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Qatar Fin Min Replaces PM As Qatari Diar Chairman -Sources

Wednesday, Jul 13, 2011

(This story was originally published Tuesday.)

DOHA (Zawya Dow Jones)--Qatar's Finance Minister Yousef Kamal has replaced the Gulf Arab state's prime minister as chairman of Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Co., the property arm of the country's sovereign wealth fund, three people familiar with matter said.

It is not clear when Kamal took over the chairman role from Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, nor what prompted the high-level management shift.

The news is significant because Qatari Diar will play a key role in implementing the country's massive $100 billion infrastructure program in the run-up to the 2022 soccer world cup, which Qatar unexpectedly won in December.

Analysts said the move could be because firstly, Kamal is a trusted figure who has presided over a booming economy in the last few years, and secondly because the government is keen to relieve the prime minister of his mounting workload.

Sheik Hamad bin Jassim, the second-most powerful member of the Qatari royal family and trusted lieutenant to the Emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has devoted increasing amounts of time over the last few months to high-profile diplomatic duties, with Qatar financing rebel forces in Libya's civil war.

"You don't have infinite human resources. The good people have to be allocated in the optimum way," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi in Riyadh.

"It shows the government is appointing someone well-respected in the country in order to take care of one the most important events in Qatar's economic history," Sfakianakis added.

Kamal is vice chairman of petrochemicals and metals giant Industries Qatar and chairman of Qatar National Bank, according to Zawya.com data.

One Gulf-based banker, who wished not to be named, said the government was shifting its priorities to Qatari Diar amid concerns that the property firm had been poorly run and had been hemorrhaging money.

Qatari Diar teamed up with Germany's Deutsche Bahn in November 2009 to build Qatar's $43 billion national rail network that includes the Doha Metro, a key infrastructure project that the gas-rich Gulf state must complete in time for the football tournament.

The firm is 100%-owned by the Qatar Investment Authority and counts London's Chelsea Barracks as one of its key investments abroad. Late last month, the property firm received the green light from U.K. authorities to submit a masterplan for the residential site after controversy over initial designs for the project sparked a high-profile legal wrangle.

Qatar's economy is in rude health and predicted to grow at close to 20% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, as its gas exports boom.

-By Alex Delmar-Morgan, Dow Jones Newswires; +974 6659 9818; alex.delmar-morgan@dowjones.com

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

13-07-11 0358GMT