By Satish Kanady
DOHA: After facing the 2008 financial crisis shake-up, the GCC’s Asset Management Industry is slowly picking up, and Qatar is showing strong signs.
With the country entering into the next phase of infrastructure investment, Qatar is set to emerge as one of the best destinations of fund managers, a top market analyst told The Peninsula.
Qatar became an attractive investment destination not only because of its phenomenal growth story, but the investment cycle is going on both internationally and domestically; internationally in terms of acquiring and domestically in terms of infrastructure.
Any country with growing rapidly in terms of GDP per capita is clearly an interesting destination in terms of investment perspective, MD of Asset Management at Arqaam Capital Dr Amin Kholy (pictured) said.
The 2008-2010 periods were difficult for the GCC’s asset management industry, when the regional economy wobbled during the global meltdown. The region’s infantile asset management industry, across all its classes, faced a major shake-up and the fund raising had effectively come to a halt. “I would say now we are at the bottom of the cycle and will definitely pick up aggressively in short-term,” he said.
“Qatar is making very focused and specific efforts to attract the fund managers. The large names in investment industry like Barclays have already made its entry to Qatar. You will soon see many other names in the industry making their way to Qatar... We understand many other major names in the investment industry are waiting to see how things will take shape in the country.”
But one of the challenges that face the investors in Qatar is the lack of diversity in the market. The presence of service sector and consumer sector companies is very limited in the market. This is a huge distraction for foreign investors.
Fixed income and private equity are the two most growing asset classes in the region. PE was negligible in size until recently. This sector is fast picking up. In Qatar, PE forms the major component of its Asset Management Industry.
According to June 2012 data, of the $625.5m Mututal Funds being managed by over 12 entities in Qatar, $413.5m accounts for the PE class. Qatar Investment Fund, managed by Epicure Managers Qatar, has the maximum asset under management (AuM)—$227.8n. In terms of volume the EFH Global Sukuk Plus, managed by Qatar Islamic Bank UK is managing $213m under Fixed Income. The Peninsula
