DOHA: Qatar Holding, the investment arm of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), has bought NYSE Euronext’s 12 percent stake in the Qatar Exchange (QE) and has become the sole owner of the local bourse. Cooperation between QE and NYSE Euronext will continue in different fields including technology and expertise sharing, QE said in a statement yesterday.
QIA and NYSE Euronext signed a strategic partnership agreement on June 19, 2009 aimed to transform QE into a world-class exchange. As per that agreement, NYSE Euronext held a 20 percent stake in QE. The two sides later signed an agreement in September 2012 under which Qatar Holding owned 88-percent of QE with NYSE Euronext holding the remaining 12 percent.
Rashid bin Ali Al Mansoori, CEO of QE yesterday stated that the latest agreement signed by the two parties facilitated the sale of NYSE Euronext’s 12 percent stake in QE to Qatar Holding after achieving all the strategic goals that were identified for the company following the signing of the strategic partnership agreement between them in June 2009.
“Over a period of more than four years of strategic partnership with NYSE Euronext, QE has achieved significant progress and made remarkable achievements in terms of developing infrastructure and systems and the diversification of investment tools and services provided to investors”, he noted.
Al Mansoori expressed confidence that during the next phase QE will continue to achieve further progress and maintain a leading status among the region’s markets, taking advantage of what has been accomplished and seeking to provide more services to investors based on the efforts of QE’s Qatari management and staff who have deepened their expertise over the years of the partnership. Cooperation between QE and NYSE Euronext will continue in different fields including technology and expertise.
Stressing that cooperation between the two sides will continue for the mutually-beneficial business initiatives Al Mansoori added: “The expertise and leading-edge technology they brought to Qatar Exchange during this period has contributed to the transformation of Qatar Exchange into a world-class exchange”.
“With the development of Qatar Exchange’s cash market and the launch of its Venture Market, most of our joint actions are now complete. And the transfer of operations to a local management team reflects the success of the transformation that has taken place. Looking back, our strategic partnership with the State of Qatar has benefited the Gulf region and customers on a global scale. Looking ahead, we are delighted to pursue our partnership, harnessing our technology assets and expertise - which complement the strong foundation and vision of our partners - to contribute to Qatar Exchange’s future success”, said Roland Bellegarde, Group EVP for European Equities and Equity Derivatives at NYSE Euronext.
The Peninsula
