Qatar sovereign fund discloses 4.69per cent stake in Quantumscape Corp

DUBAI: Sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has taken a 4.69per cent stake in Quantumscape Corp, which is developing solid-state lithium metal batteries, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by the company showed.

QIA's stake in Quantumscape, whose batteries will be used in electric cars, is worth around US$446 million at the company's current market value of US$9.5 billion, according to Refinitiv Eikon data on Monday.

Gulf sovereign funds have stepped up investments in electric cars, new technologies and renewables, as they diversify their investments away from fossil fuel.

The Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of neighbouring Saudi Arabia, recently made huge gains through the listing of Lucid Group after it initially invested in the company in 2018. PIF owns 62.7per cent of Lucid.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Susan Fenton)