Colibri Law Firm has become the first one from Central Asia to have an office in Iran, after launching in Tehran, in partnership with local outfit Gheidi & Associates.

The office follows CMS network’s Iran launch in February.

The Tehran office will be led by Colibri partner Otabek Suleimanov and Gheidi & Associates’ managing partner Nasim Gheidi. Calling post-sanctions Iran “the largest market to open up in the post-Soviet era,” Suleimanov said “we watched the Iranian market for a long time before we even considered entering Iran. It took three years to shape the right entry strategy and another year to finalise negotiations.”

The new office will advise on corporate matters, including due diligence of Iran-based assets, JV agreements, share purchase agreements, merger control issues, contractual arrangements, trade and regulatory issues and foreign investments into Iran.

Apart from Iran, Colibri has offices in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.