QInvest, Qatar’s leading private investment group and one of the world’s prominent Islamic financial institutions, yesterday reported that its revenues for the first nine months of the current financial year increased to QR337m ($92.5m), up 18 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2015.
The operating profits of the Shariah-compliant investment firm increased to QR182m ($50m), up 19 percent compared to the same period last year, as a result of increased fee income, exits in the firm’s investments and investment activities across its different business lines.
QInvest has maintained its robust balance sheet with QR687m ($189m) of liquidity and a regulatory capital adequacy ratio of 35 percent.
Tamim Hamad Al Kawari (pictured), CEO of QInvest, said: “Our results over the first nine months of this year and our overall performance over the last three years have come directly as a result of our strategy to build a diversified portfolio of investments, grow our assets under management and provide best in class products and advisory services to our clients across all of our business lines.”
“We remain cautious in the face of continued market volatility and after conducting a thorough review of our portfolio, we have exited a number of higher risk financing investments at a significant profit and increased our risk buffers for the remaining portfolio. These profitable exits have enabled us to crystallise double digit returns in part of our balance sheet as well as build a strong cash balance to take advantage of future opportunities in a market where liquidity commands a premium.”
Looking more closely at QInvest’s business lines, the investment banking and real estate advisory businesses are showing the strongest pipeline to date, with mandates across equity, debt, and merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions among regional institutional and family office clients. In the year, QInvest completed two big transactions with the sale of Miramax to beIN Media Group and the acquisition of a stake in the Empire State Building owner by one of its clients. There are significant transaction flows driven by the lack of regional liquidity and QInvest is ideally positioned to support clients and shareholders with capital and best in class execution.
In the previous quarter, QInvest created a separate Credit Investments and Debt Finance business and is working on a number of mandates to raise financing for clients, both from banks and through Sukuk, taking advantage of the still favourable rate environment and to monetize their investments. Centralising credit activity under one umbrella allows QInvest to benefit from best practice capital allocation and portfolio management as well as offer clients the full suite of financing solutions either stand alone or as part of a wider co-operation with other market participants.
