UK

The Restaurant Group, the owner of numerous UK dining brands including Wagamama and Frankie & Benny's, raised £57m through an equity raise on Wednesday night to see it through what it expects to be a long period of Covid-19 lockdown with all its restaurants closed until June.

EMEA equity capital markets have reopened in dramatic style as companies rush to raise emergency funds at a time of maximum uncertainty because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Companies are being urged to act quickly in case market confidence evaporates again as the deadly disease continues to spread, write Sam Kerr and Aidan Gregory.

The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) and local councils should sell social bonds to help tackle the Covid-19 crisis, said a director for responsible investment at a large asset manager.

Shares in UK online fashion retailer Asos rose by more than 30% on Wednesday after the company completed a £247m ($339.46m) share sale to shore up its balance sheet during the Covid-19 crisis. The rise reflects investor confidence that the fashion retailer will endure disruption from the pandemic causing a sharp drop in demand for fashionable clothes.

Investors stepped up on Monday night to support UK retailer WH Smith in its struggle with Covid-19 disruption in a £165.9m equity raise. Assura, the UK REIT focused on GP surgeries and NHS properties, also raised £185m of investment capital on Monday night.

Shares in UK newsagent chain WH Smith rose more than 4% on Monday morning after it confirmed it was preparing a capital increase to repair its balance sheet after the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus led to a large drop in the number of shoppers at its lucrative airport stores.

UK equity market participants are assessing the impact of a huge number of dividend cancellations or postponements. It is another layer of fundamental disruption to business as usual, brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, and one which could have wider repercussions.

UK companies damaged by the coronavirus lockdown are rushing to the equity market to raise capital, hoping to survive the worst economic disruption most of them have ever faced. Banks are having to stretch deal structures to get the crucial financings done, but this will not work in all cases.

Lloyds Banking Group became the first Yankee bank to access dollar funding for almost a month when it came to the market with a new senior deal on Thursday.

European banks broke a five year record for funding volumes in the first quarter, despite steering clear of markets for most of March. Their blistering start to the year will help them to sit out a while longer, as they wait for funding costs to settle during the coronavirus pandemic.

Additional tier one investors breathed a sigh of relief after regulators outlawed dividend payments this week. They argued the move made it more likely they would carry on getting the coupons on their instruments.

Mizuho Bank said it had hired former Lloyds banker John Feeney as head of its European corporate finance department, responsible for growing European corporate banking.