UK

Many felt that Chinese banks, key investors in Schuldscheine, would pull back from the market as the pandemic hit. This has been far from the case.

Dechra Pharmacuticals, the pharmaceutical company focused on pets, raised £134m in an accelerated placing on Wednesday night to strengthen its balance sheet after an M&A wave and to give it headroom for further growth and to protect against the economic headwinds of the coronavirus pandemic.

Barclays was positively surprised at how quickly capital markets reopened and it wasted little time issuing senior and tier two deals while its treasury team were still working from home. The UK lender is likely to use the Bank of England's Term Funding for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (TFSME) facility, which will lower its secured funding needs. The bank was well capitalised going into the crisis and has buttressed itself against the expected tide of credit impairments with a prudent level of provisioning.

Standard Chartered sold its first capital instrument in euros since 2014 this week, clocking up a considerable 40bp saving versus the dollar market. The deal adds to a recent flurry of tier two supply from European banks.

Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund, raised $206.7m on Tuesday night through a share placing in Kazatomprom, the country’s state uranium company. Emerging markets investors, who have been lacking new paper during the coronavirus crisis, lapped up the shares.

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co has won approval from the mainland securities regulator to move ahead with its stock offering on the London Stock Exchange.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics, the New York-listed UK biopharmaceutical company focused on cancer treatments, has raised $225m to fund further clinical trials for its immunotherapy treatments.

Credit Suisse launched its first sterling bonds of the year on Tuesday, moving to within touching distance of completing its annual issuance plan for its total loss absorbing capacity requirements (TLAC).

OP Corporate Bank and Standard Chartered were looking to add to a flurry of recent tier two issuance on Tuesday. The asset class has found itself in a sweet spot in terms of its regulatory and financial value during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Financial Conduct Authority expects that a court case determining whether UK insurers have to pay out on business interruption claims as a result of Covid-19 will be settled by the end of July.

UK fashion group Ted Baker is seeking £95m of emergency funding via a firm placing and open offer after making a steep loss in its 2019 financial year.

Flutter Entertainment, the parent of bookies Paddy Power and Betfair, has sold £812m of new shares to institutional investors to reduce debt and position itself for further growth once sporting events around the world are allowed to resume and its retail stores are permitted to reopen.