Start of Privatization Auto Industry in Spare Time

Khodrocar - During the march of 2022, The president of Iran visited IKCO and announced that privatization of auto industry is important and it became one out of 8 automotive orders. 

In that period of time, the two obstacles to the transfer of the shares of these two automobile manufacturers were the fact that the shares of these two companies were pledged in banks and the accumulated losses in their financial structures. So that currently the losses of Saipa are more than 40 thousand billion tomans and Iran Khodro is more than It has reached 83 thousand billion tomans. According to statistics, Saipa's shares currently consist of 40% shares of Inside companies, 17% of the government, 15% of the pension fund, and 7% of floating shares. Iran Khodro also has similar conditions, so that 15% of the share of this industrial group is at the disposal of pension funds, 15% at the disposal of banks and investment banks, 30% at the disposal of the private sector, 6% at the disposal of the government through the Development Organization. And 26% of this company's shares are floating.

For years, the privatization of the automobile industry has been mentioned as a way to save this industry, but until today, not only was there no determination in this regard, but the complicated structure and the shares of the companies also prevented this. The government's interference in the automobile industry reached the point where it was not even possible for the automobile manufacturer to set prices, so it is said that in the 90s and before the start of mandatory pricing in this industry, automobile manufacturers managed to earn an annual profit of 300 million dollars. This profit has turned into an annual loss of 500 million dollars with government intervention and mandatory pricing.

Therefore, measures were taken last year with the aim of reducing the losses of car manufacturers, and in the spring of last year Hossein Amir Rahimi, the deputy of the Privatization Organization, announced that what the government has in the form of shares from Saipa and Iran Khodro companies is about 17 31% is from Saipa and 5.72% from Iran Khodro, which is in the list of private organizations in 1401.

But he stated that since a part of the government's shares are held by the automobile companies as bank collateral, it is not possible to hand them over and the government should be given a chance to reform the structure and liberalize the approval of its shares.

Less than six months later, in November of last year, Hossein Gurbanzadeh, the head of the Privatization Organization, announced the lifting of the government's pledge of shares in Iran Khodro and Saipa with the approval of the Supreme Council, Article 44, and stated: eight joint meetings between Fatemi Amin, Minister of Industry Khandozi, the Minister of Economy, together with the deputy ministers of the two ministries and the representative of the stock exchange, prepared the main document for the transfer of the shares of the two car manufacturers, which will be the basis for the valuation of the shares of Iran Khodro and Saipa for the sale of the shares of Tudli and its subsidiaries.

Now, more than 10 months have passed since the announcement of this news, the spokesperson of the executive government and the government's partner in the automobile industry have announced the big problem of this industry and announced the government's decision to completely hand over this industry.

Activists of the capital market believe that it is necessary to reject the multi-thousand billion barrier and move towards privatization by making the deals of these two car manufacturers more competitive and modifying the adjustment of car prices in such a way that the conventional profit margin remains for the car manufacturer, and at the same time, the possibility of re-evaluation by car manufacturers with The goal of reforming the financial structure is also an obligation. Therefore, in their annual assembly, the car manufacturers announced a proposal to the stock exchange organization, based on which the shares will be re-evaluated in order to get these two companies out of bankruptcy. Now, it should be seen to what extent these decisions will be effective in removing the obstacles to the transfer of car manufacturers' shares from the current situation.