UK

Valeo Foods, the Irish food producer behind brands such as Jacob’s Cream Crackers and Rowse’s Honey, has closed an amendment and extension deal for its euro and sterling leveraged loans.

The UK Municipal Bonds Agency is in the market with a £250m no-grow 40 year bond on behalf of Lancashire County Council. Initial price thoughts indicate the yield will be substantially below the rate charged by the government's Public Works Loans Board — the usual source of finance for councils.

Santander UK has been quick to price a new deal in the US dollar market after its results, making a saving over the funding levels on offer in euros or sterling.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) has told market participants to watch out for ‘further deterioration’ in solvency capital ratios, as insurers grapple with declining asset quality during the coronavirus pandemic.

A wave of companies from some of the most distressed industries will test risk appetite with rights issues this autumn, such as shopping mall landlord Hammerson and International Airlines Group, the parent of British Airways. These firms may raise the money they need and survive, but investors would be well advised to exercise extreme caution, for the future is not bright.

Serco is set to sell US private placements, according to market sources, a rarity from the UK support services since the sector fell into hot water with PP investors a few years ago.

A financial markets legal charity has warned the UK against diverging from EU law through its transposition of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD II), arguing that significant changes could increase the ‘operational burden’ on firms after Brexit.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), one of the largest owners of shopping malls in the world, is considering a large rights issue to reduce its leverage as the retail industry grapples with the economic fallout of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Banks in the EU have spent the last four years changing the terms and conditions of new issues to create a sense of certainty over how English law bonds will be treated after Brexit.

The UK Municipal Bonds Agency (MBA) has picked banks for its second trip to market, eyeing the ultra-long end and once again raising cash on behalf of Lancashire County Council. Although the bond will be in conventional format, the MBA is looking to issue green bonds in the future.

FIG market participants expect a smooth return to euro bond issuance from next week, with bankers and investors now set up to facilitate deals where ever they may be.

European equity capital markets are gearing up for a wave of autumn IPOs and are worrying that they will struggle for investor attention. But one of the few good things to have emerged from the coronavirus pandemic — the use of technology to accelerate deal calendars — should alleviate fears of congestion.