Deal slowdown leads to record private equity unsold assets

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Global private equity groups hold a record 28,000 unsold companies worth more than $3 trillion, as a sharp slowdown in trading puts pressure on investors looking to sell assets.

Figures revealed in consultancy Bain & Company's annual private equity report show how quickly the sector has grown over the past decade and the challenges it faces as interest rates rise, leading to higher financing costs.

“It may take another two to three years before the money starts to come back. [to investors]”Hugh MacArthur, chairman of Bain's private equity business, told the Financial Times. “This is probably the biggest concern in the market right now. “

Last year, the total value of companies in the industry sold privately or on the public market fell 44% through 2022 to its lowest level in a decade. Read the full report.

Here's what else I'm focusing on today:

• U.K: The CMA and Ofcom report to government media secretary Lucy Frazer the deadline for RedBird IMI's expected takeover of Telegraph Media Group. The shortlist for the International Booker Prize was also announced.

• France: The 9th OECD Investment Treaty Conference opens in Paris.

• European Union: Eurogroup ministers meet in Brussels.

• Economic data: The Office for National Statistics publishes its annual review of the “shopping basket” of goods and services used to measure its consumer price inflation index.

• company: Oracle releases third-quarter results.

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Five more popular stories

1. Thomson Reuters has $8 billion in funding for acquisitions and investments in the field of artificial intelligence, Its chief executive Steve Hasker told the Financial Times. The media and data group is betting the technology will transform, not disrupt, its business of providing information to lawyers, accountants and other professionals. Learn more about the company's AI plans from the interview.

2. The EU faces an “increasingly high” risk of systemic financial shocks caused by climate change warned the head of the European Environment Agency. The European Economic Area says long-term global average temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and temperatures across the region will rise by 3 degrees Celsius, warning that without “decisive action” “hundreds of thousands of people will die from heat waves, and The economic losses caused by coastal flooding alone could exceed €1 trillion per year.”

3. Portugal’s centre-right Democratic Alliance narrowly won the parliamentary election yesterday But it falls far short of a majority, making the far-right Chega party a potential champion. The result marks another important advance for the EU's right, with conservatives in Italy, Greece, Sweden and Finland winning elections or joining coalitions in the past two years. But it also plunged Portugal into a period of political uncertainty and potential instability.

4. The European IPO market has had its strongest start to the year since the epidemic. As stock markets hit new highs and the prospect of interest rate cuts raised hopes of a sustained recovery in listings. London Stock Exchange data shows that European companies have raised $3.2 billion through IPOs since January, more than double the same period last year. Here are some of the big-name companies lining up for IPOs.

5. At least 500 tonnes of hazardous metals leak into the Welsh environment from abandoned mines every year. This has prompted calls for urgent action from the UK government to address the legacy of Britain’s mining industry, according to government estimates obtained by the Financial Times. The metals dispersed by these mines accumulate in soils and floodplains used for homegrown and agricultural food production. Read more findings.

news depth

An estimated 300,000 people face famine in northern Gaza, and the situation is increasingly dire, where hunger and famine are most severe. Palestinian lawyer Ibrahim al-Kharabishy considers himself lucky because he is able to bake for his family using pigeon feed. But it disappeared from the market a few weeks ago, leaving his family to bake it from soybean hulls typically used as livestock feed. “Hunger has reached catastrophic proportions,” said Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory. “Children are dying of hunger.”

We are also reading. . .

Chart of the day

Two weeks after Lotus Technologies shares began trading on Nasdaq, they have fallen by two-thirds. However, for investors who bought Geely's other businesses listed on global stock markets, the collapse did not come as a surprise, but instead had a familiar feel. The ambitious Chinese group has floated shares in Volvo Cars, Polestar and ECARX in recent years. All are buried deep underwater. If the decline continues, it would raise questions about the company's ability to tap public markets to raise capital in the future as it moves further into the expensive business of developing electric vehicles.

Take a break from the news

Oppenheimer was the big winner at last night's Oscars, taking home Best Picture and six other awards. Here's our Oscars roundup from Christopher Grimes in Hollywood.

Other contributions by Emily Goldberg