Barwa Real Estate and Qatar Real Estate Investment Company yesterday announced that they have been instructed by the government to merge. The move is in line with the government’s policy on investment and is intended to generate higher rate of return on investment in Qatari shareholding companies while enriching the national economy and supporting the economic development in Qatar, the firms said in a statement. BARWA Real Estate and Qatar Real Estate Investment Company are to start conducting a comprehensive study to meet the requirements to execute the government directives. According to agency reports, the merger which is intended to withstand the global financial crisis, is the fourth in Qatar in three months and comes as real estate markets in the Gulf suffer under the financial crisis and falling oil prices. The two firms have a combined market capitalisation of $2.5bn. A merger was ordered between Qatar Navigation and Qatar Shipping in November last year, while this month Qatar’s Gulf Warehousing said it was merging with Agility Qatar, a unit of Kuwait’s Agility, the Gulf’s biggest logistics firm, according to agency reports. Chief Financial Officer and Acting President of Financial Services of Barwa, Tamer Khedr was quoted as saying that Barwa Real Estate, an affiliate of property developer Qatari Diar, is still studying the terms and conditions of the tie-up. “They are a very stable, while the cash flow is predictable,” he said. He said it was too early to say if Barwa would need to raise new capital to complete the transaction. Khedr also said Barwa intended to finish projects it had started but had no new plans to launch new projects. Meanwhile, Qatar Meat and Livestock Trading Company (Mawashi) yesterday announced that it had been directed by the government to merge with Al Meera Consumer Goods Company. Both firms are to agree on the mechanisms for the merger. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=January2009&file=Local_News2009012042614.xml

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