QIA to move $100b portfolio to finance ministry

Finance minister to control QIA stakes in firms such as Qatar Airways and Ooredoo

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will transfer oversight of its approximately $100 billion (Dh367 billion) domestic portfolio to the country’s finance ministry as the sovereign fund undergoes its second overhaul in three years, people with knowledge of the matter said.

QIA’s stakes in companies such as Qatar Airways, Qatar National Bank and telecom provider Ooredoo will come under the control of finance minister Ali Shareef Al Emadi, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Ahmad Al Rumaihi, a former Qatari diplomat in the US, previously managed the fund’s domestic unit after it was set up last year.

Qatar, the world’s richest country per capita, is overhauling its $335 billion sovereign fund as weak oil prices slow the pace of wealth accumulation and buyouts of trophy assets around the globe, including holdings in Hollywood, London residential property, British and Swiss banks, as well as a European soccer team.

The QIA, created in 2005 to handle the country’s windfall from liquefied natural gas sales, last year grouped its local assets into a new unit and abandoned the Qatar Holding name synonymous with its highestprofile deals. The move was the fund’s biggest shake up since Shaikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Bin Saud Al Thani took over from Ahmad Al Sayed as chief executive officer in 2014.

Qatar Investment Authority declined to comment and the finance ministry didn’t immediately respond to emails and texts. Al Rumaihi couldn’t immediately be reached.