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Qatar replaces head of $300bn fund

©AFP
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (third from left) flanked (from L to R) by Saudi Arabia's deputy prime minister Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, UAE ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, and Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabahan during a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Riyadh on November 16, 2014.

The Qatar Investment Authority, which manages as much as $300bn including significant stakes in Barclays, Credit Suisse and London department store Harrods, has appointed a member of the Qatari royal family to replace its chief executive.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani will take over from Ahmed al-Sayed as the new head of one of the world’s most powerful sovereign wealth funds, according to the Qatar News Agency.

The change comes only a year after Mr Sayed took up the role in the days after Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani passed the reins of power of the resource-rich Gulf country to his son Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

At the time, bankers speculated the former head of Qatar Holding, the direct investment arm of the QIA, was a transitional leader of the fund and would be eventually replaced.

Businessmen in Qatar saw the replacement of Mr Sayed as part of the new emir’s attempts to place his own team into senior government positions. “This is about a spring clean against the old guard,” said a Qatari businessman.

Mr Sayed was seen as having been too close to the ex-prime minister Hamad bin Jassem, who resigned when the last emir abdicated. One banker who works on deals with QIA said the shake-up would come as a surprise to the market because Mr Sayed had been seen as gaining clout in the last few months.

Sheikh Abdullah is currently chairman of Ooredoo, a Gulf telecoms company, and a former chief of the royal court.

The QIA has emerged as one of the world’s most assertive investors since it was founded by the Gulf state in 2005 with a mandate to use the country’s gas riches to invest in a diversified portfolio of long-term holdings.

But its ascendence as one of the top investors globally has not been without criticism.

The QIA is ranked as the least transparent and least likely to comply with corporate governance norms among the 31 sovereign wealth funds signed up to the Santiago Principles, according to an October survey by consultancy GeoEconomica.

The leadership transition also comes as QIA is entrenched in a closely-fought takeover battle for the east London business district Canary Wharf.

QIA is the largest shareholder in the Wharf’s majority owner, Songbird Estates, and recently linked up with Canadian property investors Brookfield to make a £2.2bn bid for the company.

The bid was rejected and the pair are now considering whether to make a further move before Thursday evening, when their offer period runs out.

Two QIA representatives are on the Songbird board.

Earlier this week the QIA complained to Songbird chairman David Pritchard about the involvement of a board member in the deal negotiations. Alex Midgen, who has been on the Songbird board since 2004, is also advising the shareholders on the takeover. The QIA is concerned this is a conflict of interest.

In a recent addition to its portfolio of holdings, the QIA agreed to buy HSBC’s global headquarters for £1.1bn, the largest transaction for a single building in the history of the London market.

Additional reporting by Anne-Sylvaine Chassany and Roula Khalaf


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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