UK

Alcentra has provided $530m of senior debt to fund the acquisition of medical device maker Lumenis by Baring Private Equity Asia, in the largest direct lending deal the European private debt specialist has done in its history.

UK electricity distributor Electricity North West, which manages electricity networks in the north west of England, has started marketing US private placements. However sources are worried the market will not cope with pricing transactions amid wild swings in Treasury yields.

Transition bonds, one of the hottest talking points of the past year in the green bond market, made a decisive step forward this week when Cadent Gas, the UK’s largest gas distributor, issued a €500m deal that attracted large orders from environmentally concerned investors, even though some green bond funds shunned it. Jon Hay reports.

Shares in guarantor loans company Amigo Holdings plunged more than 25% at the open on Thursday while its high yield bond, a 7.625% 2024, was marked down more than 30 points, as founder James Benamor quit the board, then published a lengthy blog post describing the company as "committing slow motion suicide". Amigo hit back quickly with a statement rejecting many of Benamor’s comments but prices failed to bounce back.

Capita raised £719m of equity in May 2018 via a deal that was billed as the path to securing its financial future after a difficult period for the outsourcing sector. However, the firm has now conceded that the amount raised was not enough to offset its decline in revenues.

Lancashire County Council raised £350m ($453.5m) of five year cash on Thursday through the UK Municipal Bonds Agency platform. It is the first local authority to do so since the MBA was set up.

British American Tobacco is considering switching its existing revolving credit facility from Libor to Sonia, following Royal Dutch Shell’s trail-blazing Sofr-linked syndicated loan last year. The move would demonstrate a more galvanised move away from Libor in the loan market.

Cadent Gas launched what by some counts is only the second transition bond on Wednesday and achieved a stellar reception in the market. The €500m no-grow bond was priced without a new issue concession and tightened sharply on the break, according to a banker on the deal.

Shares in Intu Properties, the UK real estate investment trust focused on shopping centres, tanked this week after the company said on Wednesday morning that it has called off its £1bn-plus rights issue due to “extreme” market conditions.

Lloyds Banking Group is giving investors a chance to switch out of a legacy tier two and into a new instrument, without the basic terms of their securities changing.

Roland Domann has moved to MUFG to be part of its European sales and distribution team, just months after being hired by Nomura.

Deutsche Lufthansa has entered the Schuldschein market for a second time in a matter of weeks, as the coronavirus rocks airlines’ equity value and their ability to raise public debt.