- Revenue increased to a record level of QAR 393 million (US$ 108 million)
- Net profit increased by 76% to QAR 154 million (US$ 42 million)
- Bank recommends doubling of dividends for financial year 2015
QInvest, Qatar's leading investment group and one of the world’s most prominent Islamic financial institutions, today announces another year of robust growth recording its highest revenue since inception of QAR 393 million (US$ 108 million) and net profit of QAR 154 million (US$ 42 million). QInvest generated consistent performance throughout 2015 despite challenging global economic conditions and regional volatility, culminating in an increase in both revenues and net profit of 32% and 76% respectively. The bank recommends doubling the dividend to shareholders for financial year 2015.
Tamim Hamad Al-Kawari, Chief Executive Officer of QInvest, said:
“2015 was a record year for QInvest and the culmination of the strategy we set three years ago. The bank has achieved every one of its objectives, not only in terms of financial performance but also in terms of creating value for clients and shareholders. All our three revenue generating divisions are delivering robust growth and are backed by a solid balance sheet. Our debut US$200m long term syndicated facility, arranged by our key regional and international relationship banks, strengthens further our capital base.”
Al-Kawari Added:
“We are entering the New Year launching the next phase of our strategy, which is centred on the execution of high quality international and regional transactions and the provision of innovative and value enhancing products to both shareholders and our expanding client base. Looking ahead, we expect the global economy to continue to be challenging but we will remain focused on transactions that fit within the bank’s overall risk-return profile coupled with prudent monitoring of our existing investments.”
Investment Banking
The Investment Banking division had a busy and successful year. The financing business completed a wide range of corporate transactions, deploying approximately US$300 million, part of which were successfully syndicated to various institutional investors. The Debt Capital Markets franchise continued to strengthen and despite volatile market conditions was active on a number of mandates for sovereigns, financial institutions and corporates. Notably, the team acted as joint lead manager and book runner on Noor Bank’s debut US$500 million senior Sukuk, which was oversubscribed by more than four times, Albaraka Turk’s US$250 million Tier II Sukuk and Qatar Islamic Bank’s US$750 million senior Sukuk and QAR 2 billion Tier I Sukuk.
The Mergers and Acquisitions team remained active on a number of high profile transactions, most notably the acquisition of a Turkish retail group by a Qatari client. The team is involved in a number of buy-side and sell-side mandates across multiple industries and geographies for both family offices and institutional investors. Despite equity capital markets being more subdued in 2015, the team is currently mandated on a number of potential IPOs.
Principal Investments
Principal Investments generated robust performance in 2015. In the real estate sector, the business is at various stages of execution and completion on income generating transactions in London, elsewhere in Western Europe and in the USA. Most notably, QInvest completed its investment in a portfolio of 16 retail properties across Germany, which is currently being offered for co-investment to clients, and is in advanced discussions on a new serviced apartment project in the UK, which will also be available for co-investment to clients. The team has concluded additional mezzanine transactions in the USA and continues to search for value additive and residential development opportunities in London and other geographies on a co-investment basis. Moreover, they have provided financings of almost US$ 100 million to real estate corporate clients and deployed more than US$ 135 million in real estate equity investments.
QInvest made a select number of equity investments, deploying approximately US$ 50 million in various transactions. These took the form of both direct co-investments and fund investments alongside leading investment groups. Following exits in 2014, the historical portfolio of principal investments was reduced significantly, and this trend continued throughout 2015.
Asset Management
During 2015, the division generated strong Assets under Management growth of 75% year-on-year, reflecting its robust investment process and track record. The growth was underpinned by the continued expansion of QMAP, QInvest’s pioneering open architecture sharia’a compliant managed account platform.
Three additional QMAP funds were launched during 2015: the QInvest Pioneer European Fund in partnership with Pioneer Investments which provides access to a portfolio of well-managed European equities; the QInvest Pramerica Liquid Real Estate fund in partnership with Pramerica Real Estate Investors which gives investors access to the global real estate market through sharia’a-compliant real estate investment trusts and other real estate-related securities; and the Qatar Equity Fund, managed by QInvest Asset Management, which has used QInvest’s highly successful local equity strategy to achieve annualized returns of 17% since its launch in 2013 and is outperforming local markets and peers for a second successive year.
Awards
QInvest was recognized by a number of international bodies for its achievements in 2015. These include Most Innovative Investment Bank from the Banker’s magazine, Best Investment Bank in Qatar from Euromoney, Sukuk House and Best Asset Management House of the Year in Qatar from Asset Triple A, Islamic Fund Management Firm of the Year from Global Funds Award and Best Islamic Real Estate Finance Provider from Global Finance.