Qatar Investment Authority

          If only I won the lottery I’d be so rich I could do anything I want. Or even better, nothing at all. What would you buy with your dolla dolla if you ended up being that lucky winner? Most people would probably say a new house and new car, or ten. Maybe a plane if you really want to be all hard. I would. So now imagine if an entire country won the lottery and what they would be able to buy. One day, God decided to be so generous and give this little tiny Arab country down the street from Iran the world’s largest proven reserves of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ready for export and has since transformed its economy.

Qatar, a country located in the Persian, Arabian Gulf has only 300,000 citizens but 1.87 mill people in the country pretty much working for them. So after the government gives their citizens high salaries, highest GDP per capita in the world actually, what else can they possibly do with all that money? They invest it. This is in the form of a sovereign wealth fund which is a government-owned body that invests in a range of assets from private equity to listed securities. In other words, they’re investing to diversify their assets away from oil/LNG price fluctuations and be able to prepare for future generations, as oil and natural gas are non-renewable resources.

Since Europe has been struggling economically recently, it has been the perfect opportunity for Qatar or any investor to go on a shopping spree. The Qatar Investment Authority has since bought: 

The Shard

Harrods luxury department store and will be expanding the brand globally. 

The Shard, largest tower in Europe.
The Valentino Brand 
One Hyde Park London 
Paris Saint Germain Soccer Team 
25% of Canary Wharf Financial District 
20% of London Stock Exchange 
20% of Sainsbury Supermarket Chain in UK 
Luxury Stores on Paris’ Champs Elysees 
Large shares in British Barclays Bank, Volkswagen and Porsche.

There’s much more but this is only some of what has been released to the public. There’s a lack of transparency when it comes to SWFs and their investment patterns and strategies. Understandable.

But that’s only abroad. Domestically, Qatar is investing tens of billions of dollars in new infrastructure in preparation for hosting the World Cup in 2022. A skyline of buildings and luxury developments built in just a few years really illustrates the reaching influence Qatar is aiming to achieve on a global level. You might be thinking though why are they so interested and focused on assets specifically in London, United Kingdom? London provides many benefits that make it an attractive place for foreign investment and that is why it is arguable the most global city in the world. But what you may not know is that Britain is Qatar’s best customer in Liquefied natural gas and provides almost all (95%) of Britain’s gas needs. Therefore, it only makes sense why Qatar has such a known and growing presence in London but also illustrates the global market and how nations have become completely dependent on each other. One inevitable disaster, like the Fukushima plant in Japan, forced them to buy more LNG from Qatar thus driving the prices up for England because of the greater demand for Qatar's LNG. This example  perfectly demonstrates and explains why any investor or SWF would seek to diversify their assets in a range of classes to achieve the most safe and stable returns. Nonetheless, Qatar is planning to double its current output of LNG with the recent production of a new plant so there will not be a shortage anytime soon and you can guarantee that Qatar will continue taking over the world.

Queen Elizabeth, Sheikha Mozah, Prince Phillip