Opportunity knocks

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Established in 2007, QInvest’s principal shareholders are Qatar Islamic Bank, which holds a 25 percent stake, and Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House, which owns a further 15 percent.

Shahzad Shahbaz, CEO of QInvest, is pinning the investment bank’s future growth ambitions on the launch of four funds to snap up distressed assets and capitalise on the downturn.

As once cautious investors return tentatively to global stock markets, among those first in the queue will be Shahzad Shahbaz, CEO of QInvest, Qatar’s largest investment bank.

Resting on Shahbaz’s experienced shoulders is the responsibility for overseeing four investment funds, including a $250m private equity fund, set to be launched by QInvest before the end of the year. And amid the carnage wreaked by the global financial crisis, Shahbaz believes that there are bargain assets to be found.

“Our view is that some of the values and opportunities that are available today are quite attractive and, as long as you have a long-term view, this is a good time to invest,” says the veteran, who spent 25 years at Bank of America before moving to the Gulf.

One of those opportunities arose last month when QInvest, which has an authorised capital of $1bn, of which half or $500m is paid-up, took a 44 percent holding in UK-based stockbroker Panmure Gordon.

Flexing its considerable financial muscle, the bank won a three-way bidding war to invest $36.3m into Panmure Gordon; a move which raised QInvest’s profile on the international stage.

Aside from the private equity fund, QInvest plans to launch a fund for listed equities, a specific sector fund and a ‘special opportunities’ fund focused on different asset classes.

Three of the funds will be focused on the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and Turkey, with the specific sector fund invested globally. QInvest plans to jointly invest with its clients in the funds, the sizes of three of which have yet to been decided.

“The private equity fund will be invested in multisector, well-established companies,” Shahbaz explains. “We are looking at listed equities too, as we think that there are some good values.”

The specific sector fund will be invested in a market area that has been “overly depressed” by the impact of the global financial crisis but Shahbaz refuses to reveal which sector that would be.

The special opportunities fund will be invested across several asset classes including mezzanine debt, convertible bonds and sukuks, he says.

The foray into global markets represents the first serious investment activity by QInvest under the stewardship of Shahbaz, who has overseen a period of spending restraint by the bank.

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