UK

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.

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.