UK-Iran fund manager tie-up follows nuclear deal

AtomTurqoise Partners, a Tehran-based asset manager that handles over 90% of foreign portfolio investment into the Iranian stock market, has signed a deal with a UK-based emerging market fund manager to set up and distribute Iran funds.

London-based Charlemagne Capital and Turqoise announced the tie-up shortly after Iranian and western negotiators in Lausanne, Switzerland completed a “framework deal” on limiting Iran’s nuclear capacity.

The nuclear deal could lead the western powers to relieve sanctions that have isolated Iran from global financial markets, for instance by banning Iranian financial institutions from using the Swift international settlement system.

Rouzbeh Pirouz, chairman of Turqoise Partners, says his firm has “invested heavily in making Turquoise the gateway to Iran for foreign investors during the wilderness years of heavy economic sanctions”.

The firm employs more than 70 people from its headquarters in Tehran and says its domestic fund was the best performing one in the country in 2014.

Assuming sanctions relief proceeds as planned, Turqoise Partners says the Iranian economy could grow 6-8% a year.

“Charlemagne has a long history of helping our clients to invest in early stage emerging market opportunities to take advantage of the initial re-rating and growth opportunities following a change of circumstances locally,” says Jayne Sutcliffe, chief executive of Charlemagne Capital. “We believe that Iran exhibits the biggest mismatch between perception and reality that we have seen in emerging markets for 20 years.”

©2015 funds global mena

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