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Real estate represents about 35 percent of QInvest’s portfolio and includes a stake in Doha’s $3.3bn Al Waab City and London’s Bridge Quarter project.

“We have been waiting and seeing for the past seven months to see where the best values are,” says Shahbaz, whose experience should stand the firm in good stead.

He joined QInvest in September last year from Emirates NBD Group where he was CEO of the investment bank. Prior to that he was at Bank of America in London as head of regional investment banking for Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Established in 2007, QInvest is regulated by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA). Its principal shareholders are Qatar Islamic Bank, which owns 25 percent of the investment house, and Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House, which owns a further 15 percent.

The rest of the business is owned by a combination of both institutional and private investors from Qatar and other Gulf Arab countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE.

Despite QInvest for the most part keeping its powder dry during the recent economic turmoil, it has not escaped completely unscathed from the plunge in asset values across the globe.

The investment bank has seen 10 percent shaved off the value of its European real estate portfolio following the slump in international property markets.

The firm holds an 80 percent stake in the London Bridge Quarter development, which includes the famous ‘Shard of Glass’ new London Bridge Tower, one of the UK capital’s most high-profile skyscraper projects, which last year was valued at $3.88bn.

In January last year, it headed a syndicate of Qatari investors including Qatar National Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank and Barwa Real Estate to back the development. In addition, the Qatar Financial Centre-based bank also holds a substantial commercial property portfolio in Paris.

Asked about the impact of the property market decline in recent times, Shahbaz, says: “It has affected the valuations, particularly in Europe, but not a very significant impact given the nature of the investments that we have.

“For the time being we’re not looking to add to our real estate investments but real estate is a sector we are interested in.”

QInvest’s real estate portfolio, which represents about 35 percent of the company’s assets, also includes investment in Al Waab City, a $3.3bn project under development in the Qatari capital, Doha.

In November QInvest led a consortium made up of Qatari Diar and Barwa Real Estate, which took a 2.98 percent acquisition of the capital of French environmental services firm Suez Environnement.

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