Tuesday, May 15, 2012
DOHA (Zawya Dow Jones)--Qatar has built over a 3% stake in Germany's Siemens (SI, (SIE.XE) worth around EUR1.85 billion, as the wealthy Gulf state continues its recent frenetic buying of minority stakes in flagship European companies.
In a shareholder disclosure announcement Tuesday, Siemens said Qatar had exceeded the 3% threshold of voting shares May 7, forcing the stake to be made public.
Through its sovereign wealth fund, which controls over $100 billion of assets, Qatar in recent months has stepped up its investments in European blue-chip companies, using its vast gas wealth to accumulate a growing list of minority stakes in firms like Total SA (TOT, FP.FR), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA, RDSA.LN) and now Siemens.
Together with its large collection of trophy assets like luxury London department store Harrods and stakes in Credit Suisse and Barclays PLC (BCS, BARC.LN), Qatar's wealth fund has been one of the most active in recent years, sweeping up bargains in the wake of the financial crisis.
A person familiar with the matter said Qatar had been looking to acquire a chunk of Siemens, one of Germany's biggest companies, for some time. The German industrial group has a large presence in Qatar and has won millions of dollars worth of contracts in the Gulf state's energy and infrastructure sectors over the last few years.
"I see this is as a more strategic stake," said this person, who didn't wished to be named. "The strong relationship between Qatar and Siemens is no secret."
Qatar is no stranger to investing in Germany, Europe's largest economy. In late 2010, it bought 9.1% of construction group Hochtief AG (HOT.XE) and a year before paid around $10 billion for 17% of the voting stock in Volkswagen AG (VLKAY, VOW.XE) and 10% of the voting shares in Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAH3.XE).
-By Alex Delmar-Morgan, Dow Jones Newswires; +974 6659 9818; alex.delmar-morgan@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
15-05-12 1723GMT
