Capital in Qatar
A strategic partnership between the State of Qatar and NYSE Euronext is expected to create a global exchange.
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In 2009 NYSE Euronext partnered with Qatar Holding, the strategic and direct investment arm of Qatar Investment Authority, by acquiring a 20 percent stake in what is now the Qatar Exchange (formerly the Doha Securities Market), or QE, to create an internationally recognized, world-class exchange — one that trades cash equities and derivative products, brings together global investors and issuers using next-generation technology, and follows the highest standards of disclosure, transparency and investor protection.
Today — thanks to the joint project between NYSE Euronext, QE and many stakeholders in the Qatar market — this new venture with the State of Qatar is on its way to bringing the U.S. exchange operator’s technology and market expertise to the Middle East, one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. Besides the contribution of knowledge, NYSE Euronext’s $200 million investment in QE is its largest ever in a foreign exchange.
“Our investment in QE gives us a valuable presence in the Middle East and reflects the global nature of our business strategy,” says NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer. “We believe exchanges are an essential building block for emerging economies and more open societies. QE represents the beginning of a new era, filled with technology, information, openness to the rest of the world and the spread of prosperity to more people.”
QE is working with regulators and market participants to diversify its products and to implement international standards. NYSE Euronext will be providing the technology for QE’s cash exchange and is working with QE to deploy NYSE Euronext technology and expertise to create a derivatives market in the future. QE will be one of the first exchanges outside of the NYSE Euronext family of exchanges to use its Universal Trading Platform, or UTP, system, which is the platform of choice for nearly all NYSE Euronext markets worldwide. QE is on track to transform its own market structure and fully adopt UTP by September 2010. This, according to H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, will pave “the way for Qatar to take a prominent role in the world’s capital markets for the benefit of both the people of Qatar and the Middle East more generally. Our vision is to create a world-class financial center around a global exchange that is on par with the deepest pools of capital across Europe, the U.S. and Asia.”
