NatWest Markets

Royal Dutch Shell has cancelled its £10.07bn ($14.56bn) bridge loan, instead opting to pay for the cash element of its $82bn acquisition of BG Group with cash on balance sheet.

On Tuesday night the loan market gathered in all its finery to hear the winners of the 13th Syndicated Loan, Leveraged Finance and Private Placement Awards at the Guildhall, in London. The results are below.

Santander UK has taken advantage of deep demand for short dated floating rate debt to print a €750m deal in the private market.

The extraordinary sight of a German public sector borrower pulling a syndication mid-week led not only led to criticism of the deal’s execution but also reawakened fears over banks' diminishing ability to take down and warehouse sovereign and sub-sovereign bonds. Craig McGlashan reports.

As European equity markets briefly rallied on Thursday, Ford Credit Europe (FCE Bank) and Praxair stepped into the breach, printing €1.9bn of paper for a starved primary market.

Caisse d'Amortissement de la Dette Sociale (Cades) priced a £500m three year bond on the same day that KommuneKredit mandated for a tap in the currency.

The European Investment Bank and Nederlandse Waterschapsbank priced deals on a day in which another issuer pulled a trade.

Alliance Automotive, the Blackstone-owned French car parts supplier, this week tapped its 2021 notes for €70m as the European high yield market tries to regain momentum after a poor January.

A trio of issuers prepared to print in euros across the maturity curve in a dash before the Chinese New Year holiday starts next week, following a pair of euro benchmarks on Tuesday.

The retail sale of Lloyds Bank shares will be delayed, rather than held this spring as planned, UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne said today.

Royal Bank of Scotland announced £3.6bn of extra costs related to litigation and pensions on Wednesday, which will take the part-nationalised lender to a full year loss.

European banks continued with their cautious approach to primary markets this week, but with covered bonds returning to the fore hopes are rising for a more exciting February.