DOHA, Apr 17, 2012 (AFP) - Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, has acquired Smeralda Holding, the owner of luxury resorts on the Italian island of Sardinia, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Qatari fund has signed a "definitive" agreement for the purchase with Colony Capital, owned by the American property magnate Tom Barrack who acquired the resorts in 2003, the English-language Gulf Times reported.
The idyllic Smeralda Holding resort was built by the Aga Khan on Sardinia's Costa Smeralda coast where former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi also owns a villa.
Italian media have reported the price of the purchase at around 600 million euros ($789 million). Barrack reportedly bought the property for 290 million euros ($381 million).
Under the deal, Qatar Holding acquires four luxury hotels with a total of 372 rooms, as well as other properties like the Porto Cervo Marina, the Porto Cervo Shipyard, the Pevero Golf Club, said the daily citing an official statement.
Formal completion of the deal is conditional on the receipt of anti-trust approval from Italian authorities, it said.
Qatar Holding is part of the estimated $100 billion Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).
The deal is the latest in a string of European property acquisitions by Qatar, including the high-profile investments in the upmarket Harrods department store in London and the Credit Suisse headquarters in Canary Wharf.
QIA also owns stakes in French luxury goods house LVMH and the French energy giant Total.
bur-oh/jds
