MENA Asset Management Survey 2012 - National Bank of Abu Dhabi

Qatar
Purpose Vehicle for a Sukuk issue or a family will be able manage its affairs effectively in
Qatar rather than needing to find a solution outside the country.
Evidence that the attractiveness of Qatar’s asset management platform is
increasingly being recognised and that the QFC Authority’s strategy is bearing fruit
came in April 2012 when the Qatar Asset Management Company, a collaboration
between the QFC Authority and the Qatar Investment Authority, agreed to co-invest
US$250 million with Barclays Natural Resource Investments (BNRI), a subsidiary of
Barclays plc. BNRI is managing its portfolio from the QFC and members of the BNRI
team are working in Doha.
More recently, the creation of Aventicum Capital, the asset management joint venture
between Credit Suisse and Qatar Holding, is another milestone that illustrates the
opportunities prevalent in the region. It will have one division based in Doha which will be
licensed by the Qatar Financial Centre and focus on investment strategies in the Middle
East, Turkey and other frontier markets. The other division, which will concentrate on
international business, will be based outside the region. Both, however, will serve clients
worldwide.
Meanwhile, QInvest, a QFC licensed firm, has acquired EFG Hermes, the Cairo-based
regional investment bank, to create the leading investment bank in the Arab world.
QInvest expects to further expand its asset its asset management business out of Qatar.
It is pleasing to see that Qatar’s drive to ensure transparency in its regulatory, tax and
legal environment and its success in becoming a place to do business is attracting
increasing international recognition. The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness
Report 2012-2013 ranked Qatar as the world’s 11th most business-friendly country, the
highest ranking in the Middle and up three places from the year before. The latest Global
Financial Centres Index indicates that Qatar has risen by three places in the rankings.
The Qatar Financial Centre continues to welcome a broad range of financial sector
firms to the extent that the QFC Authority has now licensed nearly 170 firms since its
inception. During the last 12 months we have seen a sharp rise in interest from firms
from all over the world, including from Qatari ones, which see the value of the Qatar
Financial Centre as a platform from which to conduct their regional and international
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