Iran approves €1.5bn bond issue plan
Reuters - World News
Oct 26, 2009

Iran Government has approved a plan to issue a bond worth up to €1.5 billion on international markets to help finance priority development projects, state broadcaster Irib reported on Monday.

The proposal was made by the Economy Ministry and Central Bank, Irib said, without giving details.

Iran has earlier announced plans to issue bonds to help fund development of its energy sector.

In a separate report yesterday, Irib said Iran would soon issue $250 million in bonds as part of financing to help boost petrol production at its Abadan refinery.

It was not immediately clear whether it was the same planned issue.

Iran is the world's fifth-largest crude exporter but lacks sufficient refining capacity to meet its petrol needs, leaving it vulnerable to any Western sanctions targeting such trade.

A senior Iranian energy official earlier this month said Iran planned to issue bonds worth €1bn for the development of the South Pars natural gas field in the PERSIAN Gulf.

The bonds for the development of the offshore South Pars field would be offered to Iranians living abroad as well as to foreign investors, Iranian media reported in July.

Iran has picked a state bank, Bank Mellat, as lead manager for the issue. Details of the maturities of the bonds were not available.

In May, an Iranian state firm said Iran planned to issue $12.3bn of foreign currency and rial-denominated bonds over the next three years to help finance South Pars, the world's largest pure gas reservoir.

For years Iran has struggled to develop its huge reserves and like the rest of the world has had to contend with an international lack of credit, as well as problems specific to the Islamic Republic.

Iran has increasingly turned to Asia, whose energy demand is expected to outpace that in the developed world.

Western companies are wary of investing in the Islamic state for fear of sanctions.

Email this article
Printer friendly page

Top of Page