Italy’s Azimut seals deal to become first foreign fund to operate in Iran
An Italian asset manager purchased stakes in an Iranian ¿nancial company to become the ¿rst foreign fund house to invest in the nation’s ¿nancial sector.
Financial Times reported that Azimut, a €48-billion group headquartered in Milan, had acquired 20 percent of Mo¿d Entekhab, an Iranian asset manager, for an undisclosed sum.
“We were looking for an opportunity to invest in a very interesting market. Iran is a great story,” it quoted Sergio Albarelli, chief executive of Azimut, as saying.
Azimut said it and Mo¿d Entekhab had ensured that the partnership would be compliant with economic sanctions requirements.
Mo¿d Entekhab is part of Iran’s privately held Mo¿d Group, the largest brokerage ¿rm and ¿nancial advisory in Iran with $89 million in assets. Entekhab was carved out from its Mo¿d Securities business last year, Financial Times reported.
Azimut would buy the stake through AZ International Holdings, its Luxembourg-based unit. Azimut and Mo¿d also plan to establish a fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, for foreign investors to invest in Iran.
“Our strategic goal is now to capitalize on our track record as the leading ¿nancial intermediary in Iran and create with Azimut a benchmark for the local asset management industry,” Hamid Azaraksh, chairman of Mo¿d Securities, was quoted as saying by Financial Times.
He said his clients “will be able to access a new suite of ¿nancial advisory and wealth management services in line with the highest international standards”.
On the same front, Azimut announced in a statement posted on its website that the agreement it had signed in Tehran envisaged developing a range of investment strategies in local asset classes, building a local trained sales force to provide ¿nancial advisory and wealth management services and launching offshore funds for foreign investors.