Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is in talks to borrow $7.6 billion in order to bolster its finances amid falling energy prices.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is looking to use some of its stock holdings in order to secure the margin loan which would rank as one of the biggest transactions of this type in the region.
According to Bloomberg, the banks involved in the discussions include JP Morgan and UBS.
The fund owns a number of trophy assets and holds shares in some of Europe’s biggest companies but the likes of Volkswagen and Glencore have seen their shares plummet by 30% and 39% respectively this year.
Qatar still ranks as one of the richest nations in the world per capita and also managed to raise $10 billion in a bond sale last month which was four and a half times oversubscribed. But the drop in oil prices and the long-running political and economic stand-off with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council states has taken its toll.
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