A Few Reflections on the Mechanism and Legal Nature of Profit-sharing Securities Issued by State Organizations, State - controlled and Private Companies

In the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution and due to doubts cast on the usurious character of interests on debenture bonds, the Iranian legislator was led to replace the latters by the so-called profit-sharing securities (ORAGHE MOSHAREKAT). The enactment, of the law and regulation, (in 1997 and 1998) concerning the issuing of profit-sharing securities has given rise to doctrinal discussions regarding the mechanism and legal nature of these kinds of securities. In fact, the question is whether or not these new sorts of securities are identical in nature to the old debenture bonds. The objective of the present article is to consider, firstly the mechanism and secondly the legal nature of the profit-sharing securities.