Qatar May Bid for Christie's Auction House

Qatar is interested in purchasing world-famous auction house Christie's.

"We are building a museum and it [Christie's] has links with the stuff we are collecting for our museum," Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told The Financial Times. "It depends on the opportunity - if we had a good opportunity we would not hesitate."

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So far, the emirate has not bid for the company, which is owned by France's Francois Pinault.

Qatar is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas and is investing heavily in cultural works. It has already opened the Museum of Islamic Art and is planning to open a modern Arab art museum in December.

Members of the emirate's royal family have been major art collectors for decades.