Qatar Exchange ‘has ambitious plan to develop market’

05/11/2010 00:00 AST

Qatar Exchange has an ‘ambitious strategy ‘ to develop its market and products in partnership with New York Stock Exchange, the bourse’ top executive said.

Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Exchange Andre Went said this at the conclusion of the two-day forum in London organised to spur the further development of the listed companies’ investor relations.

“Such forums help not only investors learn more about QE listed companies, but also help us to understand investors concerns and demands which then allows us to enhance our processes, procedures and infrastructure to meet investors’ requirements,” said Went.

“In partnership with NYSE Euronext, QE has an ambitious strategy for the development of our markets and products as well as the vision to be a leading factor in the development of Qatar’s financial markets overall so this feedback is central to our thinking,” he said.

Along with Went, Director in charge of the Listing Department Abdulaziz Al Emadi, represented QE at the London forum.

Al Emadi described the event organized in cooperation with Deutsche Bank, as a very suitable occasion to be able to offer investors and listed companies on QE the opportunity to meet each other in this focused one-on-one environment.

“There is significant competition for capital in the international capital markets and we expect that our listed companies will benefit from the opportunity to better inform the market about their corporate strategy.

For fund managers the benefit is unrivalled access to the decision makers who are driving the growth of some of Qatar’s largest companies and contributing in a significant way to Qatar’s growth,” said Al Emadi.

There are good investment opportunities in QE-listed companies with Qatar’s GDP forecast to grow 16 percent this year and 18.6 percent next year, he added.

With the growing interest of global institutional investors in the Qatar ‘equity story’ QE aims to be increasingly active in encouraging direct contact between its listed companies and investors.

With 13 listed companies, representing 80 percent of the QE market capitalization, 39 fund management groups represented by 60 fund managers the forum hosted 175 meetings over the two days.

The Qatari companies that participated in the London forum were Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank, Industries Qatar, Qatar Gas Transport, Ezdan, Commercial Bank, Q-Tel, Al Khaliji Bank, Barwa Real Estate Company, Aamal, United Development Company, Qatar Islamic Bank and Qatar Insurance.

QE outlined to the combined audience the achievements for QE in the year since the signing of the partnership with NYSE Euronext and reiterated the current plans which involve building further following the introduction of the new trading platform (UTP).

QNA