Lloyds Bank

Cadent Gas has entered the US private placement (US PP) market via Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Lloyds, according to market participants.

Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) has launched a $150m US private placement, according to two US PP participants.

Here Technologies, the Dutch provider of mapping and location services, has signed a €500m credit facility. Some European loans bankers insist they are swamped with deals, even though they have just finished the quietest January for years.

Spanish telecoms company Telefónica on Monday launched the first green bond in euros from the telecoms sector. The firm, rated as one of Spain’s leading companies in the fight against climate change, published its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework in November but had to wait two months to sell its first green bond.

The universities of Aberdeen and Leicester are marketing US private placements (US PP), it is understood, both of which willl be inaugural transactions.

The day after the UK government mandated Teresa May to go to Brussels and renegotiate the country’s exit agreement with the European Union, the UK electricity transmission company National Grid tested investors’ appetites for UK assets and found a host of willing buyers without having to offer much of a premium.

Thames Water sold roughly £220m of US private placement notes this January.

Lloyds Bank issued a £750m three year Sonia linked covered bond on Monday, taking advantage of the steepness of the sterling curve to cut the funding cost. But having issued almost £4bn ($5.1bn) in the last 12 months, demand was much less compelling than Nationwide’s recent Sonia debut.

Berkshire Hathaway was one of five issuers to brave choppy conditions on Thursday and open the dollar market with the first trades of 2019.

The UK’s CityFibre has signed a £1.12bn debt package from seven banks, as the Goldman Sachs-linked fibre broadband infrastructure provider rolls out its nationwide competition against incumbent firms BT and Virgin Media.

Cinema operator Vue International cancelled its £833m-equivalent leveraged loan offering amid increasing investor aversion to sterling risk, as the UK government and Parliament descended into a full-blown clash over the conditions for separation from the European Union.

Widening spreads for UK financial firms have opened up attractive opportunities for investors comfortable with the underlying resilience of the sector. Despite the risks that Brexit and competition from new sources pose, there were no failures in the Bank of England's stress test last week.