UK

Prospects are rising of a return to normal merger and acquisition activity, despite the continued grip of the Covid-19 pandemic. Telefónica, the Spanish telecoms group, has confirmed it is in talks about combining its UK mobile business O2 with Virgin Media, the quad play telecoms firm owned by Liberty Global.

A group of veteran fund managers have launched a new boutique asset manager dedicated to responsible investing in emerging market equities.

QBE sold $500m of additional tier one debt in the dollar market this week, as it sought to shield itself from the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The UK Municipal Bonds Agency has announced the two first councils that will take part in its pooled issuance scheme, although the bonds themselves may well not be issued before the summer.

Barclays topped off a record-breaking quarter for its markets division by tapping the dollar market for $1.75bn this week, amid red-hot funding conditions underpinned by soothing words from US Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell.

Lloyds Bank has got most of its covered bond and senior funding out of the way already this year — ideal, given the threat of the coronavirus pandemic to both bond markets and the wider economy. But the bank has also been busy optimising its capital stack, which should support its lending just when it is most needed.

Emergency financing to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic have dominated UK equity capital markets since the country went into lockdown on March 23. But investors still have the capacity to fund companies raising growth capital although many issuers are said to be waiting for clarity on the path out of lockdown from the government expected next week.

The UK Debt Management Office has chosen the banks to lead what will be the first of an unprecedented two syndicated offerings in a single calendar month as it prepares to finance a substantial increase in its borrowing requirements.

UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon has sold £141m of fresh equity to keep itself afloat until the UK government lifts the country’s lockdown, which led to the closure of all pubs.

Equities have made a stirring recovery since the record coronavirus sell-off in March. Corporates, looking to raise cash by any means necessary to survive the crisis and lower their risk, have taken advantage of the uplift, selling non-core equity holdings. Now, more are being urged to get in on the trade while it lasts, as there are fears that stock markets will plummet again if lockdowns or infections worsen with the pandemic far from over, writes Sam Kerr.

Hargreaves Lansdown fell in trading on Thursday after Stephen Lansdown, one of the co-founders of the UK retail investment platform, sold £160m of shares in the company via an accelerated bookbuild led by Barclays.

Pension Insurance Corp was almost 12 times subscribed for a new tier two capital bond on Thursday, after following some of its UK peers into the sterling market amid a busy pipeline for new pension risk transfer deals.