Qatari firm set to buy Parisian hotel

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The Monceau hotel, which opened in 1928, is located near the Arc de Triomphe. (Getty Images)

Qatar's Barwa Real Estate said on Tuesday it had agreed to buy the Le Royal Monceau hotel in Paris, two months after abandoning plans to develop a seven-star property in the French capital.

Barwa did not say how much it paid for the Monceau, which is near the Arc de Triomphe and opened in 1928. The company is preparing to refurbish the hotel, Barwa said in a statement on the stock exchange Web site.

"The hotel adds a lot to the company's real estate portfolio in Europe," it said.

Barwa bought a Paris convention centre in April, saying it wanted to convert parts of the building into a seven-star hotel and luxury apartments.

On August 30, it said it had agreed to sell the property for 456 million euros ($649.2 million), making a 13% return on its investment in four months.

Investors linked to the Qatari government are scouring the globe for assets to invest windfall revenues from energy exports. Qatar has the world's third-largest gas reserves and is the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.

State-owned investment fund Delta Two made a 10.4 billion pound ($21.24 billion) bid approach for J Sainsbury, Britain's third-biggest supermarket chain, in July.

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