New $200m fund to boost liquidity on Qatar stock exchange

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has partnered with US asset manager Franklin Templeton to establish a new fund to boost liquidity in the Gulf state’s emerging stock market.

Franklin Templeton Qatar Equity Fund will start with $200 million in capital, with QIA serving as the fund’s anchor investor, contributing cash and stock. No specific details were given.

The daily-dealing mutual fund will offer an actively managed portfolio of equities listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange to global and local institutions, the companies said in a statement.

QIA CEO Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi said the fund’s launch will expand the sovereign’s active asset management initiative to support Qatar’s financial markets.

Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton, said “We see this collaboration as the beginning of a long-term strategic partnership and part of a broader, multi-asset collaboration between Franklin Templeton and QIA.”

Franklin Templeton has $1.68 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2025. 

In June, QIA anchored the $200 million Fiera Qatar Equity Strategy fund to support market liquidity and high-risk-adjusted returns by investing in companies listed on the Qatar bourse.

This month, the wealth fund backed a private real estate fund focusing on Singapore’s commercial property market as a founding investor. 

In January, it signed a preliminary agreement with Goldman Sachs, committing $25 billion in investments to US managed funds and co-investment opportunities.

QIA has nearly $580 billion in assets under management, according to Global SWF, a data platform that tracks sovereign wealth funds.

The Qatar stock exchange closed nearly 2 percent higher in 2025 compared with the year before, with market capitalisation rising to QR644 billion.

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