Published: 04/07/2012   RSS

A series of Harrods hotels are proposed for key cities such as Paris, New York and Kuala Lumpur, according to Reuters.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund plans to build a luxury hotel chain after the upmarket London department store.

The report claims Qatar Holding has signed an agreement with Malaysian partner Jerantas Sdn Bhd to build a 300-room hotel in Kuala Lumpur's Bukit Bintang shopping district and a hotel management company will be established to develop similar projects globally.

"Preference will be given to construct on sites already owned by Qatar Holding or its affiliates, for example at Chelsea Barracks in London or Costa Smeralda in Sardinia," it said. "Qatar Holding ultimately intends to grow Harrods into a global enterprise that defines the luxury retail and leisure sectors."

Construction will start in a year on the 5.5-acre (2.2 hectare) site in Kuala Lumpur, with about 2 billion ringgit ($634 million) to be spent on the development.

Report by Dominic Ellis