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Tuesday, 28 October 2014 01:39 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
“In Sri Lanka, we do not want to start any new development or construction projects but are looking for outright purchase of completed and implementation ready assets as our entry strategy. We are also looking to invest in Colombo’s share market,” said Qatar Holding Head of Industrials and TMT Investments Mohammad Saif Al Suwaidi yesterday.
Al Suwaidi, who is in Colombo with his three-member investment team, was addressing Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen during a courtesy call. Also present were Department of Commerce DG R.D.S. Kumararatne and other DoC officials.
Qatar Holding LLC (QH) is the powerful global investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which is well-known and also called the Qatar Fund. QIA is the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the Gulf Cooperation Council region after Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).
QIA’s QH was established in 2006. QH invests internationally and locally in strategic private and public equity as well as in other direct investments, and is considered to have a high profile global outreach. Among QH’s diverse international holdings are the UK retailer Sainsbury, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Bank of America and Agricultural Bank of China. Its Credit Suisse stake is reportedly 6%.
“We started to work closely with Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the end of war in 2009-2010. We are under a sovereign wealth fund but very much of a commercial operation, looking for the best RoI for our investors. Around 85% of our portfolio consists of overseas investments while the rest is concentrated on Qatar. We have investments in 30 countries. Our equity is from Qatari citizens’ savings and therefore we are responsible to report back best returns for them,” said Al Suwaidi.
He added: “We mostly prefer to deal with Sri Lanka’s large corporates, rather than medium or small scale firms. We are interested in buying completed real estates and properties. For example, a completed resort hotel here or some such finished real estate projects. We are especially keen on shopping malls and shopping arcades ready for implementation. Our minimum overseas investments rounds are $ 100-$ 150 million per project, not less. We are even ready for higher values. When it comes to investment projects, QIA has lots of interest in Sri Lanka’s tourism infrastructure, as well as Government/public-owned institutions such as State-Owned business enterprises put up for sale to private investors.”
“Qatar-Sri Lanka bilateral relations have advanced to new levels since I led a 10-member strong high level delegation to this September’s Joint Economic Cooperation session in Doha. We are pleased of the successful outcomes from the sessions,” said Bathiudeen.
He added: “We welcome QH’s investment attention on Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is ready to extend fullest support to QH’s FDI efforts here. Thanks to the vision of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, FDI to Sri Lanka in the first half of 2014 exceeded $ 210 m, increasing by 51%. At present, we are on a drive to enhance tourism infrastructure and QH could find opportunities in it as well as our surging stock market. Even dairy farming is a prospective sector. New highways, wind power and hydro power projects in the country would be other opportunities for QH here. As for the share market, this is a good time since after three years, our stock market crossed the 7,000 points mark this August.”
Qatar is the world’s richest country. The wide availability of oil and gas reserves has made Qatar the world’s highest per capita income country. In 2013, the State of Qatar topped the World Bank’s GDP per capita (on purchasing power parity) list, with a per capita value of $ 131,758. In 2013, Qatar-Sri Lanka bilateral trade stood
