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Foreign firms prepare to dive into Iran’s lucrative private equity market

Foreign businesses are scouring Iran in search of investment opportunities when sanctions are finally lifted based on the deal reached on the country's nuclear program.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. 

Investors look at a computer screen supplying stock market information about listed companies on the Tehran stock exchange September 15, 2010. While U.S. diplomats were busy upping Iran's economic punishment over nuclear activities Washington fears are aimed at making a bomb, Iranian shares, which might have been expected to fall, have, instead, gone through the r

TEHRAN — Hotels in the Iranian capital are all booked, hosting an array of bargain-hunting foreign investors in one of the world's biggest untapped markets. As Iran and six world powers have finally clinched a deal on Iran's nuclear program, the road is paved for positive economic momentum. With the most crucial systemic risk to investment no longer squeezing the insulated Iranian stock market, many institutional investors are gauging sectors in which to pump fresh capital.

At present, given the hitherto wobbly Iranian economy, most stocks have notched rock-bottom values. Listed companies are grappling with the country’s recession and credit crunch, and trade volume and value have recently reached a dramatic low. The Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) benchmark in particular has had a bumpy ride since the beginning of the current Iranian year, which began March 21. In recent months, investors shored up their portfolios in search of gains on speculation about a nuclear deal, with TEDPIX, the main index, soaring around 6% during the month ending July 22.

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