Cool reception for Iran bank flotation

Bank Mellat, Iran’s third-largest bank, has at last made it into the private sector – officially, at least.

But its lukewarm response from investors is likely to ring warning bells for other banks lined up for Iranian-style privatisation.

Bank Mellat, which has $1.3bn (€1bn, £900m) in capital and says it holds about 15 per cent of Iran’s loans and deposits, became the first state-owned bank to embark on privatisation when it offered 5 per cent of its shares on the Tehran stock exchange last Wednesday.