By Mohammed Aly Sergie, Bloomberg
QInvest is starting a European fund to help Islamic finance investors tap potential growth in the region as the European Central Bank begins its bond-buying program.
The fund, a partnership with Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA, will invest in European stocks deemed by QInvest to be Sharia-compliant. The venture is part of the Qatari bank’s strategy for expanding its $200 million asset management business by teaming up with funds such as London-based J O Hambro Capital Management Ltd. and New York’s Edgewood Management, Atef Ahmed, QInvest’s head of asset management, said in an interview in Doha.
“There’s a significant amount of capital that sits in the Islamic finance space, and the industry has only captured a very small part of it,” he said. “I would be disappointed if we are not getting close” to a few billion dollars of assets under management within two to three years, he said.
QInvest acquired the asset management unit of Qatar Islamic Bank U.K. last year for an undisclosed amount and plans to enter a joint venture with a Turkish asset manager this year, Ahmed said. The firm reorganized its business into investment banking, principal investments and asset management after a failed merger attempt with EFG-Hermes Holding SA in 2013.