Credit Suisse teams up with Qatar fund on multi-billion credit business

DUBAI (Reuters) - Swiss bank Credit Suisse <CSGN.S> and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) said on Thursday they were jointly setting up a multi-billion dollar direct private credit business.

QIA, which is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and has a 5.4% stake in Credit Suisse, manages about $300 billion(231.34 billion pounds) in assets.

Credit Suisse and QIA said in a joint statement that the platform, part of Credit Suisse Asset Management’s Credit Investments Group (CIG), would provide financing mostly through secured first and second-lien loans to upper middle market and larger companies in the United States and Europe.

A first lien ranks highest for payment when a borrower defaults and the property or asset was used as collateral.

CIG has $60 billion in non-investment grade credit positions, the statement added.

(Writing by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Alexander Smith)