Bahrain grants license to Lazard Asset Management

Lazard Asset Management provides investment management and advisory services to institutional clients, financial intermediaries and private clients around the world. Its goal is to produce superior risk-adjusted investment returns and provide customised solutions for its clients. It has operations in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Lazard Asset Management will provide asset management advice to clients located in Bahrain and the wider GCC, including both conventional and Shari'a compliant products and services. The representative office in Bahrain will be managed by Edward Remington-Hobbs, Lazard Asset Management's Director of Client Service & Business Development for the Middle East. He will report to Bill Smith, Head of Lazard Asset Management's London office.

The licence was formally ratified at a meeting in Manama hosted by Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, Chief Executive of the Economic Development Board of Bahrain (EDB) and attended by Bill Smith, Edward Remington-Hobbs and Mr Rasheed Al-Maraj, Governor of CBB, Mr Mohammed Ayman Al Tajer, Director of Financial Institutions, CBB, and Mr Ahmed Bassam, Director of Licensing, CBB. The EDB has played an active role in facilitating the establishment of Lazard Asset Management's presence in the Kingdom.

Bill Smith, Head of Lazard Asset Management's London office, commented: "Lazard Asset Management has been managing mandates for clients in the Middle East for a number of years, and it has been our intention for some time to establish a presence in the region. We have been delighted with the relationships we have built with many investors in the Middle East. Our new Bahrain office gives us the opportunity to develop these relationships further."

Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, Chief Executive of the Economic Development Board of Bahrain said: "The EDB is delighted to welcome Lazard Asset Management, one of the world's preeminent asset management firms to Bahrain. One of our key objectives is to work with leading businesses such as Lazard Asset Management to encourage them to set up in the Kingdom."

He added: "This move by Lazard Asset Management endorses our position as the natural choice for asset management advisers looking to develop their Gulf business in response to growing regional demand."

Ashish Bhutani, Chief Executive of Lazard Asset Management added: "We are very pleased about this latest development in our continuing strategy to expand our global footprint and range of world class investment solutions for our clients."