Al-Mansoori addressing the London Investors’ Forum. The all-round strength of the Qatar story means portfolio investors continue to view Qatar as an exciting investment opportunity, he said.
An exchange traded fund (ETF) based on government fixed income risk from an Asian borrower, which is among three such funds, is all set to be listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), apart from new listings in the main as well as the junior bourse for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Moreover, efforts are on to establish an ‘on-exchange’ market for private companies (similar in concept to the recently announce Nasdaq model) and corporate bonds to complement the existing government and T-bills market.
These were announced by QSE chief executive Rashid bin Ali al-Mansoori at the recently concluded London Investors’ Forum where the bourse showcased 15 of its leading listed firms before more than 50 fund managers from 30 major international institutions.
Highlighting that the QSE is working on three live ETF projects, al-Mansoori said one of these will be an ETF based on government fixed income risk from an Asian borrower, the second product is likely to be an ETF based on a representative Qatar-country index and the third a Shariah-compliant product.
Doha Bank and Masraf Al Rayan have already made their intentions open on designing the ETFs that are to be traded on the QSE but no further details were made available.
“In the immediate future, the strategy will centre on our two core objectives of capital formation represented by new listings on the main market and developing the SME sector through a dedicated market (the QE Venture Market); investigating an ‘on-exchange’ market for private companies (similar in concept to the recently announced Nasdaq model) and corporate bonds to complement the existing government and T-bill market,” al-Mansoori said.
Despite the well-documented fall in oil prices, he said the all-round strength of the Qatar story means portfolio investors continue to view Qatar as an exciting investment opportunity, a fact that has been reflected in the enthusiastic response to the forum.
“Real GDP (gross domestic product) growth, forecast to be in excess of 7.5%, will remain higher than our Gulf Cooperation Council counterparts (and our new peer group in the broader emerging markets) in part supported by strong population growth which will boost aggregate demand,” al-Mansoori said, terming Qatar as “distinctive investment destination”.
QNB, Doha Bank, Commercial Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Ooredoo, Industries Qatar, Mesaieed Petrochemical Company, Gulf International Services, Vodafone Qatar, United Development Company, Al Khaliji, Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar Insurance, Nakilat and Milaha represented blue-chip investment opportunities in the Qatari market at the
forum.
