New Bylaw of Foreign Investment in Iran

The government of Iran ratified the new bylaw of foreign investment in the country’s exchanges and OTC markets. Efforts have been made to gradually eliminate the complications and constraints for foreign investors in the Iranian capital market. Based on the new bylaw, the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran will be obliged to issue the trading license in seven working days after receiving the entire application documents. Each foreign individual or entity will be allowed to acquire up to 10 percent of a listed issuer’s equities, as a non-strategic investor. Those applicants, who submit their request for more than this value, will be considered as strategic investors. In the new bylaw, the non-strategic foreign investors will face no impediments for selling their acquired shares in the market, and will be treated with the existing market regulations. However, for strategic foreign investors, the repatriation period of capital will be two years from the buying date.