Sheikh Mansour bin Jabor bin Jassim Al Thani’s whirlwind tour of Africa is piling up staggering, unbelievable numbers.
His latest stop in Mozambique produced a $20 billion pledge, pushing total promised investments across six countries to $102 billion — about half of Qatar’s GDP, or one-fifth of its sovereign wealth fund’s assets. Previous commitments were announced in Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The sheikh is from the same branch of the royal family as former prime minister (and bona fide billionaire) Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, but he has no role in government.
All the money is supposed to come through Al Mansour Holdings, a company without a website or a record of delivering projects on such scale. The Mozambique agreement, like earlier ones signed with heads of state, was light on details. Investments will target “energy, agriculture, oil and gas, renewable power, infrastructure, fisheries, livestock, tourism, housing, hospitals, and logistics,” according to a news report from Maputo.
There was one deal this week that had specifics. Al Mansour agreed to acquire nearly 20% of Invictus Energy, a tiny Australian-listed oil and gas explorer with a single concession for a gas find in Zimbabwe, for $24.5 million. The Qatari firm pledged as much as $500 million in future financing to develop the field. Invictus’ stock more than tripled since Tuesday, from 0.05 Australian dollars ($0.03) — a level it has been stuck at for four months — to around 17 cents on Friday, doubling Al Mansour’s stake, on paper.