TEHRAN (Financial Times) - An Italian asset manager has become the first foreign investment group to buy a stake in an Iranian financial company.
 Azimut, a €48bn group headquartered in Milan, is to acquire 20 per cent of Mofid 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,” said Sergio Albarelli, chief executive of Azimut.
"There is nothing we can do or expect, either positive or negative,” he said in reference to Mr Trump’s comments that he would try to derail the 2015 agreement nuclear deal. Iran, the second-largest economy in the Middle East with a population of around 78m, is an attractive market to foreign investors because of its large oil, gas and mineral reserves and its need for infrastructure. Its educated and affluent populace is also a tempting prospect for financial services groups and Tehran, keen to win foreign investment, has been wooing European asset managers, sovereign wealth funds and pension funds.
Azimut said it and Mofid have ensured that the partnership will be compliant with economic sanctions requirements. Mofid Entekhab is part of Iran’s privately held Mofid Group, a holding company with $89m in assets. Entekhab, the asset management business, was carved out from its Mofid Securities business last year. Azimut will buy the stake through AZ International Holdings, its Luxembourg-based unit.
Azimut and Mofid 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 financial intermediary in Iran and create with Azimut a benchmark for the local asset management industry,” said Hamid Azaraksh, chairman of Mofid Securities. He said his clients "will be able to access a new suite of financial advisory and wealth management services in line with the highest international standards”.