Qatar to invest $10bn in Malaysia - report

Qatar is investing US$10bn into Malaysia, with half the money to be funneled into petrochemical projects, according to a Malaysian newspaper.

Qatar Holding, a unit of the Gulf nation's sovereign wealth fund, will invest US$5bn in Malaysian real estate development and expanding its Harrods Hotel chain, as well as industries including banking, according to Business Times. 

During the launch of the new Harrods Hotel in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Qatar Holding vice-chairman Hussain Ali Al-Abdulla said his country would spent US$5bn on the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex development in Johor, in Malaysia’s far south, over the next five years.

The 8100-hectare development will house oil refineries, naphtha crackers, petrochemical plants, a liquefied natural gas import terminal and a re-gasification plant.

"We are in talks with major companies in Kuala Lumpur to jointly invest in petrochemical projects here,” Al-Abdulla told Business Times.

“We see huge potential in Johor, not just for petrochemical but also in other sectors."

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), has invested the country’s oil and gas-derived riches into numerous projects overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, where it is one of the most active investors.

QIA is the largest shareholder in the Sainsbury grocery chain in the UK and in 2010 bought Harrods Group. The new Harrods Hotel is the first in Asia.

QIA also owns the former Royal Dutch Shell headquarters and the US Embassy in London, as well as the London Olympics athletes' village, and it has a large shareholding in German sports car maker Porsche and British bank Barclays.