Surging oil prices gave sukuk transactions their best ever start to a year in 2022, Bloomberg reports. Sales of new sukuk maturing in at least a year reached nearly USD 24 bn in the first quarter, marking the best start since the business newswire began compiling data on the sharia-compliant bonds back in 1999. Saudi Arabia and Turkey were the biggest issuers of sukuk, which performed better than highly-rated global bonds, shedding 4% compared with 7% for investment-grade bonds overall.

Investor sentiment on high-growth private companies has done a 180° this year as rising interest rates threaten to hit valuations, the Financial Times reports. Some 95% of “growth investors” — investors situated between early-stage VCs and private equity groups that target older companies — are expecting to cut corporate valuations over the next 12 months, according to an investor survey by Numis. This compares to 70% who anticipated valuations to either remain the same or rise at the end of 2021. The reversal in sentiment mirrors what is happening in high-growth tech stocks, which have sold off this year ahead of rising borrowing costs.

Another IPO in the Gulf: UAE-based property developer FAM Holding is planning to list on Abu Dhabi stock exchange’s second market, a platform that allows private joint stock companies to list. If approved, FAM Holding, which has a property portfolio worth USD 545 mn, will be joining eight companies currently trading on the second market. (Bloomberg)

IN OTHER FINANCE NEWS-

• More bad news for Russia’s bondholders: Russian corporate and sovereign debt has been removed from JPMorgan’s EM bond indexes, putting more pressure on Russian fixed-income assets, which have tanked since the country invaded Ukraine on 24 February. (Bloomberg)
• China wants to keep its companies listed stateside: China has moved to make its auditing rules more transparent in a bid to stop US regulators delisting Chinese firms in 2024. The new rules allow foreign regulators to gain access to sensitive financial information and are being seen as a major concession to the US, which has upped the pressure on Beijing to allow it to access more information about listed Chinese firms. (FT)
• Chinese fashion e-commerce startup Shein could raise some USD 1 bn in an upcoming funding round, which would value it at USD 100 bn, according to sources familiar with the matter. The company — known for its affordable designs and fast delivery — saw its app downloaded more times than Amazon in the US last year. (Bloomberg)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 2.9% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 561.21 mn (42.5% below the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is down 3.2% YTD.

In the green: EFG Hermes (+9.1%), Mopco (+8.1%) and GB Auto (+7.0%).

In the red: Fawry (-0.6%), Orascom Construction (-0.5%) and Telecom Egypt (-0.2%).