Mumbai: NYSE Euronext will acquire a 25 per cent stake in the Doha Securities Market from the Qatar government for $250 million, to extend its reach to the oil-rich region's financial hub.

NYSE Euronext, which comprises the New York Stock Exchange and several leading European bourses, said the deal was its largest-ever investment in a foreign exchange.

Qatar, which retains 75 per cent of the Doha Securities Market, plans to sell a minority stake in the DSM in a domestic initial public offer within the next three years.

"This partnership lays the foundations for us to build Doha into a world class financial centre," Qatar prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani said in a statement.

"Our country's financial markets will be an integral part of a group which links together the world's major trading centers across the US and Europe and now the Middle East," he added.

Western exchanges are increasingly looking to emerging markets amid a slowdown in European and American economies, even as the oil-rich Arab economies play an increasingly active role in market consolidation across the globe.

Qatar, the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, last year bid for stake in Nordic bourse operator OMX AB and the London Stock Exchange, while Dubai looked to close a $4.9 billion three-way merger with Nasdaq Stock Market and OMX.

Qatar eventually sold the OMX shares to Dubai, and gained a 15.1 per cent stake in the LSE through its $60 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.

Dubai now holds 19.9 per cent of Nasdaq OMX and 20.4 per cent of the LSE.

Nasdaq took a 33 per cent stake in the Dubai International Financial Exchange, in the three-way merger.