Allianz Global Investors has chosen Bahrain for its Middle Eastern office and is set to launch two Sharia-compliant equity funds for the region.

Allianz Global Investors is the asset management arm of the Allianz Group, one of the world's top five active asset managers with $1.4 trillion under management.

The company has opened the office to offer market-leading investment products and services to investors across the Middle East to complement its growing and successful businesses in Europe, Asia and the US.

As part of its long-term strategy and commitment to Middle Eastern clients, Allianz Global Investors will base its operations in a new permanent representative office in Bahrain, which will be led by chief representative and head of business development Middle East & North Africa Sami Zghal.

He is a long-standing and senior Allianz Global Investors employee, who was previously based in the firm's Paris office.

The two Sharia-compliant equity funds are the Allianz RCM Islamic Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund and the Allianz RCM Islamic Global Equity Opportunities Fund.

The funds are based on two highly-successful strategies offered by the firm, the Allianz RCM Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund and the RCM Global Equity Unconstrained Sharia strategy.

"We are very excited to be opening an office in Bahrain as well as launching two Sharia-compliant funds, specifically designed for clients in the Middle East," said fund distribution head Nick Smith.

"We are committed to building a long-term business in the region by offering the best of our global asset management capabilities together with a very high level of local service.

"We believe that clients increasingly want access to the most sophisticated asset management expertise whether applied to well-established funds investing in core areas, or applied to newer, more innovative funds investing in specialist areas.

"The size and scope of our resources allow us to offer funds and services right along this spectrum. We also pride ourselves on listening to clients and providing tailored solutions where appropriate."

"We are launching the new equity funds now for two reasons," he said.

"Firstly, we believe that there is growing demand over the long term for Sharia-compliant funds, especially those based on proven strategies investing in promising areas.

Secondly, we believe that recent equity market corrections have provided a good entry point for investors. Although we may see some volatility in the short term, our medium to long-term view on equities is very positive.

"We have also chosen the strategies very carefully to provide access to some of the best investment opportunities globally. To enable the funds to get to a sufficient size quickly, we have seeded each one with $50m," said Smith.-TradeArabia News Service