Swiss bank Credit Suisse 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 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.