Qatar Holding To Seek Credit Ratings This Year

Qatar Holding, the investment arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, is to seek credit ratings this year.

The fund, which has stakes in Credit Suisse, Porsche, Harrods and Xstrata among others, will apply for a rating from both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

“I can confirm that Qatar Holding will be seeking a credit rating this year,” a spokesperson for the fund told IFR late on Thursday.

The Qatar sovereign has ratings of Aa2 from Moody’s and AA from S&P, and was most recently in the bond market last summer with a mammoth $4 billion sukuk issue.

Last week, Qatar Holding said the country would establish a new $12 billion investment firm backed by blue-chip assets from the sovereign wealth fund, and list it on the local stock exchange. The new firm would invest in assets around the world.