JP Morgan

National Grid, the UK utility, is planning a loan-funded £7.8bn acquisition of the UK’s largest electricity distribution business from US firm PPL Corp. The deal could see £2.7bn of the utility’s assets sold to PPL.

JP Morgan has hired Mark Carlile as vice-chairman of mergers and acquisitions for its Australia and New Zealand franchise, according to an internal memo.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has had a stellar week, hosting two secondary listings worth about $6bn in total in quick succession. The latest out of the gate is Chinese video sharing and gaming platform Bilibili, which kicked off a potential $3bn float within hours of internet giant Baidu wrapping up its multi-billion-dollar deal. Jonathan Breen reports.

The sterling corporate bond market had three visitors on Wednesday, making it the busiest day this year, and raised a combined £1.565bn, an unusually large amount for corporate sterling issuance.

Verizon Communications, the US telecoms group, embarked on an almost $3bn niche currency bond issuing spree this week, which included the largest foreign Swiss franc bond since early 2018.

Club Brugge, the Belgian football club, has begun bookbuilding for its IPO on Euronext Brussels, having fixed the price range at €17.50 to €22.50 a share.

More US companies are rushing to take advantage of rising share prices by issuing convertible bonds, including Ford Motor Co, which is bringing a giant $2bn deal.

Chinese video sharing and gaming platform Bilibili is set to launch its Hong Kong secondary offering this week, after winning listing approval from the city’s bourse.

Europe’s high grade primary bond market was pumping out deals with double figure new issue concessions on Tuesday, though German real estate company Vonovia’s planned debut green deal will test whether ESG demand is still rampant enough that the borrower won't have to offer extra.

Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered were marketing green and sustainable bonds in dollars on Tuesday, following a tricky period for new deals in the currency.

Standard Chartered gave euro investors another rare opportunity to build exposure to UK subordinated debt on Tuesday, as it followed Barclays in issuing a tier two transaction in the currency.

Agence France Trésor (AFT), the French sovereign debt office, mandated banks on Monday to lead the sale of the sovereign’s second green OAT, returning to the market for the first time since its debut in 2017.