By Santhosh V Perumal
Qatar, which has embarked on huge capital expenditure drive for mega infrastructure upgrades ahead of World Cup, ought to attract foreign direct and institutional investments in a big way with asset valuation set to improve significantly, ValuStrat, a Qatar Financial Centre Authority authorised firm, has said.
Moreover, the UAE-headquartered firm, which recently started operations, will help Qatar’s manufacturing sector, which is set to increase its share in the gross domestic product (GDP), upgrade capacity and enhance efficiency as well as liquidate unwanted fixed assets beyond the domestic boundaries.
“Prudent asset valuation is key to making sound financing, investment, divestment and insurance related decisions. It also provides clearer visibility to the investment houses about their assets portfolio management,” said Bilal Moti, managing director of ValueStrat, which has been operating since 1977 serving more than 750 clients across a wide variety of sectors in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Experienced in using various internationally accredited valuation (income, cost, sales comparison, investment, residual value and their combination) methodologies for various assets classes, Moti said ValuStrat, which is on the approved valuation panel of more than 50 financial institutions, would professionally meet the underlying objectives of the valuation without any “conflict of interest”, he said.
The valuation, appraisal and technical due diligence services cover real estate (land to special purpose and complex properties), industrial manufacturing (equipment to whole plant), transport (cars to planes), infrastructural (ports to networks) and business assets (inventory to the whole company) to serve business needs of institutions and business houses, he said.
“Qatar is well-positioned to grow phenomenally in the coming 10 years. Its abundant energy resources, ongoing economic, infrastructural and business development, and a growth mindset are clear attractions to global investors,” he said, adding World Cup 2022 will be a historical milestone achievement and significant development driver for the country with enormous opportunities.
ValuStrat, which has a co-operation agreement with HILCO Industrial (USA), can help local clients purchase or sell used industrial assets in the global secondary market, facilitating industrial clients with the possibility of liquidating their unwanted fixed assets beyond the boundaries of Qatar.
“The service also gives them opportunity to effectively upgrade their manufacturing capabilities with new set of machinery and technology,” he said.
Clients can also buy used machinery and equipment from the global markets using the intermediary services in Qatar, thus providing them with financial, business and efficiency advantages, he said, adding that the move to have an office in the QFC was after a well-thought strategy in view of the promising future in the country.
Qatar’s aggregate GDP growth in the medium term is foreseen to be 6.9% per annum with hydrocarbon growth at 4.4% and non-hydrocarbon growth at 9.1%.
“Almost all sectors of the economy are well poised to develop in the coming decade, under the national vision 2030, especially oil and gas, infrastructural, utilities, financial services, real estate, industrial, transportation and consumer sectors,” he said.
Projects such as the new airport, Qatar Rail, Doha Metro, Qatar Bahrain causeway, new cities and ports, and huge upgrade of the road and bridges will “phenomenally redefine” Qatar as a developed country, he added.
Through its advisory services, ValuStrat will assist small to large as well as existing to new companies and business houses in Qatar with market and feasibility studies, strategic and business planning and in their organisational, commercial, operational and financial performance enhancement, Moti said.
Bullish on MSCI and S&P Dow Jones upgrade of Qatar to ‘emerging’ market from ‘frontier’ status, he said it is conducive to having higher inflow of international investment in the equity market.