PIF charges up Lucid with USD 1 bn investment: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will buy a USD 1 bn stake in US luxury EV manufacturer Lucid Motors through its Ayar Third Investment Company, according to a statement from the upstart EV company yesterday. The investment in the company — which the sovereign wealth fund already owns 60% of — will be executed through the sale of convertible preferred stocks.

The potential proceeds will finance the company’s capex and working capital, amongother things, the statement reads.

Remember: Lucid has been assembling vehicles in Saudi Arabia since establishing its first factory outside of the US in Jeddah last September, but is planning to start manufacturing vehicles in the kingdom soon, Lucid’s marketing director for the region, Firas Kandalaft, told Saudi media last month.

Lucid is trying to wean itself off its dependance on the wealth fund: Earlier this month, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said his company can no longer depend on the “bottomless wealth” of its Saudi owner PIF and would set in motion fundraising this year. Lucid has enough funds to last into 2025, but is burning through around USD 1 bn a quarter. The company is considering options including “bringing logistics under the same roof to reduce [operating spending], looking at the bill of materials, looking at overheads, looking at reducing anything that is variable.”

Market reax: Lucid’s share prices rose 5.4% to USD 2.9 a piece at yesterday’s close, but is down 31% YTD on the back of net losses doubling y-o-y to USD 2.8 bn in 2023.

THE MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian shares are largely in the green and stock futures are largely flat this morning, pointing to a muted open on Wall Street and in Europe later today. CNBC says traders are “taking a breather” on this holiday-shortened week. US benchmarks look set to close March with their fifth straight month of gains, while Korea’s Kospi just hit a two-year high.

EGX30

29,344

+1.0% (YTD: +17.9%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 47.35

Sell 47.49

USD at CIB

Buy 47.35

Sell 47.45

Interest rates CBE

27.25% deposit

28.25% lending

Tadawul

12,657

-1.1% (YTD: +5.8%)

ADX

9,319

0.0% (YTD: -2.7%)

DFM

4,282

+0.0% (YTD: +5.5%)

S&P 500

5,218

-0.3% (YTD: +9.4%)

FTSE 100

7,918

-0.2% (YTD: +2.4%)

Euro Stoxx 50

5,044

+0.3% (YTD: +11.6%)

Brent crude

USD 86.75

+1.6%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 1.61

-0.3%

Gold

USD 2,194.90

-0.2%

BTC

USD 69,984.44

+4.9% (YTD: +58.8%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.0% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 3.2 bn (35.2% below the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is up17.9% YTD.

In the green: Delta Sugar (+11.4%), Palm Hills Developments (+11.3%), and Ibn Sina Pharma (+5.2%).

In the red: E-finance (-4.7%) and Fawry (-4.3%).

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

Credit Agricole Egypt’s board approved a proposal to pay out a dividend of EGP 1.1456 per share instead of EGP 2.4700, according to an EGX disclosure (pdf). The decision is yet to receive the go-ahead from the general assembly.

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