Personal fairness teams unable to promote or checklist China-based portfolio firms

Immediately’s agenda: France’s new finance minister; UK housebuilding hunch; EU’s saved gasoline utilization; Mozambique political turmoil; and love misplaced for courting apps

Good morning. We start with the world’s largest personal fairness teams, which have been unable to promote or checklist their China-based portfolio firms this 12 months as Beijing’s crackdown on preliminary public choices and a slowing financial system depart overseas buyers’ capital trapped within the nation.

What the info reveals: Among the many 10 largest international personal fairness teams with operations in China, there is no such thing as a file of any having listed a Chinese language firm this 12 months or absolutely bought their stake via an M&A deal, in response to figures from Dealogic. It’s the first 12 months for no less than a decade the place this has been the case, although the tempo of exits has been sluggish since Beijing launched restrictions on Chinese language firms’ means to checklist in 2021.

Why it issues: Buyout teams depend on having the ability to promote or checklist firms, usually inside three to 5 years of shopping for them, in an effort to generate returns for the pension funds, insurance coverage firms and others whose cash they handle. The difficulties in doing so have in impact left these buyers’ funds locked away, with future returns unsure. Learn the total report.

Right here’s what we’re holding tabs on right this moment:

• Moldova: Professional-EU president-elect Maia Sandu is sworn in. Her slim victory, regardless of alleged Russian interference, places the nation on a path to EU membership.

5 extra prime tales

1. France’s new prime minister François Bayrou has chosen Eric Lombard, head of state-backed monetary group Caisse des Dépôts, as finance minister, entrusting him with devising a finances that may go the nation’s raucous hung parliament. The appointment got here after days of wrangling between Bayrou and President Emmanuel Macron. Listed below are the opposite officers within the new cupboard.

2. The UK’s listed housebuilders are on observe to construct the fewest new properties on the market in a decade as planning guidelines and excessive mortgage charges maintain the market again regardless of the brand new Labour authorities’s push to extend housing provide. The sector is forecast to finish simply over 50,000 properties this 12 months, in response to a Monetary Instances evaluation, the lowest stage of output since 2013.

3. The EU is emptying its gasoline storage services on the quickest tempo because the power disaster three years in the past as colder climate and a decline in seaborne imports increase demand. The quantity of gasoline within the bloc’s storage websites has dropped 19 per cent from the tip of September, when the refilling season ends in gasoline markets, to mid-December, in response to an trade physique. Learn the total report.

4. Mozambique’s highest electoral physique confirmed the ruling occasion’s controversial election victory regardless of allegations of vote-rigging, reigniting the most important anti-government protests to hit the gas-rich nation since independence. The announcement sparked a brand new spherical of unrest within the capital Maputo, with hundreds taking to the streets.

5. Airways on either side of the Atlantic are bracing for his or her busiest Christmas season. Within the UK, carriers will fly 6.1mn seats between December 20 and January 2, a 5 per cent enhance on the earlier file set in 2019, in response to aviation information, whereas a file 54mn passengers are forecast to fly on US carriers between December 19 and January 6. Listed below are the highest locations.

The Huge Learn

The world’s largest on-line courting firms are in disaster as girls and youthful customers more and more look in direction of area of interest apps and real-life meets — and even decide out of romantic relationships altogether. Why have customers fallen out of affection with courting apps?

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• ‘Waste of time’: The FT spoke to ministers, enterprise leaders and Labour MPs to piece collectively what went incorrect for Sir Keir Starmer after his landslide election victory.

• Dispatch from Syria’s Latakia: Within the Assad dynasty’s house province and one-time stronghold, many worry the regime change marks the beginning of a cycle of disempowerment and retribution.

• Dax bull run: Germany’s personal “magnificent seven” have pushed a powerful rally within the nation’s inventory market this 12 months, defying the gloom enveloping the home financial system.

• Misinformation: A Russian on-line advert company with a London affiliate has been implicated in affect campaigns in France, Germany and Romania.

Chart of the day

Three extra EU member states — together with essentially the most populous, Germany — have joined the checklist of nations with “ultra-low” fertility charges, highlighting the extent of the area’s demographic challenges. Delivery charges have fallen even in nations the place family-friendly insurance policies had beforehand helped enhance the variety of infants.

Take a break from the information

In our society, momentous information tends to be shared first with these in vital or high-profile positions, because it has been all through historical past. So it’s notable, writes Enuma Okoro, {that a} group of “lowly” shepherds was deemed essential sufficient to obtain the information of the delivery of Jesus. The common-or-garden characters of the Nativity story have a lot to show us about being open to concepts of spirituality.

FirstFT will probably be taking a break tomorrow however we’ll be again in your inboxes on Thursday. Thanks for studying, and completely satisfied holidays!