Riyadh Cables didn’t have a great start to life on the Saudi stock exchange yesterday: Riyadh Cables Group’s shares fell 12% on their market debut in Riyadh yesterday after the company raised USD 378 mn in its IPO. Shares hit the exchange at the top end of the USD 39-43 price range but finished the session at USD 37.80 amid a broader market sell-off that left the Tadawul down 0.6%.

The IPO: The power cable manufacturer raised USD 378 mn in its IPO, selling 22% (33 mn shares) in the company at SAR 43 per share, valuing the company at some SAR 6.5 bn. The institutional component of the IPO was 72x oversubscribed.

Advisers: Our friends at EFG Hermes (pdf) were joint bookrunners alongside ANB Capital and Riyad Capital, which was the lead manager on the transaction.

Investors give ESG funds the cold shoulder: ESG funds saw more outflows than inflows in 2022 for the first time in over a decade amid volatile market conditions and mounting criticism of the industry, according to Reuters. Some USD 13.2 bn has been pulled from ESG stock, bond and mixed-asset funds so far this year, its first net outflow since 2011.

Non-ESG is also down, but ESG has been harder hit: Net assets in ESG funds fell 29% in the first 11 months of the year, compared to 21% for non-ESG funds, according to the newswire. Non-ESG funds lost USD 420 bn over the same period.

ALSO:

• Meta could face a mammoth fine from the EU: Facebook parent Meta could be docked 10% of its annual global revenues if found guilty for breaching EU antitrust rules by “distorting competition in the markets for online classified ads” with its Facebook Marketplace. The company reported almost USD 118 bn in revenues in 2021, which would result in a USD 11.8 bn fine. (Statement)
• Crypto consolidation: Bankrupt crypto firm Voyager Digital said yesterday it will sell its assets to the US arm of Binance, the world’s largest crypto trading platform, in a deal that values it at around USD 1 bn.
• Oil price cap hits the RUB: The RUB suffered its steepest one-day drop since July yesterday, hitting its lowest level in seven months on concerns that Western sanctions on Russian oil exports will hit revenues. (Reuters)
• Fortnite owner Epic Games will pay USD 520 mn in fines and refunds to the US consumer watchdog, which said the company had violated children’s privacy laws and tricked customers into making unwanted purchases. (Statement)

	EGX30	14,739	-0.7% (YTD: +23%)
	USD (CBE)	Buy 24.69	Sell 24.77
	USD at CIB	Buy 24.68	Sell 24.75
	Interest rates CBE	13.25% deposit	14.25% lending
	Tadawul	10,186	-0.6% (YTD: -9.7%)
	ADX	10,358	+0.3% (YTD: +22.0%)
	DFM	3,340	+0.3% (YTD: +4.5%)
	S&P 500	3,818	-0.9% (YTD: -19.9%)
	FTSE 100	7,361	+0.4% (YTD: -0.3%)
	Euro Stoxx 50	3,811	+0.2% (YTD: -11.3%)
	Brent crude	USD 80.16	+1.4%
	Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 5.84	-11.6%
	Gold	USD 1,796.60	-0.2%
	BTC	USD 16,587	-1.0% (YTD: -67.1%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.7% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.39 bn (57.9% above the 90-day average). International investors were net sellers. The index is up 23.3% YTD.

In the green: Qalaa Holdings (+10.7%), Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling (+9.2%) and Ezz Steel (+7.8%).

In the red: Egypt Kuwait Holding – EGP (-4.6%), CIB (-3.7%) and Juhayna (-3.0%).

Shares in Asia are in the red this morning as the disruptive end to zero-covid in China and last week’s hawkish tone by the Federal Reserve continue to weigh on markets. European markets are on course to open lower while US stock futures have shares on Wall Street rebounding from yesterday’s sell-off to open in the green.