The Qatar Investment Authority Now Partially Owns The Empire State Building

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, managed by the Qatar Investment Authority, just bought a part of the iconic Empire State Building in New York.

In the wake of a series of Qatari investments in the United States of America, the Qatar Investment Authority made an investment worth $622 million in the the Empire State Realty Trust Inc. For just over half a billion dollars, Qatar now owns 9.9% of the company and its 14 office and 6 retail properties in the New York area, including the iconic Empire State Building.

Qatar has been looking into investing abroad to cope with the drop in global oil prices, and the Qatar National Vision 2030, which will help shift the country’s economy from natural gas based revenue to QIA-type investments.

Last year the Qatar Investment Authority started a large scale investment in the US, and announced that it will commit $35 billion to stakes in the US, over the course of the coming five years.

The Sovereign Wealth Center estimates Qatar’s national investment fund to be worth around $335 billion, and already has several holdings in US. The fund owns over 10% of the New York-based luxury jewelry company Tiffany & Co., as well as a 44% stake in the $8.6 billion Manhattan West redevelopment project, also in New York.

Last March, the fund sold its shares in the American film studio Miramax to Qatari media group beIN for undisclosed figures.

In 2008, Qatar initiated the Qatar National Vision 2030 plan which aims to “transform Qatar into an advanced society capable of achieving sustainable development”, moving away from an oil and gas based economy toward a knowledge based economy.