Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is looking East

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is looking East for deals in an effort to diversify an investment portfolio heavily weighted toward North America and Europe.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said, “Asia has been very much on our radar screen." He is also chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority, which manages about $300 billion of assets and ranks as the world's 11th-largest wealth fund, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.

"It's not only from a growth perspective, but also from a diversification perspective," he added, pointing to substantial investments in Europe over the past decade. "Asia didn't take the fair portion of the investments," although North American deals will remain a priority.

QIA's chairman declined to identify specific targets, mentioning only a list of locations such as India, Malaysia, Singapore, and China. "We've been doing a lot of investments in the last couple years in China, and they've been doing very well," he said.