Vice-President of Qatar-Poland Business Council, Pawel Kulaga (left) and President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Doha, Palma Libotte
Qatar’s plan to allow foreign investors to fully own listed companies reinforces the country’s strong position in attracting overseas investors, particularly from the European Union, according to officials from EU member countries’ business councils and chambers in Doha.
The draft law on full foreign ownership of listed Qatari companies has been approved by the cabinet last week. Once implemented, the move could trigger overseas inflows of about $1.5bn into listed companies that would also earn bigger representation in global benchmarks, according to investment bank EFG-Hermes.
Speaking to The Peninsula yesterday, Vice-President of Qatar-Poland Business Council Pawel Kulaga, said Qatar’s most recent investment plan reinforces the country’s already strong position in attracting EU investors. “Qatar is already a leader, because it is the most open business environment in the region.
Still, it would rank the country higher in the perception of European investors. Removing caps on foreign ownership will no doubt attract the attention of large international institutional investors.
Several equities on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) will be selected to join various ETFs and mutual funds. This will have a substantial impact on the overall Qatari capital markets and will result in a boom for existing investors and domestic financial firms.
It may also result in several new market entrants and will have a long lasting positive impact on the overall economy with an increase of foreign direct investments - including those from EU countries like Poland.
The foreign ownership limit removal will also strengthen the position of the Qatari companies listed on MSCI and S&P emerging markets indices and the FTSE Russell secondary emerging market index,” added Kulaga.
President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Doha, Palma Libotte, said the proposed law will also spur growth in Qatar’s trade relations with other countries, including Italy. “Qatar has advanced so many reforms to facilitate the country’s business environment.
And this latest proposed law to allow foreigners to own 100 percent of the capital in listed companies will encourage investments and bilateral cooperations between Italy and Qatar.
Italy has been a very strong partner of Qatar in the last years especially with many big projects in various sectors. And Qatar is a very interesting country for the Italians to invest,” said Libotte.
She went on to reiterate Qatar’s foreign property ownership law, and added: “Now, foreigners can buy property in Qatar and will be guaranteed a residency in the country. As people have developed their businesses here and have been living here for many years, they are beginning to feel that Qatar is truly their home. I see that this will further boost the investments in Qatar especially in this last year running up to the World Cup 2022. Also, a lot of major Italian companies have been contacting the Chamber and they’re trying to seize the opportunities in the Qatari market in various fields: from industrials, to real estate, technology, cyber security and even in food processing sector. We’re having a lot of requests from companies which are interested to explore the Qatari market,” added Libotte.
