UK

Motability Operations Group, the UK non-profit company that leases cars to disabled people, will only issue social bonds in future, after successfully using the format for the first time last week.

Moonpig, the online greetings card company, has started its IPO process with a boost, announcing two big cornerstone orders at the beginning of investor education. Meanwhle, Dr Martens, the UK bootmaker, has published its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange without cornerstones, but sources say that either cornerstones or anchors are a strong possibility on that deal.

Immunocore, the UK biotech company, has filed for an IPO on the Nasdaq in New York following a $75m series ‘C’ funding round which concluded last week.

Aedifica, a Belgium-based healthcare property investment company, has launched a US private placement, according to market sources.

Supreme plc, the Manchester-based maker of vaping liquids for e-cigarettes, is preparing to go public on London’s alternative investment market (AIM).

Two more trades on Thursday night crowned off a busy week for block trading in London, fuelled by a rally of UK equities since the start of the year after the country secured a trade deal with the European Union at the end of 2020.

Austrian paper and packaging firm Mayr-Melnhof Karton, called MM Karton for short, has launched a Schuldscheine, with an initial target of €300m.

Investors flocked to the first block trade in The Hut Group (THG), the UK e-commerce company that was listed on the London Stock Exchange in September, in an overnight trade on Wednesday evening.

UniCredit raised €2bn of preferred senior funding with a careful trade on Tuesday, as investors come to terms with a new pricing paradigm in the bank bond market.

The billionaire Arora brothers have sold £218m ($298m) of shares in B&M European Value Retail, the UK budget retail chain, through an auctioned block trade.

Apollo Global Management has continued to selldown its stake in Watches of Switzerland, the UK luxury watch retailer, following a strong rally in the stock since its IPO on the London Stock Exchange in May 2019.

Moonpig, the UK online cards and gifts company, has published a registration document to list on the London Stock Exchange. Sources close to the deal are confident there is enough demand for it to become one of 2021’s early success stories.