UK

Coventry Building Society (CBS) has set up a second covered bond programme that is secured exclusively on the mortgages originated under its buy-to-let Godiva platform, which had previously been funded through its Mercia RMBS programme. Although the covered bonds require more collateral to reach the same rating, they offer greater funding flexibility as they can be pledged for repo and are eligible for the liquidity coverage ratio.

Bavarian dairy group Müller is marketing US private placements, according to market sources, alongside nutrition group Glanbia.

Metro Bank said on Wednesday that it had slipped below its loss-absorbing capacity targets. But before it commits to issuing more senior debt, it is waiting for the Bank of England to complete a review of the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

The Bank of England said this week that it would loosen some of the rules around the maximum distributable amount for UK banks after Brexit, making it harder for them to trigger restrictions on their additional tier one (AT1) coupons and equity dividends.

UnipolSai Assicurazioni was nearly three times subscribed for a restricted tier one (RT1) this week — the first of its kind in Italy. An attractive coupon helped to offset any concerns about Italian sovereign risk or a lack of liquidity in the RT1 market.

Getlink, the company that operates the Channel Tunnel, is preparing a €700m high yield green bond to refinance its 2023 bonds and raise cash for capex, including finishing off a landmark electricity connection between the UK and France. The refi comes after it negotiated waivers on the covenants in its term loan to deal with the impact of the pandemic.

Quadgas, a gas asset and infrastructure investment consortium that sits above UK utility Cadent Gas, has launched a US private placement, in the first whiff of a deal from the sector in the UK for more than six months.

E-commerce listings have been been a high point of equity issuance during the second half of 2020, with the sector generating strong returns for investors. Most of the year’s listings have been completed, but banks are already working on deals from the sector for 2021.

The UK government has said that banks will still be able to make investor distributions if they fall below their minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) after Brexit — in an early of sign of divergence from the EU rulebook.

Shanghai-listed SDIC Power Holdings has priced its $200.6m London offering of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) at the bottom of the marketed range.

Kazakh fintech and e-commerce firm Kaspi began trading on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday after completing a popular IPO. The deal was a remarkable achievement and there are hopes it means future growth-orientated IPOs from the emerging and frontier markets may see similar success, writes Sam Kerr.

Urban Logistics Reit, the London-listed real estate investment trust, has finished the final leg of a £92m share sale, tapping into heightened investor demand for exposure to niche areas of the real estate market during the pandemic.