UK

Equity capital markets bankers are preparing for a busy autumn of rights issues as companies prepare to weather a long period of Covid-19 disruption. Because of the uncertainty over the the length and severity of the pandemic, businesses are said to be looking at larger capital raises than before.

The Bank of England will open a new consultation on the way the leverage ratio works in the UK after it has finished reviewing the framework through its committees.

The UK Debt Management Office has chosen the maturities and issuance windows for its two planned syndications in September. One of the syndications will be a new 15 year Gilt, which divided opinion among investors at a consultation last week.

Great Portland Estates, the UK real estate investment trust, is looking to close a set of private placements next week, according to market sources.

IAG, the airline holding company which owns British Airways, has launched a €2.75bn (£2.49bn) rights issue to give it enough liquidity to withstand Covid-19 disruption until 2023.

UK lenders used the second quarter of 2020 to ramp up their provisions against loan losses, greatly exceeding the market’s already high expectations for new reserves

Regular credits in the private placement markets in Europe, like UK utilities, have disappeared from the scene since the coronavirus pandemic began because investors have not managed to reduce their yield targets to compete with pricing in public markets. Silas Brown reports.

James Palmer has been named interim head of equity capital markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Bank of America. He replaces Sam Losada, who is leaving the bank to join Morgan Stanley.

The Co-operative Bank has said that its future could be in ‘significant doubt’ if it fails to make headway on plans to raise £550m ($719.46m) for its minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) by 2022. The UK lender is hoping to get going in the second half of this year.

Banks will have a very small window for issuing debt in the rest of 2020, with fears over rising coronavirus infections and US politics expected to bring volatility back into the market, deal arrangers have warned.

Mitie Group, the UK outsourcing and facilities management company has completed its £200m rights issue, with over 93% of shareholders taking up their shares with the remainder sold to the market on Wednesday morning.

Fintech was one of the hottest sectors in equity capital markets in 2019 and it seems to have lost none on its appeal during the coronavirus pandemic, as two deals on Tuesday demonstrated.