UK

English football’s highest level is at a clinch point as teams juggle a plunge in revenue, due to the suspension of the Premier League season, and the hefty overheads of player wages they must continue to pay. With clubs in need of cash, viable options are proving few and far between. Silas Brown, Sam Kerr and Mariam Meskin investigate.

Informa, the UK publishing and events company, has taken the decision to suspend its dividend and raise £1bn of fresh equity after the Covid-19 pandemic caused hundreds of its conferences to be postponed.

DCM officials have expressed surprise at the speed with which the market has adapted to working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, with issuers able to complete deals quickly and with little extra fuss.

Several investors have told GlobalCapital of their concern for the outlook of UK universities as borrowers. They worry that the spread of coronavirus will hit revenues, lower the demand from international students and may in the end hasten a shift towards remote learning.

Insolvency and restructuring practitioners have been catapulted into an unprecedented whirlwind of activity by the coronavirus, as even healthy companies suddenly find themselves staring over a financial precipice. In the UK, the government will change insolvency rules to ease these situations, but specialists believe there is more to be gained by using existing laws better.

Royal Bank of Canada on Wednesday became the fourth Canadian bank to issue an Australian dollar covered bond in April, pricing considerably tighter than its compatriots and in the largest size yet. The success the Canadians have enjoyed in Kangaroos is in stark contrast to a sterile sterling market.

The wave of UK corporates going to equity markets to raise capital to offset Covid-19 volatility is set to continue this week according to sources. On Tuesday, Hyve Group, the London-listed organiser of exhibitions and conferences, said it was looking at a possible deal.

BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole have become the first euro area banks to launch senior bonds for nearly two months. They joined UBS in the euro market on Tuesday, taking advantage of a recent rally in credit spreads across the sector.

Vesuvius, the UK listed ceramics engineer, is marketing a US private placement, according to market sources.

Gilt market participants are expecting UK government borrowing to explode to close to £300bn this year. However, despite the huge supply, the Bank of England’s buying programme will prove even bigger and maintain price tension. To further ease the strain on cashflows, the Bank of England is expanding its Ways and Means Facility for the short-term.

Supermarket Income Reit, the UK real estate investment trust focused on supermarkets, has unveiled a £75m fundraising to finance new investment opportunities that may arise from the Covid-19 crisis, which had caused UK grocers to be inundated with demand.

Official financial lifelines to keep UK companies alive through the coronavirus pandemic are already having a tangible effect. Shares in Redrow, the UK housebuilder, rose 7.5% on Thursday morning after it announced it had been approved to borrow up to £300m from the Bank of England’s commercial paper facility for investment grade companies.