By: Eman Ghaly

Mubasher: The Qatar Central Securities Depository (QCSD) announced that it has increased non-Qatari ownership limit in Alkhaleej Takaful Insurance to 49%.

As a result, Alkhaleej Takaful will be the 10th company raising foreign ownership from a total of 45 firms listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE). 

Non- Qatari’s available stake in Alkhaleej Takaful hiked 12.5 million shares from total equity, according to the company’s statement to QSE released late Sunday.

The decision, which was put into effect as of Monday, 7 May, comes in accordance with the applicable provisions of Law No. 9 of 2014 regulating the Investment of Non-Qatari Capital in the Economic Activity and subject to the approval of the concerned regulators, QCSD noted.

The step has also come after CEO of the QSE Rashid Al Mansoori urged all the QSE-listed firms to increase non-Qatari share ownership to 49% in a bid to enhance foreign investment in the Qatari market.

The 10 firms that hike non-Qatari ownership limit include Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar National Bank (QNB), Industries Qatar, Qatar Fuel (Woqod), Gulf International Services, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWS), Qatar Industrial Manufacturing (QIMD), Barwa Real Estate and Alkhaleej Takaful Insurance.

QIB was the first entity taking the decision of increasing non-Qatari ownership limit to 49% instead of 25% in February 2018, after receiving the approval of the bank’s general assembly.

Similarly, QNB, which carries the maximum weight in the QSE’s general index, took the same decision on 19 April, the bourse’s data showed.

Q1 profits

The 10 companies acquired 62.5% of the bourse’s total profits for the three-month period ended 31 March 2018.

It is worth noting that profits of Qatari companies listed on the QSE rose 2.78% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018.

Profits amounted to QAR 10.96 billion in Q1-18, compared to QAR 10.66 billion in Q1-17.

Translated by: Kholoud Mohamed Hussein