IslamicFinance.de

Qatar's QINVEST announced its end of year results for 2017. Revenues from all business lines amounted to QR368.6m ($101.3m), resulting in operating profit of QR177.3m ($48.7m) and net profit of QR65.9m ($18.1m). The group’s global assets stood at QR4.45bn ($1.22bn) as of 31 December 2017. QINVEST has continued to enjoy a strong liquidity position of $120m as of December 2017. The company has also taken the decision to early adopt IFRS9 accounting standard, reducing future volatility from its reported results. The firm launched two income-generating Ijara funds in 2017 and both were oversubscribed. QINVEST will look to launch the third in the series of the Ijarah funds during 2018 to meet market demand.

Qatar’s QInvest is set to reinforce its presence in Turkey. Head of Asset Management at QInvest, Dr Ataf Ahmed is seeing huge opportunities in various asset classes in Turkey. In 2016, QInvest acquired ERGO Portfoy, rebranded as QInvestPortfoy and became a leading asset management group in Turkey. The company is also seeing opportunities within Emerging Markets (EM) equities, despite the inherent volatility of the asset class. Inflation is coming in under control and there are a number of positive surprises in economic growth. There is also exposure to broader EM within some of the global funds and mandates, however this represents approximately 10% of total assets across all QInvest funds. In the GCC region businesses have adjusted to low oil prices. According to Ahmed, GCC nations are reinforcing their plans to diversify the economies, moving into sectors like finance, trade and tourism.

#Qatar's QInvest has invested in OneOcean Port Vell in Barcelona, Spain. Originally built for the 1992 Olympic Games, the marina recently completed its transformation to a luxury facility, creating the ultimate destination for yachts up to 190m. QInvest will work with the city and port authorities in Barcelona to increase the profile of the marina by investing additional resources in the port infrastructure. OneOcean Port Vell is QInvest's second investment in Spain this year, having earlier invested into a Spanish real estate strategy focused on land developments in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Marbella. The objective is to acquire well-located land parcels across Spain and develop residential apartments for first home owners. QInvest’s revenues from all business lines were QR209mn, resulting in an operating profit of QR113mn and net profit of QR34.6mn in the first half of this year. The bank’s global assets stood at QR4.7bn at the end of June 30, 2017.

Qatari investors are increasingly looking for opportunites in the booming US propery market. Just Real Estate (JRE) has recently launched its new US portfolio, while QInvest announced its US mulitifamily residential-focused real estate fund Magnolia Real Estate Fund. The fund completed its first acquisition of an outstanding asset in Colorado, US. QInvest has been investing in Western Europe, UK and US for the past 5-6 years. JRE recently added two upscale addresses in Miami and New York City to its ever-growing portfolio of luxury developments in Qatar. Qatar, as a country, is becoming a big player in the New York City’s real estate market, with unconfirmed reports showing Qatar Investment Authority ranking the city's ninth-largest commercial property owner.

#Qatar's QInvest announced its collaboration with a GCC institutional investor to create the Magnolia Real Estate Fund. The fund has already completed its first acquisition of an asset in Colorado, USA. The acquisition was funded using an Ijarah property debt structure. The Magnolia Fund is focused on investing in the fast-growing, income-generating multifamily residential market in the US. The Fund is building a portfolio of assets in the sector and plans to make more acquisitions during 2017. The newly acquired asset is located in Fox Creek, Thornton, a northern suburb of Denver, Colorado. The asset is projected to yield net cash in excess of eight per cent on annual basis and a net IRR in the range of 12-13%. The multifamily manager TruAmerica has co-invested in the asset and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the property.

#Qatar’s QInvest has successfully launched its QInvest SQN Income Fund. It aims to pay out a net yield of 7% per annum on a monthly basis and has a targeted IRR of between 8-9%, with a tenure of 5 years. The Fund invests in the leasing and financing of business-essential, long-life, revenue producing equipment across developed markets. Industries include health care, manufacturing and agriculture. QInvest plans to launch another fund in the same series later this year. QInvest CEO Tamim Hamad Al Kawari said the new fund provides investors with concentrated portfolios with means of diversification and risk mitigation. It provides attractive returns and a regular income distribution, all within a relatively conservative investment profile.

#Qatar’s QInvest said that its revenues rose to $65.7 million and net profits increased to 25.3 million (QR92.1 million), compared to $24.4 million (QR88.7 million) in H1 2015. The main drivers behind the results include exits in the firm’s investments, strong performance in its international real estate portfolio and increased fee revenue. CEO of QInvest Tamim Hamad Al-Kawari said the company recorded a satisfactory half-year performance across all business lines in the face of economic uncertainties. QInvest is reviewing and stress-testing its portfolio to match the heightened volatility levels and headwinds of the markets.

QInvest L.L.C. has announced the acquisition of ERGO Portfoy, one of the largest and fastest growing asset management companies in Turkey. Following the completion of this acquisition, QInvest Asset Management will have assets under management close to $1 billion. ERGO Portfoy has been rebranded as QInvest Portfoy and is a subsidiary of Qatar’s QInvest. The senior management of QInvest Portfoy will remain with the firm and will be led by Mr. Murat Vanli, the General Manager of ERGO Portfoy, and will continue to operate from Istanbul. The company has been granted its license to operate by The Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB) and is licenced to offer portfolio management to both individual and institutional investors.

There are a growing number of transactions in the Turkish market that are financed by GCC institutions; and the Gulf States are steadily rising investors in Turkey. Among the lastest crop of deals, Qatar’s QInvest has provided a five year $30m murabaha mezzanine finance facility for Turkish private equity firm Crescent Capital to fund its acquisition of a 100% stake in Akocak HPP, an operational 81 MW hydro-electric power plant in Turkey. QInvest has structured and invested in the transaction. The deal also shows that traditional project finance structures are giving way to alternative financing structures, with Islamic finance showing potential for further growth in the funding of capital goods projects.

Qatar’s QInvest has announced another year of robust growth recording its highest revenue since inception of QR393m ($108m) and net profit of QR154m ($42m). QInvest generated consistent performance throughout 2015 despite challenging global economic conditions and regional volatility, culminating in an increase in both revenues and net profit of 32 percent and 76 percent respectively. The bank recommends doubling the dividend to shareholders for financial year 2015. The team is involved in a number of buy-side and sell-side mandates across multiple industries and geographies for both family offices and institutional investors. In the real estate sector, the business is at various stages of execution and completion on income generating transactions in London, elsewhere in Western Europe and in the USA.

QInvest and Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a branch of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, USA, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate and coordinate in the fields of research and education.
The MOU will offer QInvest the opportunity to use CMU-Q’s educational programs, research and strategic studies, as well as those from select schools at Carnegie Mellon’s US campus. QInvest in return will provide CMU-Q’s new graduates and students in their final year the opportunity to spend one month working at QInvest under the bank’s QTALENT initiative.

Turkish Islamic bank Albaraka Turk has received initial pricing feedback in the 10 % area for a potential U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk issue which would bolster its supplementary or Tier 2 capital, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The lender has received indications of interest totalling over $250 million, including those from joint lead managers, for the ten-year non-call five sukuk, the sources said. A potential deal is expected early next week subject to market conditions, they said.
Albaraka Turk, a unit of Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group, has chosen Barwa Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, Nomura, Noor Bank, Standard Chartered and QInvest to arrange the sukuk issue.

Turkish Islamic bank Kuveyt Turk has mandated six institutions for a sukuk with a value of up to $400 million with a maturity of 10 years, it said in a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange late on Thursday.
Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank, which is 62 percent owned by Kuwait Finance House, said it had mandated KFH Capital, Dubai Islamic Bank, HSBC, Noor Bank, QInvest and Emirates NBD as joint lead managers. Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in September that seven banks had been picked to arrange a potential deal.

QInvest, Qatar’s leading investment group and one of the most prominent Islamic financial institutions globally, yesterday announced that its net profit for the third quarter grew 69 % to $33.8m while revenues jumped 37 % to $78.7m.

“We are very encouraged by our performance during the third quarter of 2015. With our commitment to drive growth and innovation across the business, we have continued to source new opportunities, strengthen our brand and deliver positive returns. Whilst we expect on-going market volatility and economic challenges to remain present, we are confident on the outlook for the business. We have an exciting active pipeline of deal flow and a unique market position to leverage investment opportunities across the GCC region and selected markets in Europe, Asia and the US” said Tamim Hamad Al Kawari, CEO of QInvest.

QInvest, Qatar’s leading investment group and one of the most prominent Islamic financial institutions globally, yesterday announced that its net profit for the third quarter grew 69 % to $33.8m while revenues jumped 37 % to $78.7m.

“We are very encouraged by our performance during the third quarter of 2015. With our commitment to drive growth and innovation across the business, we have continued to source new opportunities, strengthen our brand and deliver positive returns. Whilst we expect on-going market volatility and economic challenges to remain present, we are confident on the outlook for the business. We have an exciting active pipeline of deal flow and a unique market position to leverage investment opportunities across the GCC region and selected markets in Europe, Asia and the US” said Tamim Hamad Al Kawari, CEO of QInvest.

QInvest, Qatar’s leading investment group and one of the most prominent Islamic financial institutions in the world, announced the completion of its debut $200m five year syndicated facility.

The facility is in line with the bank’s funding diversification and capital efficiency plan and was arranged by QInvest’s key regional and international relationship banks, namely Masraf Al Rayan, Al Khaliji France S.A. and Natixis. QInvest previously announced that it was named the “Most Innovative Investment Bank from the Middle East” at The Banker magazine’s Investment Banking Awards 2015.

QInvest has launched the QInvest Pramerica Liquid Real Estate Fund in partnership with Pramerica Real Estate Investors, the real estate investment management business of U.S.-headquartered Prudential Financial, Inc. Pramerica will serve as the subadvisor of the Fund. The new Fund will invest exclusively in high yielding sharia'a-compliant real estate investment trusts and other real estate-related securities, sourced globally by the fully dedicated real estate securities team at Pramerica. The new Fund will be hosted on QMAP, QInvest's managed account platform.

According to the finance minister, Luxembourg has issued its first 200 million euro ($254 million) five-year Islamic bond, distributed across 29 accounts, although the market favours dollar-denomineted sukuk. Nevertheless the country thereby becomes the first AAA-rated government to issue euro-denominated sukuk, or Islamic bonds, following London, Hong Kong and South Africa. Luxembourg hired HSBC, BNP Paribas, Banque Internationale à Luxembourg and Qatar-based QInvest to arrange its sukuk.

Competitive pricing, product innovation and deeper liquidity have made Shariah-principled finance increasingly appealing as a funding source in the global financial industry, according to QInvest head of financial institutions and structured finance, Alex Armstrong. Finding that several issuers from outside the Islamic world - including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the UK government - have successfully raised funding through sukuk or Islamic bonds in recent months, he said, others are expected to follow suit. Investor demand for Islamic products is strong and QInvest fully expects demand to exceed supply for some time to come, he added.

QInvest sees Turkey as being a key driver is Islamic finance growth worldwide and will be exploring the opportunity at the 9th Turkish-Arab Economic Forum, takingplace in Istanbul on 28th and 29th May 2014. QInvest has an office in Istanbul and offers cross-border services to clients from its presence in Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.The bank has been involved in a number of high profile sukuk issuances in Turkey. Besides, QInvesthas also been active in other areas of Islamic finance in the country, including Murabaha, and mezzanine and equity finance. The Bank is active in the Turkish asset management industry and is in talks with a leading portfolio management company to advise on sharia'a-compliant asset management.