Sovereign expansion

11 September 2012 By Una Galani Follow @ugalani

The Gulf state has expanded its economic and political reach with direct investments through its sovereign fund. Now bankers are licking their lips anticipating an M&A wave as Qatar is set to consolidate its influence by supporting the international expansion of homegrown firms.

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Qatar National Bank is in talks to buy Societe Generale’s 77 percent stake in its Egyptian subsidiary NSGB, the country’s second largest bank by market value. The Qatari bank has recently doubled its stake in UAE-based Commercial Bank International to 39.9 percent.
Other recent acquisitions this year by the Gulf bank include the purchase of a 51 percent stake in Iraq’s Mansour Bank and 49 percent of Libya’s Bank of Commerce and Development. Earlier this year, QNB made an offer to buy Turkey’s Denizbank but was outbid by Russia’s Sberbank.
In August, Qatar Telecom offered to pay $2.2 billion to buy the remaining 47.5 percent stake it does not already own in Kuwaiti telecom company Wataniya. In June, Qtel took control of Iraq’s second biggest mobile operator Asiacell by doubling its stake to 54 percent. The telecom operator completed a $1.9 billion rights issue in May.
QNB is 50 percent owned by the government, which also owns 55 percent of Qtel.
The Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has $30 billion to invest in 2012, board member Hussain Al Abdulla said in April.

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