Qatar buys US$622m Champs-Elysées retail complex

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund that bought London’s Harrods department store in 2010 for US$2.22bn, has snapped up a luxury retail complex on Paris’s Champs-Elysées boulevard, it was reported on Tuesday. QIA, the investment arm of Qatar Holding, bought the flagship retail complex in the heart of Paris from French insurance firm Groupama for around €500m (US$622m), according to a report on Tuesday by newspaper Le Figaro. The retail complex, number 52, was built in the 1930s and is currently home to a Virgin Megastore, a branch of French retail chain Monoprix, a shopping arcade and offices. Groupama, real estate brokers Jones Lang LaSalle and QIA all declined to comment on the sale. QIA previously bought London department store Harrods for US$2.22bn in 2010 and its portfolio also includes stakes in Royal Dutch Shell, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co and Paris St Germain football team. From / Arabian Business