Qatar has replaced the head of its $300 billion sovereign-wealth fund with a member of the wealthy Gulf state’s royal family.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud Al-Thani will take the reins of the fund, which in recent years has acquired stakes in high profile assets that include the UK's Sainsbury and Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse, from Ahmed al Sayed, who was in the job for little over a year, according to Qatar's official news agency.