Azerbaijan, Baku, July 25/ Trend M. Moezzi
The Iranian government has transferred ownership of a hotel group to its Social Security Organisation (SSO) and will use the money to buy aircraft.
A subsidiary of Iran's national airline Iran Air, the Homa Hotel Group has five hotels across Iran, Fars news agency reports.
Three stock offerings for the hotel group failed to attract buyers. So the government has decided to transfer the property to the SSO in order to settle some of its debt to the organisation.
Some preconditions to the sale have changed. For example the hotels' parking lots were previously included in the sale, but will be sold separately. In the previous offerings, the buyer didn't have the right to use the Homa Hotel Group's brand, but now has the right to do so.
The Homa Hotel Group is valued at $533 million (USD). Iran Air can use $407 million of that money to buy aircraft.
In April it was reported the Iranian government had paid $28.5 billion to settle its debts to the SSO. The payment was made in the form of transferring shares from companies, hotels and banks to the Social Security Organisation.