Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund to open office in Silicon Valley

LONDON (Reuters) – Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund said on Monday it will open an office in San Francisco to expand its growing US portfolio. It is still considering investing in a technology fund formed by SoftBank Group Corp., it said.

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), one of the most active of its kind, has stakes in everything from real estate to luxury goods – traditionally largely in Europe. But it has said it is looking to diversify into Asia and the United States.

“Soon we will be opening an office in the Silicon Valley in San Francisco,” the fund’s CEO, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud al-Thani, told reporters at an investment conference in London.

“What we plan is to open the office hopefully by the end of this year,” he said. “If not by end of this year, then it will be first quarter of next year. It will be linked very commercially to our office in New York, and we will take it from there.”

Qatar was considering investing in a $100 billion global technology fund formed by SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese telecommunications and Internet company, and Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported in October.

“We are still in a study, but we haven’t made a decision yet,” Thani said on Monday.

In 2015, Qatar said it would spend $35b. in the US over the next five years after opening an office in New York. In December, the fund said it would invest $10b. in infrastructure projects inside the US.

The QIA has about $334b. of assets, according to industry tracker Sovereign Wealth Center.