Goldman Sachs, QIA Target $25 Billion Investment Partnership - Bloomberg #Qatar

Goldman Sachs, QIA Target $25 Billion Investment Partnership - Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Qatar Investment Authority have agreed to expand their strategic partnership in a move that could see the sovereign wealth fund commit a total of $25 billion with the Wall Street bank’s asset management arm.

QIA plans to commit the capital to a range of existing and new private market strategies as an anchor investor, as well as direct investment opportunities, according to a statement on Tuesday. Goldman Sachs, which has over $625 billion in alternatives globally, also said it will meaningfully grow its headcount in Doha, with the office becoming a strategic hub and the largest regional office for asset management.

The bank will also “look to provide strategic advisory services and guidance on capital formation, M&A opportunities and the development of Qatar’s economy and capital markets,” it said, including by “encouraging foreign direct investment opportunities and supporting the growth of key Qatari companies.”

Qatar’s route to economic diversification offers a “substantial opportunity to widen the state’s impact, global connectivity, and attractiveness as a multi-faceted investment partner,” Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said in the statement.

The deal is the latest illustration of the deepening links between large-scale private capital firms and sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East. The region has proven to be a key source of funding for private capital managers such as Apollo Global Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management to scale their franchises.

It also shows that certain large investors are looking to partner with fund managers across a variety of products, rather than deploying capital with a series of specialists in different asset classes.

The deal “builds on our longstanding relationship with Goldman Sachs and provides QIA with premium deal flow in sectors critical to our investment strategy, including AI, fintech, digital infrastructure and private credit,” QIA CEO Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi said.

With $580 billion of assets under management, QIA is one of the world’s biggest wealth funds. It is expected to reap a windfall from an enormous expansion of Qatar’s gas output, potentially giving it more firepower to deploy cash.