UK

Shawbrook Group, the specialist UK lender, was able to price a new tier two at 9% this week. The deal is set to replace an older bond, which is subject to a tender offer and is otherwise callable later this year.

The biggest reform of UK insolvency law for more than a decade was rushed through Parliament and enacted on June 26, as the coronavirus lockdown is expected to cause a wave of defaults across the economy, reports Jon Hay. The law’s complexity and the haste of its preparation have left restructuring experts chewing over many aspects where they foresee risks of unintended consequences — but also eager to try out some of the law’s new powers.

Skipton Building Society is looking for approval from investors to convert the interest basis on one of its covered bonds from Libor to Sonia.

Europe’s equity capital markets bankers are preparing for a busy autumn of IPOs and have been meeting with investors to secure early support for these deals. Bankers are hoping the new deals retain some of the features of successful listings in the first half of the year.

After discussions with US private placement holders, French food services company Sodexo has said it will repay roughly $1.6bn of debt early, in the largest ever early repayment of US PPs. It is a result of tensions that have flared up during the pandemic over covenant protections, which some fear will lead to a drop in corporate PP deal flow.

Investors welcomed a 12.5m block sale in Polymetal, the Russian miner of gold and other precious metals, on Tuesday night and poured into the trade following a risk auction.

Royal Vopak, the Dutch oil and gas storage company, is marketing senior and subordinated private placements, according to market sources.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Hikma, a Jordanian company listed in London, hit screens this week, raking in cash and proving appetite for credits along the rating spectrum.

The UK is in many ways a green leader. Starting to issue green Gilts would be peripheral to that, and not necessary to environmental progress. But for a country that desperately needs to buff up its image, it is low-hanging fruit.

Sir Ronald Cohen, one of the UK’s foremost private equity entrepreneurs, believes the Covid-19 crisis is an opportunity to transform western capitalism into a socially responsible enterprise that values a company’s impact on society as much as its profits. Cohen talks to GlobalCapital about the tremendous challenges facing the global economy, and how it can be transformed for the better.

After discussions with US private placement holders, French food services company Sodexo has said it will repay roughly $1.6bn of debt early. Four market sources said this was the largest corporate early repayment of US PPs of all time. Some fear a growing disconnect between institutional investors and companies over financial covenants, and attempts to amend them.

The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) has updated its remit to include an additional £50bn of borrowing by the end of August. However, investors had expected details of the sovereign’s borrowing ambitions up to the end of September.