UK

Workspace, the FTSE 250 real estate investment trust, has launched US private placements, according to market sources.

Essentra, the UK maker of plastic and fibre components, has sold £100m of new stock to finance its acquisition of 3C! Packaging in the US, via an accelerated bookbuild.

Nationwide Building Society is buying back £2bn of covered bonds in euros and sterling. UK covered bond issuers are buying back securities as risks increase ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period.

Alexander Nesis, the Russian billionaire who is the largest shareholder in gold miner Polymetal, sold a 4% stake in the company on Thursday - the fifth trade in the name this year.

This week’s £1.88bn ($2.43bn) IPO of The Hut Group (THG) in London is leading to hopes that European technology firms will follow in listing on their home markets rather than in the US.

Coventry Building Society struggled to build much momentum behind the sale of a new senior bond this week, as the sterling market proved especially vulnerable to new fears around Brexit.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, one of the world's largest owners of shopping malls, launched a €9bn-plus turnaround plan on Thursday, which includes a €3.5bn rights issue. The aim of is to reduce its leverage to help it withstand the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sir Martin Franklin, one of the founders of Jarden Corp, is seeking to list a new special purpose acquisition company on the London Stock Exchange, with a target deal size of $750m.

Shares in The Hut Group (THG), the UK e-commerce company, soared in trading on Wednesday morning, its first day as a public company.

In just a few days, two of the UK’s largest companies have had acquisition offers made for them by North American rivals. Heading into the 11th hour of a still chaotic Brexit process amid the highest national redundancy levels since the global financial crisis will have more foreign buyers circling yet.

Investors think that insurance companies will be able to deal with the cost of business interruption (BI) claims relating to Covid-19, even though the UK High Court found in favour of policyholders in a test case this week.

NatWest launched a new tender offer this week for four of its subordinated bonds, all of which are soon set to lose their value as regulatory capital.