NatWest Markets

NatWest Markets has come a long way since the dark days of its repeated restructurings. For a while, RBS was a punchline for gallows humour about the state of investment banking (not to mention the participation of the state in investment banking). Senior bankers jumped or were pushed, while the firm closed offices, sold off its US operations, trimmed its ambitions and seemed ready to settle down as a bit-part domestic player in the capital markets. But it is often darkest before the dawn.

The financing for the €1bn acquisition of roofing business Imerys Toiture to Lone Star Funds was revised this week to include a subordinated debt tranche, as levfin investors still active in August pocket riskier but higher yielding paper.

A pair of taps from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and KfW on Tuesday — ahead of the Bank of England’s expected rate rise later this week — ensured the non-UK sterling SSA market remains on track for a record year of issuance.

WiZink Bank sold its buyout payment-in-kind (PIK) bonds in the euro high yield market this week, a rare opportunity for high yield investors given the slim volumes from the financial sector and Iberian issuers this year.

Värde Partners plans to fund the acquisition of Spanish consumer credit bank WiZink with payment in kind (PIK) notes, a type of high yield issuance that borrowers have barely used in the last 18 months.

A banker has moved from NatWest Markets to work on insurance DCM at BNP Paribas.

NatWest Markets is fifth in Dealogic’s European sovereign bond bookrunner league table, a big leap on this time last year as it expands its presence across the SSA market — including into the dollar sector.

After three sterling bonds this week from the eurozone, the cross-border issuance in the currency reached its highest ever year-to-date level, according to Dealogic.

A survey of 2,350 bankers has found that NatWest Markets, HSBC and Barclays had the largest proportion of bankers saying they were happy with their 2018 bonuses, while Société Générale, Citi and BNP Paribas had the lowest proportion.

A slew of deals hit screens in sterling this week, allowing SSA borrowers from three continents to pick up a combined £1.175bn ($1.55bn) in funding — including one borrower’s largest-ever deal in the currency.

Retailer J Sainsbury and metals tycoon Anil Agarwal kept sterling denominated M&A running at full pace this week, after a quarter with the biggest volume of loans in the currency in five years.

UK retailer J Sainsbury’s has signed a £3.5bn loan package to back its acquisition of Walmart-owned Asda, with the company raising more debt than the cash component of the deal despite analysts raising concerns about the borrower’s recent debt levels.