This ex-Deutsche Bank tech expert quit his job to risk everything on Iran's coming economic boom
Xanyar Kamangar, who left his investment banking job at Deutsche Bank to start Iran's first private-equity firm able to take foreign investment, wants to be ready for when it happens.
His schedule is hectic. Here's a typical weekly itinerary for Kamangar:
Monday - Tehran
Tuesday - Dubai
Wednesday - Doha
Thursday - Dubai
Friday - London
"Let's just say it's been really intense," Kamangar said in an interview in London.
There's a good reason for why Kamangar has a hectic schedule - Iran's economy is set to get a boost from a deal to lift sanctions and he wants to be ready before it happens.
With an initial investment of $10 million (£6.5 million), Kamangar left his job last year in Deutsche Bank's technology and telecoms team, where he had spent eight years putting together financing deals for clients such as Vodafone, and set up Griffon Capital.
The aim is for the firm to manage funds that act as a central channel of foreign investment into Iran, focusing on the boost to the country's consumer and tech industries when the sanctions lift. Before then, foreigners are barred from investing.
Kamangar said the firm, which he founded with four others and employs around 20 people, has "paid an arm and a leg" to lawyers to find a sanctions-compliant structure that can launch as soon as restrictions on cross-border finance deals into Iran gets lifted.
With the nuclear signed earlier this year between Iran and the US, Kamangar expects this to happen sometime between December and March next year.
"You gain exposure to the market, before the market opens. When that digital event happens, the lifting of the sanctions, you're already there. And you get a benefit from the credit rerating that everyone expects to happen," said Kamangar.
And it could be a serious boost.
The International Monetary Fund has said Iran's economy could hit a 5.5% growth rate next year. Here's the key passage (emphasis ours) in a report on the Middle East published earlier this month:
Estimates of the growth impact, based on analysis of the Iranian economy, suggest that domestic economic activity could accelerate markedly following sanctions relief. Real GDP growth could rise up to 5.5% in 2016/17 and 2017/18, while hovering around 3.5% - 4% annually in the years after.
Here's what that looks like:
