QATARI INVESTMENTS ABROAD STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is Qatari's Sovereign Wealth Fund, specializing in domestic and foreign investments. It was founded in 2005 to manage the oild and natural gas surpluses by the Government of Qatar. The Qatari sovereign wealth fund is worth more than $ 100 billion, the 14th largest in the world behind those of such countries as Abu Dhabi, China, Kuwait and Russia. As a result of its stated strategy to minimize risk from Qatar’s reliance on energy prices, the fund predominantly invests in international markets (United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and within Qatar outside the energy sector. Its investment portfolio is, not surprisingly, diversified and includes stocks in first-class financial institutions and international companies covering an array of sectors, from real estate to jewelry.

In the last decade, Qatar has emerged as a major player in the European economy, seeing the Euro crisis as an opportunity to invest further in business, infrastructure and luxury real estate media, fashion, petrochemicals and financial institutions across Europe, including Greece, Italy, France, Germany , and Britain.

Large stakes in household names in financial services such as Credit Suisse, Barclays, the London Stock Exchange are as much a part of the QIA’s portfolio as Volkswagen, Porsche, LVMH,  LeTanneur, Sainsbury’s, Harrods, Xstrata. Other well-publicized investments include stakes in Total, Royal Dutch Shell, Total,  Lagardere , France Telecom , Vivendi , Veolia Environnement , Vinci, BAA the owner of the London ‘s Heathrow airport. Its real estate investments include the Shard, Chelsea Barracks (Residential development), Grosvenor Waterside (Residential), Olympic Village (East Village), Shell Centery, Chancery Building-US Embassy in London , House of Fraser (under review) prestigious hotels in Paris (Royal Monceau, Peninsula) and on the French Riviera, Le Lido in Paris, Casinos, hotels in Italy and Switzerland, sports clubs (Paris St Germain, Paris handball) etc.. etc.

Investment strategy

The QIA pursues a multi-dimensional investment strategy, consisting of the following targets:

• Strategic investments used to gain stakes in multinational corporations, which provide not only access to capabilities and knowledge, furthering the broad ambitions of Qatar, but also strengthen the country’s exposure to key economies, supporting the brand on an international level.
• Opportunistic assets acquired through leveraging Qatar’s investment surplus and proprietary access to deals allow them to cash in on opportunistic investments.
• Trophy assets which are primarily driven by branding and long-term benefits, rather than solely profit maximization objectives.
• Investments with longer term horizons undertaken to strengthen inter-governmental relationships.

The estimated $ 30 to $ 40 billion of investment surplus has available to invest on an annual basis makes it ideally positioned to take advantage of emerging opportunities and make significant direct investments.

Structure

1. Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company (Qatari Diar). Qatari Diar was formed in 2005 and is wholly owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which belongs to the State of Qatar. Qatari Diar is the main player in Qatar’s urban development projects and in property development operations carried out abroad on behalf of the State of Qatar. Qatari Diar is present in more than 20 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and South America.
2. Qatar Holding (QH). Qatar Holding is an indirect subsidiary of QIA established in 2006. Qatar Holding invests internationally and locally in strategic private and public equity as well as in other direct investments. Qatar Holding seeks for its portfolio leading worldwide companies and diversifies its investments over a wide range of sectors e.g. financial services, commodities, industrial, real estate, technology or other fields.

France

• Lagardère 12.83%
• Total 5%
• LVMH 1%
• Vivendi 2%
• France Telecom 1%
• Veolia Environnement 4.7%
• Vinci 7%

Germany

• Volkswagen 17%
• Hochtief 9.10%

Greece

• Eurobank EFG & Alpha Bank

Spain-Brazil

• Santander-Brazil 5%
• Iberdrola 8.40%

Switzerland

• XStrata 7.76%
• Credit Suisse 8.9%

United Kingdom

• Barclays 6.33%
• J. Sainsbury 26%
• Harrods 100%
• Goldfields 10%
• Songbird Estates 24%

3. Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). Qatar Sports Investments was founded in 2005 as a 100% Qatari private shareholding company, which specializes in sports and leisure industries. OSI ambition is to invest in profit-bearing projects within Qatar but also internationally. Revenues from these ventures are to be reinvested into Qatar’s sport, leisure and entertainment sectors to benefit the community as a whole.

4. Qatar Luxury Group (QLG). Qatar Luxury Group is owned by Qatar Foundation. The Group was created to build and foster luxury brands in the fashion, hospitality and lifestyle sectors for an international audience.