The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, has trimmed its direct shareholding in Swiss private bank Credit Suisse to 4.94% from 5.01%.
Altogether, Qatar’s stake in the private bank has now been diluted from the 17.98% reported in June to 15.91%, which includes 10.97% in convertible bonds.
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During the height of the financial crisis, Qatar pumped billions into the bank to help it prevent a state bailout. The aide was structured as convertible bonds, also known as CoCos, that has the capability to convert into equity if the bank’s core capital ratio drops below a specific level.
The latest move comes as Credit Suisse raised CHF4.1bn ($4.3bn) from investors in a rights issue to support the turnaround strategy of CEO Tidjane Thiam. The funding is expected to increase the bank’s common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio to 13.4%.
