each.

www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=572377

Iran to privatize 80% of industrial centers by next March

TEHRAN, Oct. 16 (MNA) – Deputy industries and mines minister announced here on Tuesday that 80 percent of the mineral and industrial companies will be privatized by the end of current Iranian year (March 19, 2008) in line with enforcement of the Article 44 of the Constitution.

Iraj Akbarieh added that the caretaker industries and mines minister accentuated on accelerating the privatization.

Of five privatization-bound subsidiaries of the ministry, almost all shares of four companies were offered in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), referring to less than 50 percent of state shareholding of National Iranian Copper Company (NICICO) and Iranian Aluminum Company (IRALCO).

In the second half of current Iranian year the permits of selling 51 percent, 48 percent, and 48 percent of the shares of Khuzestan Steel Company, Khorassan Steel Company, and NICICO in the TSE will be issued respectively.

www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=569585

Most of us know the IR's plans for privatization (which I am all for) but things are starting to turn a little bonkers... (perhaps its my lack of understanding of economics compared to politics) To me it seems like everyday there are massive sales of shares... Perhaps it preemptive, sell them off before the economy becomes even worse and everything breaks down further (?). So some ppl could be having the inside track.

Perhaps they are just getting on with it or being too ambitious... What is everyone else's opinion?

I think it could be a combination of the factors you mentioned above. I think that they're just transferring it from one branch of the government to another quasi-governmental - i.e. The Basij's private arm or the Bonyads.

...But apparently all the talk of privatisation has been just hot air!

"Ali Khamenei had ordered his deputies to start privatizing state-owned businesses: the telephone company, three banks and dozens of small oil and petrochemical enterprises...Jealously guarding their own sources of power and patronage, however, his underlings all but ignored him...By November, nine months after his public scolding and almost a year and a half after Khamenei had first issued his order, almost nothing had happened. According to the Middle East Economic Digest, only two out of 240 state-owned businesses Khamenei targeted had been sold off."

[ FULL ARTICLE (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-circle31dec31,1,6012308.story?page=1&cset=true&ctrack=1&track=rss) ]