Qatar National eyes first acquisitions

Qatar National Bank, the fifth largest Gulf Arab lender by market value, said on Tuesday it could make its first acquisitions to gain the scale needed to finance large infrastructure projects.

Qatar National will also open branches in Kuwait, Oman and Yemen this year as it expands outside the Gulf Arab state, which has the world's third largest reserves of natural gas, Chief Executive Ali Shareef al-Emadi said.

The bank, which like others in the region took a hit from a slump in Gulf Arab stock markets last year, is on track to raise net profit by 15 % in 2007 to 2.3 billion riyals ($632.2 million). The bank made 1.21 billion riyals in the first half.

"We are on the right track and expect to make a 15 % increase in profit by year-end," Emadi said told Reuters in an interview.

"So far it has been organic growth, but we are not ruling out acquisitions, depending on the right price. We like the region and we will make sure we have a strong presence in the Gulf and Middle East," he said.

More Gulf Arab banks are looking for mergers and acquisitions as economic growth fuelled by a tripling of oil prices in the past five years ratchets up demand for credit.

Qatar, which had the region's second fastest growing economy last year, said domestic credit jumped 48 % year-on-year in February.

"We need big banks given the size of the projects in the region and the capacity issue," Emadi said.

Like other Gulf Arab countries, Qatar is ploughing windfall revenues from energy exports into infrastructure and tourism projects. Almost $1 in every three raised for project finance in the world last year came from the Middle East, according to HSBC.

"In Qatar, there is more than $100 billion worth of projects and we are not big enough to do it alone," Emadi said.

Kuwaiti media linked Qatar National Bank to bid for a stake in Commercial Bank of Kuwait, which later announced that talks with unnamed suitors had ended without agreement.

But Emadi said Qatar National had never been interested in the Kuwaiti lender.

Qatar National will open branches in Kuwait and Oman in the fourth quarter, which together with a planned outlet in Yemen will take its overseas network to 15 branches, Emadi said.


The bank has also applied for three other licences in the Middle East and North Africa, he said, declining to be more specific.

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