PE firms are tired of waiting for US stocks to rebound: US private-equity backed follow-on offerings — when investors sell off more of their holdings in a firm that has already gone public — are up 180% y-o-y so far in 2023, according to data analysis from the Financial Times. But where a PE firm would usually wait for a listed company’s share price to appreciate before offloading more shares, some two-thirds of follow-ons went ahead at lower prices than when the companies debuted, the FT adds. That’s a sign that PE firms want to make money for their investors now and have given up waiting for an improvement in the price of listed portfolio firms that are trading at lower valuations thanks to a tighter economy. On the upside, more follow-ons could also herald an eventual return of IPOs, bankers argue, since the less risky transactions would likely pick up before fresh listings return in force.

UK to dodge recession: The IMF is no longer forecasting that the UK will fall into recession this year and now expects growth to slow to 0.4%, a 0.7 percentage-point upgrade, on strong wage growth, improved business sentiment, and lower energy prices. (IMF statement)

EGX30

16,788

+0.1% (YTD: +15.0%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 30.83

Sell 30.96

USD at CIB

Buy 30.85

Sell 30.95

Interest rates CBE

18.25% deposit

19.25% lending

Tadawul

11,276

-0.5% (YTD: +7.6%)

ADX

9,490

-0.4% (YTD: -7.1%)

DFM

3,533

-0.5% (YTD: +5.9%)

S&P 500

4,146

-1.1% (YTD: +8.0%)

FTSE 100

7,763

-0.1% (YTD: +4.2%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,342

-1.0% (YTD: +14.5%)

Brent crude

USD 77.74

+2.3%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.34

-2.4%

Gold

USD 1,995.40

0.0%

BTC

USD 27,237

+1.3% (YTD: +64.6%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.1% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 1.8 bn. Regional investors were net buyers. The index is up 15.0% YTD.

In the green: Oriental Weavers (+4.7%), Ibnsina Pharma (+3.6%) and Taaleem Management Services (+2.8%).

In the red: Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (-1.7%), Cleopatra Hospitals (-1.4%) and Mopco (-1.4%).

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