The Qatar Financial Center (QFC) said that it has pledged $100 million to fund a new platform aimed at recovering distressed assets.
A distressed asset is an asset that is being sold because its owner is forced to sell it. Distressed assets usually sell for below their perceived value due to the fact that the owner is being forced to sell.
Atlas Merchant Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by former Barclays Plc chief Bob Diamond, will advise the new platform on strategy and the new vehicle will seek to coordinate with an investment firm focused on distressed assets, the QFC statement said.
However, QFC called the move a “non-binding letter of intent” intended to motivate institutional investors to fund an additional $1.5 billion.
Atlas Merchant Capital did not respond to a request for comment.
The new vehicle “will aim to provide liquidity to financial institutions and credit markets for the resolution of distressed assets, QFC said, adding it “believes recent global crises have created an opportunity for private investment in the sector.”
The new platform, which will open a regional hub in Doha, targets the first close in 2022 and a final close in 2023, according to the QFC statement.
The QFC licenses foreign companies to exempt them from the Gulf state’s local ownership laws and to allow for full repatriation of profits.
