The offer, the first major IPO in Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, will test investor confidence in an economy that is struggling to recover from years of war, political instability and financial sanctions.
Mobile telephone operator Asiacell, in which Qtel owns 54 percent, will sell 67.503 billion shares at a price of at least 22 Iraqi dinars ($0.02) per share in the offer, which starts on January 3, it said in a statement on December 25.
Asiacell and its two rivals in Iraq, Zain Iraq and Korek, must raise funds through IPOs as a condition of receiving their $1.25 billion operating licences from the government.
All three companies missed an earlier deadline of August 2011 to do so, and Asiacell is now set to be the first to float on the Iraqi bourse.
Asiacell, which claims to have a 43 percent share of revenues in the mobile phone market and 9.9 million subscribers, said founding shareholders of the company would offer their shares for sale in the IPO, but did not specify if parent Qtel would sell part of its stake.
The offer may be difficult to absorb for the stock market, which has a total capitalisation of only slightly more than $4 billion, and which trades around $3.3 million daily.