Palestinian-born Ghazi Abu Nahl founded Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company (QGIRCO) back in 1979 with paid-up capital of $373m. Later on, Nahl went on to acquire Nest Investments Holdings, a Cyprus-based firm that has interests in excess of $1.2bn in a series of industries in countries all over the world. QGIRCO offers a range of general and personal insurance products. The company reported a 92 percent drop in first-half profits to $15m.