Qatar’s stock market is set to witness increased activity in coming months as Initial Public offering of Baladna is expected soon. Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) has received approval from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry regarding IPO of Baladna, Rashid bin Ali Al Mansoori, CEO of Qatar Stock Exchange said recently.
Baladna IPO will be the first listing at QSE in 2019. The last IPO was Qatar Aluminium Manufacturing Company (QAMCO) in November last year. Qamco IPO was oversubscribed by 2.5 times. It became the 46th listed entity on the QSE and more listings are expected in 2019.
Despite facing the ongoing unjust blockade, the QSE led the gainers among all the GCC stock markets, registering the highest 21 percent rise in 2018. The emergence of QSE as the best markets in the region shows the resilience of the Qatari economy and its solid macroeconomic fundamentals.
Qatar has taken several measures to make its capital market robust. Effective from October 2019, Qatar is set to introduce a mandatory rules-based framework for investor relations (IR), which includes three key measures to ensure that listed companies focus more on their IR functions. The roll-out of this initiative is being led by the QSE.
The framework stipulates that all companies must: appoint a dedicated and suitably qualified Investor Relations Officer (IRO); create an IR section on their company websites, made available in both Arabic and English; and provide periodic updates through quarterly investor presentations and investor calls hosted by a C-level executive.
Various reports published from in the past few years have confirmed the strength of Qatari capital market.
Recently, Qatar was ranked first in the Arab world and seventh globally out of 128 countries at the Global Finance Safety index for 2019.
The index ranked Qatar in terms of investment safety in this advanced rank according to many factors such as war, peace, personal security and the risks of natural disasters.
The index measures safety in various fields to be collected and analysed according to standard scores that give the overall ranking of countries, providing a comprehensive view of the economic security of each country.
The strength of Qatari capital market is a result of proactive steps taken by concerned authorities in Qatar. Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) recently approved a set of minimum requirements for investor relation practices that will become part of QSE’s Rulebook, which will further increase investors’ trust on Qatar’s stock market. These measures will ensure that Qatar remains an attractive market for global investors.
