Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), in collaboration with QNB Financial Services and HSBC, today completed a two day roadshow that aimed to support the further development and practice of QSE’s listed companies’ investor relations.
The forum is designed to complement the companies’ ongoing investor relations activities through providing an opportunity for the senior management of listed companies to meet key decision makers from a number of the world’s largest international fund managers.
The delegation from Qatar was led by Rashid al Mansoori, CEO of Qatar Exchange, who delivered an introductory speech, in which he clarified why Qatar would be a distinctive investment destination: “real GDP growth, forecast to be in excess of 7.5% will remain higher than our GCC counterparts (and our new peer group in the broader emerging markets) in part supported by strong population growth which will boost aggregate demand, an economic backdrop to the investment climate that cannot be matched in the region or emerging markets universe. Yes, the budget is forecast to fall in to a small deficit but international reserves will remain high and steady.”
Al-Mansoori added that “the forum builds on the increased international profile of QSE after inclusion in MSCI and S&P emerging market indices. This was another opportunity for Qatar to showcase its market-leading listed companies. Despite the well-documented fall in oil prices the all-round strength of the Qatar ’story’ means portfolio investors continue to view Qatar as an exciting investment opportunity, a fact that has been reflected in the enthusiastic response to the forum.”
Mr. Al-Mansoori also touched on the future plans of Qatar Stock Exchange saying that: “In the immediate future, the strategy will centre on our two core objectives of (i) capital formation represented by new listings on the Main Market and developing the SME sector through a dedicated market (the ‘QE Venture Market’); investigating an ‘on-exchange’ market for private companies (similar in concept to the recently announced NASDAQ model) and corporate bonds to complement the existing government and T-bill market and (ii) capital allocation characterized by work on securities lending and borrowing; diversifying from long-only model (represented by covered short selling and eventually derivatives) and product development where QSE is working on three live ETF projects. One of these will be an ETF based on government fixed income risk from an Asian borrower, the second product is likely to be an ETF based on a representative Qatar-country index and the third a sharia-compliant product" Mr. Al-Mansoori concluded.
Mr. Abdul Aziz Al-Emadi, Listing Director of Qatar Stock Exchange, stated that “over the two days through a combination of one-to-one and group meetings the listed companies met with over 50 fund managers representing 30 major institutions. Those institutions represented the most important funds allocating money to Qatar, the GCC and the broader emerging markets. In aggregate the event hosted 150 meetings.”
Fifteen listed corporates, representing blue-chip investment opportunities in the Qatari market used the opportunity to meet with the world’s leading fund managers. The Qatari companies participating were: Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank, Commercial Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Ooredoo, Industries Qatar, Mesaieed Petrochemical Company, Gulf International Services, Vodafone, United Development Company, Al Khaliji Commercial Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar Insurance, Nakilat and Milaha.