UBS

With equity capital markets at their nadir of summer somnolence, mid-August is the moment at which the year’s rivalry between investment banks can truly be said to have completed its first half, with the second semester not yet begun.

UBS has overhauled the senior management of its trading business, as Kevin Arnold, head of FX, rates and credit for the Americas, has been given a new cross-asset role that includes equities.

San Miguel Corporation’s SMC Global Power Holdings Corp has mandated eight banks as the company hopes to return to the dollar bond market with perpetual subordinated notes.

Poseidon Containers, the Greek shipping company, has suspended its plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange, blaming unfavourable market conditions.

UK law makes it tough for authorities to prosecute banks over Libor manipulation, so individuals look set to bear the brunt of the criminal investigations, with the first successful prosecution handing former UBS and Citi trader Tom Hayes 14 years in prison.

UBS is breathing new life into its European leveraged finance operations, hiring a new head of origination to ready the troops for the fourth quarter — the first big hire in Europe for David Slade, who joined to run the team in April.

Rating: -/-/BB+

UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne picked Monday evening to sell a much-hyped 5.4% block of shares in Royal Bank of Scotland.

Holidaying investors and less than ideal market conditions proved no obstacle for three European banks which took orders just shy of $40bn to sell $6.35bn of additional tier one (AT1) debt in four sessions.

Despite a flying start to bookbuilding, the HK$11bn ($1.4bn) IPO of China Railway Signal & Communication Corp (CRSC) in Hong Kong eventually succumbed to the turmoil in China’s stock market, forcing it to price at the bottom of the range on August 1.

Oceanwide Holdings managed to reach the finish line for its $400m bond on Tuesday, the same day another high-yield issuer was forced to shelve its deal due to weak demand. Oceanwide’s triumph was thanks to the existence of outstanding notes that were trading well in secondary, as well as investors’ familiarity with the credit.

The Asia ex Japan bond market was crowded on August 4 with Oceanwide Holdings and eHi opening books for respective dollar bonds, and Export Development Canada (EDC) and HNA Tourism opting for offshore renminbi (CNH) offerings.