The UK's energy partner.

Learn more at equinore.

Good morning from the newsroom of the Financial Times.

Today is Tuesday, December 31st. Good morning from the Newsroom of the Financial Times.

Today is Tuesday, December 31st,

and this is your FT news briefing.

Private equity dealmaking hit a high this year

at a level that hasn't been seen in more than a decade.

Investors gear up for the final day of stock market trading in 2019 and Carlos Gone touches

down in Beirut.

Plus the F.T.'s Tom Braithwaite looks back on a year filled with

interesting IPOs and tells us what corporate stories we should be looking out for in

2020. I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.

Private equity groups spent more this year than at any time since the financial crisis. In 2019 the value of buy-out deals hit

$178 billion. That's up 18 billion from a year ago. It's also the highest

level it's been since 2007. The activity has been

fueled by a combination of cheap debt and pension funds looking for big returns and

the low interest rate environment.

That's meant competition for buying assets.

Take Blackstone, for example.

The group made the largest real estate deal in history

back in June when it bought the US.S. Warehouses portfolio of Investment Manager

...