Qatar builds stake in Credit Suisse: report
By Mirna Sleiman
Last update: 7:36 p.m. EST Feb. 18, 2008Print E-mail RSS Enable Live Quotes
(Adds detail, background)DUBAI (MarketWatch) -- Qatar began building a stake in Credit Suisse Group (CSCS
CS) in January as part of a strategy to buy $15 billion worth of western banking stocks this year, according to people familiar with the matter at the bank.
The gas-rich nation's sovereign wealth fund has quietly accumulated the holdings, which remain below the 3% level that would trigger a disclosure of its stake, in the Swiss bank, the people at the bank who declined to be identified told Dow Jones.
Zawya Dow Jones first reported last month that Qatar Investment Authority, the gas-rich Persian Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, planned to buy stakes in U.S. and European lenders as part of a plan to build a 'basket' of stakes in up to 12 banks.
Middle East sovereign wealth funds flush with cash from record oil revenues are snapping up stakes in some of the world's largest banks such as Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch as the share prices of financial stocks tumble amid subprime lending concerns in the U.S.
Among investment banks, Credit Suisse has weathered the subprime crisis far better than rivals such as UBS AG (UBS), which swung to a quarterly loss and was forced to shore up its depleted capital with help from new investors.
Last week, Credit Suisse said it still holds commercial mortgage-backed securities issues, or CMBS, worth CHF25.9 billion ($23.55 billion), and buyout loans of CHF36 billion granted but not yet bought out.
A spokesperson for Sheik Hamad bin Jassem al Thani, chief executive of the Qatar Investment Authority, the fund buying the Credit Suisse shares, declined to comment on the purchase when called Monday.
Sheikh Hamad said in an interview with Bloomberg TV earlier that the fund was building a 'relation' with the Swiss lender.
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