Zest Wire | 15-April-2026

Purchase multiples hit a record high for PE firms. Plus: How Zest bundles three capabilities in a single unified platform, and much more.

April 15, 2026

This week’s agenda

✍️ Our latest resources

💰 Capital activity across MENA private markets

⚙️ Escrow trends

🏛️ Pre-IPO movement

🧾 Purchase multiples hit a record high for PE firms

📖 What we’re reading

Our latest resource

73% of global institutions now expect private markets to outperform public markets over the next five years, and 66% plan to increase their private-asset allocations. But there’s one problem: 92% of LPs cite operational risk and transparency as their top concerns when they get there.

The appetite is real. The infrastructure is still catching up. Our latest article lays out how Zest is building the digital rails powering the next trillion in private capital across MENA, with a look inside the three capabilities (SPVs, Escrow, Arrange) that are already powering private transactions around the region.

Capital activity across MENA

  • 🇪🇬 Lucky raises $23 million Series B round combining equity and debt, with participation from Disruptech Ventures, DPI via Nclude, Suez Canal Bank, and OneStop, to scale its consumer credit platform, expand into North Africa, and strengthen infrastructure, licensing, and regulatory readiness as it moves toward becoming a neo-banking-ready platform.

  • 🇲🇦 ZSystems raises $1.65 million seed round led by Azur Innovation Management, with follow-on participation from MNF Ventures and Witamax and new backing from Harambeans Prosperity Fund, to support continued product development, platform expansion, and market penetration as the company modernizes B2B commerce across a $40 billion undigitised retail market.

  • 🇸🇦 Jozo raises $2.2 million seed round led by Sheikh Hamad Bin Saedan Real Estate Co. as a strategic partner, to scale operations and enhance its real estate tokenization platform as the company strengthens its position within Saudi Arabia's evolving digital real estate investment ecosystem.

  • 🇦🇪 estaie raises a 7-figure pre-seed round led by PlusVC and Orbit Ventures, with participation from Falak Angels and Value Makers Studio, to accelerate regional expansion into Saudi Arabia and scale its AI-native extended-stay marketplace targeting bookings between 30 and 365 nights.

Escrow trends

2025 M&A Holdback Escrow Study of Trends & Highlights | JPMorgan

Discover key M&A holdback escrow highlights from 2,400+ transactions and critical trends in risk mitigation in our latest report.

Client Money Risk in Law Firms: Why TPMA & Escrow Are Rising in 2026 | Interpolitan

With the SRA placing more scrutiny on how law firms handle client funds, TPMA and escrow solutions have become the industry's safeguarding superpower.

Pre-IPO movement

Gulf likely to be all in on SpaceX IPO | AGBI

The size and breadth of Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO make it an irresistible play for Gulf sovereign wealth funds and investors.

OpenAI Is Falling Out of Favor With Secondary Buyers | Bloomberg

Some institutional investors are looking to sell about $600 million of OpenAI shares, but there are no buyers.

Anthropic Completes Tender Offer, But Employees Hold Onto Shares | Bloomberg

The company was valued at $350 billion in its latest deal, not including the $30 billion it raised.

Purchase multiples hit a record high for PE firms

Buyout firms in the private markets paid a record median 11.8x EBITDA in 2025, just higher than the previous 2022 heights.

Why is this happening? It may reflect GPs seeking out quality deals as aging dry powder (now ~40% for funds two years or older) meets a market with a very thin supply of investable assets, pushing GPs to pay up for scale and resilience. But at high entry multiples, there is risk for acquirers. The pressure shifts squarely onto operational value creation to drive returns.

Regional market watch

Middle East Fintech Investors Pivot To Resilient Local Infrastructure Amid Regional Turmoil | Crowdfund Insider

In the Middle East, fintech investors are increasingly channeling resources into sturdy domestic infrastructure as geopolitical tensions mount.

Regulatory Liberalization and Sovereign Wealth Fund Catalysis Fuel Expanding PPP Pipelines | Research and Markets

Opportunities in the MENA private equity market include growth driven by digital transformation, regulatory liberalization allowing greater foreign participation, and expanded public-private partnerships.

How the UAE’s financial system is evolving under the Central Bank’s 2025 strategy | Fast Company ME

From fintech expansion to regulatory overhaul, CBUAE outlines a resilient and future-ready financial system.

LP and GP perspectives

GP Stakes Investing in a Maturing Market | AKin

The continued maturation of the alternatives universe is driving managers to seek optionality and capital to fund the next wave of platform growth.

Family offices outline concerns over rise of zombie funds | PEI

Stonehage Fleming and GreenBear Group want aging funds wound up as quickly as possible to avoid issues such as questions around valuations.

LP Co-Investment in 2026: Key Structural Trends in Private Equity | Akin

88% of LPs intend to allocate up to 20% of their portfolios to co-investments between now and 2030, with demand having grown steadily over the last five years.

Private markets at large

Infrastructure: Investing to support global growth | McKinsey

Private capital’s role in meeting the world’s growing need for infrastructure continues to grow, with record fundraising and deployment in 2025.

Private equity: Clearer view, tougher terrain | McKinsey

Private equity weather has improved, revealing more demanding, technical ground. Here’s what our analyses indicate for dealmakers, operators, fundraisers, and LPs as they look to the road ahead.

The $3.2 Trillion Power Play: Blackstone and KKR Lead the Charge as AI’s New Landlords | Financial Content

The global financial landscape is witnessing a tectonic shift as a record-shattering $3.2 trillion "Wall of Capital" is being unleashed upon the physical foundations of artificial intelligence.

Chicago Atlantic expands into emerging markets with private credit strategy | Alternative Credit Investor

Chicago Atlantic has launched an emerging markets private credit strategy, expanding its investments in the region.

Analysis and insights

Before the Write-Off: Fundamental Signals and Valuation Lags in Buyout | MSCI

Write-offs in private equity were preceded by observable operational deterioration, but valuations adjusted with a significant lag - a delay not seen for profitable exits.

Quantifying Geopolitical Risk at the Company Level | MSCI

Not all geopolitical shocks hit markets the same way. New tools help investors measure company-level exposure and make a plan before the next crisis.

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