QIA sets up $200-mn fund with Canada’s Fiera Capital

The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a sovereign wealth fund that manages assets worth over $500 billion, has launched its second equity strategy in partnership with Canadian asset management firm Fiera Capital. The new initiative will invest in equities listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE). 

Doha-headquartered QIA, the ninth-largest sovereign wealth fund globally, has committed anchor capital–in the form of cash and stock–to establish the Fiera Qatar Equity Fund, which has a corpus of $200 million.  

Structured as a daily-dealing mutual fund, the Fiera Qatar Equity Fund will be available to both local and international institutional investors seeking actively managed exposure to Qatar’s equity market.    

“Attracting overseas asset managers to invest in Qatar equity will fuel market participation and help to diversify and broaden the market. The Fiera Capital fund launch is an exciting second partnership in our Active Asset Management Initiative and builds on QIA’s commitment to support Qatar’s financial markets,” said Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi, CEO of QIA.

Established in 2005, QIA invests and manages the state’s reserve funds and has investments spanning major global markets, sectors, geographies, and asset classes, including credit/fixed income, real estate, infrastructure, private equity, public equity, and alternative investments.

This marks QIA’s second partnership since the launch of its Active Asset Management Initiative in January this year. It first partnered with the UK’s Ashmore Group to launch the $200-million Ashmore Qatar Equity Fund. 

The initiative aims to establish partnerships with leading global asset managers with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) expertise, as well as qualified local managers. QIA will seed the funds managed by these partners by reallocating shares in Qatar Stock Exchange-listed companies.

“To be selected by QIA to manage its capital is a testament to the competitive strength and consistent outperformance of our equity investment capability. It is our responsibility as fiduciaries to now put this capital to work; to create wealth for institutional investors, but also to diversify Qatar’s capital markets,” said Klaus Schuster, executive director and CEO, Fiera Capital EMEA. 

Montreal-based Fiera Capital, which manages assets worth $117 billion, is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has offices in over a dozen cities worldwide, including New York, London, and Hong Kong. It offers customized multi-asset investment solutions across public and private markets to institutional, financial intermediary, and private wealth clients in North America, Europe, and key markets in Asia.