Iran’s Setad’s holdings worth billions

The head of Setad’s real-estate division said at a ceremony in 2008 that the unit was worth about $52 billion (Dh141 billion). The value of Iran’s currency has plunged since then, while property values have soared. The property portfolio has also changed, so its current value is hard to establish. Setad regularly conducts large auctions of its real estate — at least 59 to date, according to a review of Iranian newspaper advertisements and auction websites. One recent auction took place in May, when nearly 300 properties went on the block — including houses, stores, tracts of farmland and even a spa-and-pool complex in Tehran. The required opening bids totaled about $88 million, based on the official exchange rate that month.

An investment unit worth billions

In June, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Setad and 37 companies it controls over the organisation’s alleged role in “assisting the Iranian Government’s circumvention of US and international sanctions.” The Treasury also said Setad played a role in “generating revenue for the Iranian leadership,” and that one of its investment companies alone was worth about $40 billion in late 2010.