Qatar plans to turn Harrods, its luxury London department store, into an international hotel brand as it starts to convert trophy assets into global businesses.
Qatar Holding, the owner of the renowned Knightsbridge store, intends to open Harrods hotels in Kuala Lumpur, New York, Paris and in China.
The company will focus on sites already owned by it or its affiliates such as Chelsea Barracks in London or Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, Italy. "Qatar Holding ultimately intends to grow Harrods into a global enterprise that defines the luxury retail and leisure sectors," the company said in a statement yesterday.
Harrods was bought by Qatar Holding in 2010 for about £1.5 billion (Dh8.63bn) from Mohamed Al Fayed, the Egyptian tycoon whose son Dodi was killed with Princess Diana in a 1997 car crash in Paris.
The store favoured by celebrities and the super rich is just one of several high-profile acquisitions made in the United Kingdom's capital, including Chelsea Barracks and One Hyde Park. Tomorrow the Qatari prime minister is expected to open the latest jewel in his country's crown - the 72-storey Shard tower in central London that is Europe's tallest building.
"This is an example of Qatar promoting itself globally through an associated brand, much as Abu Dhabi promoted itself globally in a different way through its acquisition of and association with Manchester City Football Club," said Stephen Flanagan, the director of professional services at Knight Frank, the international property consultancy.
Yesterday Qatar Holding signed an agreement to explore the development of a Harrods hotel in the Bukit Bintang neighbourhood of Kuala Lumpur.
The branded hotel concept has gained ground in the Arabian Gulf as operators seek to stand out from rival groups in an increasingly crowded luxury hospitality sector.
Missoni, Armani and Versace have all branded hotels in the Gulf. This week the Dubai owner of the Queen Elizabeth 2 also disclosed plans to convert the Cunard liner into a 300-bedroom luxury hotel in the city's Port Rashid.
Harrods did not identify potential locations in the Gulf for its new hotel concept but analysts point to strong regional appetite for the branded hotel concept.
"Harrods is a popular and respected brand with people from the Middle East and it would be no surprise to see this concept work in the GCC," added Mr Flanagan.
Qatar's acquisitions in central London have made it one of the largest owners of commercial property in the city.
In addition to the Shard and Canary Wharf, in which it has a major ownership interest through Songbird Estates, it also bought the London headquarters of Credit Suisse in February.
Qatar's overseas spending spree has been funded by its immense hydrocarbon wealth, which has turned it into the world's richest per capita nation and the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.
The country's economy expanded 6.9 per cent in the first quarter as GDP rose to 82.1 billion riyals (Dh82.82bn) from 76.8bn riyals a year earlier.
Qatar Holding is a unit of Qatar Investment Authority, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds and the vehicle behind most of its overseas purchases. Qatar is also spending heavily at home with US$125 billion (Dh459.13bn) pledged on projects in preparation for the 2022 Fifa World Cup and other developments that will include a new airport, port and railway.
The country's vast gas wealth was discovered only in 1971, with estimated reserves of about 900 trillion standard cubic feet, or about 10 per cent of the world's known reserves.
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