Press Release by First Persia Equity Fund Ltd

First Persia Equity Fund Ltd today announced the re-opening of the First Persia Equity Fund from April 13 to June 18, 2008. The First Persia Equity Fund is the World's only Iran country fund authorized for foreign investment in Tehran's booming (+3.9% year-to-date) stock market by the Iranian Government. Set up in July 2007 with an initial capital of 34 million Euros, the First Persia Equity Fund has established an enviable track record, rising by 2.5% since inception, one of the few long only equity funds launched anywhere last summer to still be in positive territory. The First Persia Equity Fund portfolio has also outperformed the main Tehran index, the TEPIX, in every month since it started trading.

Mr Fazlollah Moazzami, Chief Investment Officer of the Fund, commented "Based on current year multiples of 4 or 5 times, dividend yields of 12-14% and earnings growth of 15-17%, the Tehran stock market offers some of the most compelling valuations in the Emerging Market space".

Stephen Austen, Director of the Fund, added "The privatization program in Iran offers some extraordinary opportunities for medium term investors to gain attractively priced exposure to some of the most exciting sectors in the region such as Petrochemicals, Banking, Mining, Steel Production and Refining".

The Fund is managed in Tehran by Mehr Cayman Limited, a new investment boutique focused on the facilitation of foreign investment in the full range of asset classes in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The First Persia Equity Fund is licensed by the Iranian Ministry of Finance under the Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Act (FIPPA) framework under which foreigners' title to the underlying assets is guaranteed by the Iranian Government and access to foreign currency upon exit is underwritten by the Central Bank of Iran
 

... Payvand News - 04/15/08 ...