13/05/2008
Epicure Qatar Equity Opportunities (EQEO), which raised US$171m (£87.7m) at float in July last year and a further $85m in December, offers investors exposure to the booming, oil-fuelled Qatari and wider Middle East economies.
Fuelled by surging petrochemical prices, the region’s economies have proven to be almost entirely ‘decoupled’ from the more troubled West. ‘There’s not been much impact of the credit crunch here and we saw only one bank impacted by it in the whole region,’ notes investment adviser Sandeep Nanda.
‘Financial services companies don’t need to get exposure to the international market as there’s enough demand for their services in the region alone. In our opinion, this is one of the last non-correlated markets in the world, especially in a downturn.’
EQEO is 94% invested in Qatari equities listed on the Doha Securities Market and can use up to 15% of its portfolio to back other listed Gulf ventures. So far, financial services entities have received the bulk of investment, with banks continuing to do very well in the region.
Other large holdings include Industries Qatar, a powerful regional player with operation in petrochemicals, fertilizer and steel, and property and developing giants Barwa and Emaar. The region’s industrial segmentation is fairly simple at present, with the hydrocarbon assets feeding real estate and financial sectors, but billions of dollars are being poured into various projects to diversify the economies.
EQEO is successfully tapping into this rich seam and its undiluted net assets show this, having appreciated from $0.96 to $1.29 per share, as of 1 May. They should go higher. Buy.
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| Market cap: | £297m |
| PE Forecast: | n/a |
| Share price: | $1.20 |
| AIM | $109m |
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| 13/05/2008 |
| 31/07/2007 |
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