Europe

Learning Technologies Group (LTG), the e-learning and training provider, has completed a 44.3m share sale to part fund its acquisition of GP Strategies.

Large US banks are expected to turn their attention to the euro market next week, having raised $21.75bn of debt in their home currency after reporting their latest results.

As Western companies operating in Hong Kong await the details of a warning from the US State Department about the risks of doing business in the special administrative region, analysts say the growing rift between China and the US is putting HSBC in an especially uncomfortable position.

NatWest Markets has hired UK rates trader James Bucknall from Deutsche Bank, where he was head of sterling trading.

Only four member states have transposed the EU’s Covered Bond Directive into national law on time. As seven are nearly there, the other 16 members will have to work hard to meet the July 2022 deadline for implementation, after which the European Commission could activate infringement procedures.

Limited partners in private credit take a hands-off approach when investing in direct lending funds. But they need to pay attention.

Direct lending funds are known for protecting their investments with leverage covenants, but the investors in these funds — known as limited partners (LPs) — may be overestimating how much protection they give, market sources warned this week. Silas Brown reports.

Oldenburgische Landesbank (OLB) launched a €100m of additional tier one (AT1) capital on Thursday, with new issuance in the asset class remaining skewed towards sub-benchmark transactions.

Equity investors may finally, after months of being deluged with new listings, be about to get a break in August from the relentless deal activity that has defined the year. But they will come back in September to a market so busy that bankers believe bringing a deal then will be impossible for any companies that have not already committed to doing so, writes Sam Kerr.

The Financial Conduct Authority has helped to put the UK at the forefront of financial innovation with its pioneering regulatory sandbox programme. While it has inspired similar schemes in various jurisdictions, its next big challenge is to implement this concept across borders.

Georgia has become the latest country to signal its intention to develop a covered bond law, though given the small size of its mortgage market, issuance prospects are likely to prove limited.

EMC, the Cyprus incorporated private healthcare company with assets across Russia, has completed a global depositary receipt listing in Moscow. The deal paves the way for more overseas incorporated companies to sell equity instruments on Moscow Exchange.