Page 39 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Iran Dec17

for IRR7tn Sukuk bonds issue
few months, the Financial Tribune reported on September 14.
The bond issue, the biggest in the 55-year history of the company, is expected to raise the financial viability of the enterprise. It has large debts owed to the state and parts makers alike.
Company officials have not yet stated when the Sukuk financial certificates will be issued on the Tehran Stock Exchange. However, it is expected that they will have a four-year maturity and will have a coupon of 18%, according to sources close to the issuance.
IKCO’s competitor, second largest Iranian vehicle maker SAIPA, last November raised IRR5tn ($128mn) from a bond issue.
The IKCO bond must meet current Iranian regulations on usury, which is banned under Iran’s post-revolutionary banking regulations.
The issues of both firms are arranged in a similar fashion to a rent-to-own arrangement, where an intermediary retains ownership of the property until the loan is paid off in full at a later date.
9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Uzbekistan is reportedly interested in buying crude oil from Iran. The prospect emerged following a meeting between Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov and Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, SHANA Energy News Network reported on October 18. The Central Asian doubly landlocked nation, under the new leadership of reformist President Shavkat Mirzyoyev, is looking to increase trade with Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) neighbours and, a little further afield, with Iran. Zangeneh said that “high-ranking” Tashkent oil officials will come to Tehran in the near future to develop the oil deal-making. “This Central Asian country needs to import this strategic product given its restricted amount of crude output,” he added. Kamilov also paid a visit to President Hassan Rouhani. The two men discussed broadening economic ties further.
Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has declared that the Islamic Republic remains willing to negotiate oil and gas deals with US enterprises despite the continued hostility shown to the country and the nuclear deal by American President Donald Trump , M ehr News Agency reported on October 17. “We are prepared to negotiate with American corporations on developing petroleum and gas resources. Mr Trump does not need to feel so concerned about this,” the minister said following a meeting with South Korean Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi. There is some concern among US investors that Trump's position on Iran, and threats to scrap the nuclear deal if Congress does not find a way to change it to his liking, means that, unchallenged by American competitors, European, Russian, Chinese, South Korean and other investors have poured into Iran to
39 IRAN Country Report November 2017 www.intellinews.com