Qatar readies privatization pipeline as Doha Investment takes control of 45 state firms

Qatar has built the machinery for a privatization program before naming a single company to put through it. Doha Investment now holds the call on which state companies list and when, so the first name it sends to the Qatar Stock Exchange will tell us more about Doha’s intent than yesterday’s launch did. Elsewhere, Adia keeps turning up in Indian order books, and Sawiris’ route to folding OCI into Orascom now runs through a cash tender.

Qatar has put 45 state companies — and the decision on whether to list them — under one roof. Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani yesterday announced Doha Investment, a new division of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) that will oversee 45 state-owned enterprises, roughly a third of QIA’s c. USD 580 bn in assets. Its mandate covers national champions, emerging companies, capital-market depth, and privatization. Commerce and Industry Minister Sheikh Faisal bin Thani Al-Thani is managing director and vice-chairman.

Why it matters: Any Qatari privatization or Qatar Stock Exchange listing pipeline now runs through a single counterparty with a sitting minister at the helm. For the ECM bankers who have spent this year looking for mandates outside the Gulf, Doha Investment is now the first call on Qatar.

Nassef Sawiris’ take-private of OCI Global is now the gate the Orascom merger has to clear. His family office NNS Holding opened its EUR 4.10-a-share cash offer last week after AFM approval, per a statement (pdf). OCI holders vote on the Orascom Construction merger at a 30 October EGM, but it can’t close until the offer pays out: The tender closes 17 November and settles c. 27 November, inside the 30 December long-stop. One permitted extension of up to 10 weeks would run past it, by our math.

Most of the float is spoken for. Buying below its offer price through July (pdf) and August (pdf) took NNS to 57.50% with Sawiris’ own shares, from 49.21% in mid-April. With a 9.07% family block locked up, c. EUR 290 mn remains in play. The Enterprise Chamber froze OCI’s vote in January and Value8 asked it to block the deal this month.

Adia has become one of the steadiest anchors in India’s primary market. Its India unit Monsoon was allocated 1.1 mn shares — 2.96% of the anchor book — in the National Stock Exchange of India’s (NSE) IPO at the top of the c. INR 1.8k price band, worth c. INR 2 bn (USD 20.9 mn), per an NSE filing (pdf). That ties it with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, behind only LIC (5.93%) and Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (3.71%). The USD 2.3 bn IPO closes today, with listing expected this Thursday, 24 September.

Adia also took 5.33% of Neogen Chemicals’ QIP — c. USD 3.3 mn in a raise of just under INR 6 bn (USD 62.6 mn), according to a filing (pdf). The bromine and lithium chemicals maker is pivoting to battery-grade materials. Both transactions follow Adia backing Manipal Health Enterprises’ listing, SBI Funds Management’s IPO, and KRN Heat Exchangers’ placement.

Saudi Arabia’s new SME strategy is getting its first money, along with a warning that money won’t be enough. Monsha’at signed with STC Bank to provide up to SAR 5 bn in shariah-compliant SME financing, SPA reports, days after the Kingdom approved a national SME strategy that puts access to finance first. Tenors run up to ten years, covering working capital, equipment, receivables, e-commerce, and trade finance.

Lendo added up to SAR 890 mn through three partnerships unveiled at Money 20/20 in Riyadh: SAR 750 mn with Vienna-based Quantic Financial Solutions, SAR 100 mn with BSF Capital, and SAR 40 mn with the Social Development Bank.

The capacity gap: Without skills in finance, data, and technology, capital “risks becoming temporary liquidity rather than a tool for expansion,” talent consultant Sahar Al Samdany told us. SME development consultant Ali Al Ghadeer wants stage-matched financing and access to procurement chains alongside it.

Banque Misr’s consumer finance arm is scaling up its securitizations quickly. BM Consumer Finance (Souhoola) put c. EGP 883 mn of securitized paper to market, backed by an EGP 1.05 bn receivables portfolio, per a statement (pdf). Its third issuance, structured through Capital Securitization, comes in two tranches: EGP 700 mn over 12 months (rated Prime 1 by MERIS) and EGP 183 mn over 22 months (A-).

That’s 51% bigger than December’s EGP 585 mn and 85% above the EGP 478 mn debut in November 2024, taking the program to c. EGP 1.95 bn of EGP 3.5 bn, by our math. The rules have tightened since: the Central Bank of Egypt now caps single-originator securitization exposure and assigns a 150% risk weight to short-term Prime 1 paper, which makes Souhoola’s larger tranche costlier for bank buyers to hold.

Turkey’s fund-meltdown cleanup has passed from the central bank to two lenders. The central bank contained last week’s turmoil by expanding one-week repo funding 300-fold to TRY 300 bn (USD 6.2 bn), lifting interbank borrowing caps tenfold, and cutting margin-trading equity requirements to 20% from 35% until 2 October.

Isbank and Ziraat now have to sell. The Capital Markets Board (SPK) tapped them on Friday to unwind TRY 890 bn (USD 18.3 bn) across 131 funds run by seven managers, Reuters reports. Isbank takes Tera Portfoy, whose TRY 366 bn (USD 7.5 bn) default triggered the run; Ziraat takes the other six.

What’s next: They have three months to pay 350k-plus investors out of a few small-float names, where rushing risks a second leg down — the test of Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek’s claim that the crisis is short-term and poses no systemic risk.

Mashreq tightened pricing by 30bp on a USD 500 mn five-year bond, to 115bp over US Treasuries from +145bp guidance, on a USD 925 mn book including USD 50 mn of joint lead manager interest. The notes, rated A by Fitch and S&P, carry a 5.625% coupon and yield 5.736%. FAB and DP World each tightened c. 25bp on their own deals the same week.

Why it matters: Books across recent UAE issuance have run lighter than in earlier rounds, a regional banker not involved told Zawya — part of why issuers are holding at USD 500 mn rather than stretching. Bookrunners included ADCB, Emirates NBD, FAB, and Mashreq itself alongside eight international banks.

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