Managing about $300 billion of assets, QIA ranks as the world’s 11th-largest wealth fund

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is looking towards India to diversify its investment portfolio, which is so far heavily tilted toward the US and Europe, Bloomberg report said.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, QIA’s Chairman and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thami in an interview with Bloomberg TV said Asia is on the radar screen of his company.

Qatar Investment Authority set up in 2005 to diversify the economy and prepare for a time beyond the hydrocarbon era has emerged as among the top wealth funds in the world. According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, QIA ranks as the world’s 11th-largest wealth fund, managing about $300 billion of assets.

Pointing to the Authority’s substantial investments in Europe over the past decade, the Qatari Minister defended the move to turn towards Asia asserting that, “It’s not only from a growth perspective, but also from a diversification perspective."

“Asia didn’t take the fair portion of the investments," although North American deals will remain a priority, the Minister added.

The QIA Chairman mentioned a list of countries such as India, Malaysia, Singapore, and China as potential targets that the Authority looks for expanding its investment base, but declined to go into specificities.

“We’ve been doing a lot of investments in the last couple years in China, and they’ve been doing very well," he added in his interview to the TV Channel.

The wealth fund holds stakes in some of the world’s top companies including London Stock Exchange Group Plc, Volkswagen AG and Glencore Plc.

It agreed to purchase a 30 per cent stake in a high-end Istanbul shopping center toward the end of last year, while also agreeing to develop renewable energy in Africa in cooperation with Italian utility firm, Enel SpA.