Argent Financial Group International, the UK hedge fund manager, has been licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority to operate in t...

Argent Financial Group International, the UK hedge fund manager, has been licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority to operate in the region. The move represents the first foreign hedge fund firm to open in the DIFC. Argent Financial Group International is a UK subsidiary of the Argent Financial Group and an affiliate of the Argent Funds Group. The Constans Crescent Investment Fund, which will be launched from the DIFC in April 2006, will focus on investment opportunities in the greater Middle East/North Africa/South Asia region. The Fund primarily invests in a broad range of publicly-listed securities across the capital structure of selected corporates, in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Levant, North Africa, Turkey and Pakistan. Argent Financial Group joins Morgan Stanely and Credit Suisse in the DIFC, while more recent arrivals include the international private banking division of Lloyds TSB Bank, which opened in December last year, and the Austrian group Superfund Investment Group, which launched an office there just over a month ago. Howard Leedham, senior managing director of Argent Financial Group said in a statement: “The incredible vision to 'build it and they will come' is being verified with the arrival of every Emirates Airline flight. The creation of a 'zero-tax', financial city with its own international regulatory and legal standing, ready to serve the countries of the GCC and beyond is innovative and efficient.” The Argent group of companies currently manages in the region of $2.5 billion in assets over various strategies for onshore and offshore investors. It now operates funds from offices in London, the US, Bermuda, and has a financial analyst platform in Mumbai.