UK Sovereign

Jealousy is a cardinal sin. But meeting David Harding roused the green-eyed monster. It’s not the money. If that were a catalyst for jealousy, writing Food for Thoughts would have consigned me to a padded cell many years ago. It is the heady cocktail of intellectual stimulation and vindication he must imbibe every day and the intoxicating gift it delivers: to be yourself and say exactly what you think.

Keepmoat, a UK homebuilder and renovator of social housing, began meeting investors in Europe on Tuesday to prepare for a potential high yield bond debut.

British shoe firm Jimmy Choo became the latest luxury goods firm to launch an IPO on Tuesday, when it kicked off a long-awaited London flotation.

Mother and child retail firm Mothercare is set to raise £100m through a fully underwritten rights issue that will fund its move towards digital.

Virgin Media, the UK cable television, broadband and mobile phone company, plans to issue its first senior unsecured bond for two years, with a dual currency deal of £600m.

British housebuilder Miller Homes launched an IPO on Monday that could value it at around £450m, the latest in a run of plays on British property growth.

Following the restructuring of the business at the beginning of September, RBS has announced the management team for EMEA investment grade debt capital markets.

Will Smiley, former co-head of ECM syndicate for Asia Pacific ex Japan at Goldman Sachs, has relocated to the bank’s London office.

Buy- and sellside firms with bilateral arrangements with exchanges may find time and resources are under pressure from the migration of Liffe UK derivative products to ICE Futures Europe, which started on Monday and will continue through to mid-November.

Monday was a soft day for equities and credit spreads, but BP had little if any hesitation in launching its second large euro bond of the year. The UK oil company’s deal was the eighth big dual tranche deal in euros since BMW set the fashion on August 26.

British bank Aldermore, which lends to SMEs and homeowners, is set to become the third of a run of challenger banks from the country as it launched its IPO on Monday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has lost a senior emerging markets DCM banker.