UK

Ninety One, the asset management division of Investec, has set a price range for its IPO on the London Stock Exchange, despite extreme market turbulence caused by the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus across the globe.

Nomura's head of sovereign, supranational and agency, covered bonds and financials trading has left the bank.

DRI Healthcare, the Canadian investment fund focused on pharmaceutical royalties, has postponed its $350m IPO on the London Stock Exchange, blaming the global equity market selloff caused by the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Workers of the world’s capital markets united this week in efforts to keep the funding flowing as the threat of the Covid-19 coronavirus advances. Roadshows, mandate pitches and even quotidian office life faced emergency changes as embattled financiers braced themselves and their businesses for virus disruption.

Shares in NMC Health, the London-listed United Arab Emirates hospitals operator, have been suspended. Its convertible bonds have fallen to around 50 cents on the dollar, after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) placed it under investigation and the company fired its chief executive.

Aston Martin, the UK automobile manufacturer, has launched its £317m ($408.78m) rights issue as part of an overall £500m equity raise. The funding is part of a strategic turnaround plan for the misfiring company, and comes despite markets being spooked over the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd, the London-listed fund that invests in music royalties, is considering another equity capital raising to finance its investment pipeline, only four months after it last raised £231m ($297.45m). In January, the fund acquired an extensive song catalogue, including 'Believe' by Cher.

Investors who have been longing for the EU Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities to tell them what is green are now realising that its arrival could make life tricky. From the end of next year, they will have to start reporting how sustainable all their portfolios are. It could prove an enormous headache. But a tiny company has developed a tool it claims can cut out a lot of the worries investors face in working out how to comply.

UK covered bonds looked cheap, said traders on Tuesday, especially relative to Canadian and Australian alternatives. Their views followed a report from Moody’s which said on Monday that UK banks’ credit fundamentals were resilient and their covered bond ratings well protected.

Santander UK is looking to buy back part of a subordinated bond issued in 2013 in a bid to “optimise its regulatory capital structure”.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, February 24. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

Severn Trent, one of the UK’s three listed water companies, is looking to sell US private placements via its holding company, according to market sources. This is the first PP transaction from a UK water company since regulator Ofwat set out a new price review for the sector in December.