QSE to list more family-owned firms in 2018: Al-Mansoori

19/02/2018 07:29 AST

The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) is expecting to list more family-owned companies in the first quarter of 2018, its chief executive officer has said. “We have a number of them and there is a lot of interest in family-owned companies to reach out to the stock market. We know there are a number of them who are with advisers trying to do the housekeeping and to do the bid,” Rashid bin Ali al-Mansoori told reporters on the sidelines of a launching event held recently.

In January last year, Investment Holding Group (IHG) made its initial public offering (IPO), making it the first family business in Qatar to go public through maiden offer.

“The QSE has a big list of family-owned companies that are interested to come to the market and to take advantage of certain offers such as financing, expertise, and branding.

“We are expecting some family-owned businesses to be listed this year but we cannot disclose the number right now but we know some of them are ready, so I am expecting some family owned companies to be listed this year,” al-Mansoori continued.

This year, al-Mansoori also said the QSE is expecting to list “three to five” small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a joint initiative with Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and Qatar Chamber.

“QDB has a programme and also we have our own elite programme, which is called the Qatar Elite 100. It is a new programme but we need to make sure that we work with QDB and Qatar Chamber to really support and create a pipeline from their activity to this market.

“We have set a target for mid-2018 for those companies to be listed from a technical point of view. We have the main market and we have the emerging market of SMEs. This is ready technically speaking, and QDB has set financial support for these companies and we have a number of them now,” al-Mansoori said.

Al-Mansoori also said the QSE is expecting to list two exchange-traded funds in the first quarter of 2018. “There are two ETFs — Masraf Al Rayan, which is around QR300mn to QR400mn, and Doha Bank. We are working on large global Islamic ETFs with international banks. It is still in the early stages and it is a global ETF on Islamic; so it will be in Qatar and it will be a big one and we are expecting to see a date within three months from now.

“This will give the investor diversification of products and it will introduce more international capital into our market, and also it is one more step to make the QSE into a global exchange by listing international ETFs,” al-Mansoori added.

Gulf Times