QInvest has posted a first-quarter net profit of QR37mn, Qatar’s leading private investment group said yesterday. 
The financial institution also saw a revenue of QR102mn in the first quarter. 
Tamim Hamad al-Kawari, QInvest chief executive officer said, “2016 started with significant negative market headwinds. I am especially pleased with our ability to deliver growth and profitability in these conditions, which I see as further testament of the sustainability of QInvest’s strategy thought business cycles. The firm continues to grow and we remain vigilant to ensure new business activities, transactions and most importantly people are fully in line with the firm’s culture and risk-return framework.” 
Al-Kawari added, “Continuing the new phase of our strategy to deliver proprietary transactions not only for our balance sheet but also for clients and shareholders, the first quarter of 2016 saw the successful syndication of our first German retail transaction which generated significant demand in the region and is already yielding returns above the original plan. We are currently in the market with a serviced apartment redevelopment project in the City of London and continue to build our pipeline for the rest of the year. We also completed the acquisition of Ergo Portfoy, Munich RE’s Turkish asset management business, adding onshore execution capabilities in a key Islamic finance market.”
In the investment banking division, the structured finance business completed its first transactions in the renewable energy and aircraft financing sectors - both offering strong risk adjusted returns in line with the firm’s investment criteria. There is significant growth in these two sectors and QInvest has teamed up with specialised players to monetise the opportunity for clients and the firm’s own balance sheet. QInvest continued to deploy capital in Islamic financial institutions and completed KuveytTurk’s Tier Two Sukuk issuance in this reporting period. 
Also, the team successfully exited one of its telecom tower financing transactions in January, with mid-teen percentage returns. 
QInvest’s mergers and acquisitions franchise “remains extremely busy” after having completed the sale of Miramax to beIN Media Group, as well as the acquisition of a strategic stake in a leading regional food and beverage group for a key family office client. The firm is currently active on a number of regional sell-side and buy-side mandates for government related entities and families in the region, and continue to build up its capital markets pipeline, despite difficult market conditions, it said.
The principal investments division continues to deploy capital and reinvest in both equity and high yielding credit. In the real estate sector, it recently closed on transactions in London (serviced apartments), Germany (retail) and the US (value-add hospitality) and is currently assessing multiple real estate opportunities in sectors such as private rented residential, student accommodation (mainly in Germany) and forward purchases of