The private equity industry is spooked — and it’s not just because of Halloween. Private equity is finding it increasingly difficult to raise fresh capital, leading the CEO of Swedish PE firm EQT, Per Franzén, to predict that some 80% of all private equity firms could turn into zombie firms by 2035 in comments to the Financial Times.

Forget witches and ghosts, zombie firms are a more formidable spectre haunting the industry, which happens when an investment firm can no longer raise money for new funds and remains operational to manage the companies and investments it already has. Like the undead, these firms are technically alive, but are dead insofar as they no longer seal new acquisitions or raise fresh funds while they run down their existing investments.

It’s not just a nightmare on Wall Street, but a global issue, with only a third of the 15k or so PE firms having raised funds in the last seven years, according to Franzén. Of these 5k firms with some recent fundraising success, Franzén sees less than half of them carrying on this success in the next 5-10 years. But there’s good news for the largest firms with established global footprint, with 50 to 100 such firms expected to rake in 90% of all fresh funds in the next fundraising period.

REMEMBER- Hopes for a rebound of the sector at the start of the year began to fall apartby early April, when a fresh round of US tariffs sent markets wobbling after a strong start to the year. Transaction value in April fell 24% below the 1Q average, and dealcount dropped 22%, according to Bain and Company’s Private Equity Midyear Report 2025. Now, more than 18k funds are chasing USD 3.3 tn in capital — or USD 3 of demand for every USD 1 available — according to the report.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are in the green this morning, with the Kospi leading gains (+2.4%) The Nikkei (+2.1%), Hang Seng (+0.5%), and Shanghai Composite (+0.1%) are looking at more moderate gains.

ADX

10,100

-1.1% (YTD: +7.2%)

DFM

6,059

-0.8% (YTD: +17.4%)

Nasdaq Dubai UAE20

4,941

-2% (YTD: +18.6%)

USD : AED CBUAE

Buy 3.67

Sell 3.67

EIBOR

3.7% o/n

3.7% 1 yr

TASI

11,536

-1.0% (YTD: -4.2%)

EGX30

38,083

-0.5% (YTD: +28.1%)

S&P 500

6,840

+0.3% (YTD: +16.3%)

FTSE 100

9,717

-0.4% (YTD: +18.9%)

Euro Stoxx 50

5,662

-0.7% (YTD: +15.7%)

Brent crude

USD 65.03

+0.4%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 4.11

-0.4%

Gold

USD 4,003

+0.2%

BTC

USD 110,567

+0.5% (YTD: +18.2%)

Chimera JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF

AED 3.8

0.0% (YTD: +9.1%)

S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk

152.05

-0.2% (YTD: +8.7%)

VIX (Volatility Index)

17.44

+3.1% (YTD: +0.52%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM fell 0.8% on Friday on turnover of AED 528.8 mn. The index is up 17.4% YTD.

In the green: Dubai Ins. Co. (+9.6%), Chimera S&P UAE UCITS ETF - Share Class A - Accumulating (+9.4%) and Chimera S&P UAE Shariah ETF- Share class B - Income (+5.0%).

In the red: Al Mal Capital REIT (-9.5%), United Foods Company (-5.7%) and Emaar Properties (-2.7%).

Over on the ADX, the index fell 1.1% on turnover of AED 1.4 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai was down 2%.

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