UK

For corporate treasurers, the rates markets’ transition away from Libor and other Ibor benchmarks has created a messy future for their derivatives portfolios that many would prefer not to think about. Uncertain liquidity in new products and having to understand volatility in the new benchmarks are complicating the migration but there are signs of progress amid the confusion, writes Ross Lancaster.

Equities are at record highs, rates at record lows; the US is quarrelling, China is slowing. As 2020 begins, participants are divided on which way markets will move. Toby Fildes picks 10 themes

The transition from one set of interest rate benchmarks to another is conceptually simple. But it is also unprecedented and has deeper consequences than many realised when Libor’s abolition was announced in 2017. With contracts worth hundreds of trillions of dollars referencing the disgraced benchmark, even small errors will have vast repercussions. PPI mis-selling? You ain’t seen nothing yet. Richard Kemmish reports

Increasingly divisive and unpredictable UK politics is threatening the favourable conditions on which private equity firms and the leveraged finance industry have relied during the post-crisis years. Most levfin bankers and PE partners breathed a great sigh of relief on Friday morning, when the risk of a Jeremy Corbyn-led government dissipated and no deal Brexit became far-fetched — but uncertainty over Brexit remains. Karoliina Liimatainen reports.

Kunal Gandhi, the head of corporate broking at Barclays, has left the bank, GlobalCapital understands.

Sprawling e-commerce company The Hut Group completed a €600m term loan 'B' deal on Tuesday, changing its capital structure. The privately held company — touted as one of the few UK tech unicorns — has expansion ambitions in both online stores and web services, but is also making risky excursions into real estate.

ESG funds listed on the London Stock Exchange have had substantial investor interest through December, capping off a particularly green year for the market.

After weeks of equity inflows, investors are primed for a rally in UK equities following this Thursday’s general election. Banks are hoping for strong issuance conditions through to January.

Voters go to the polls on Thursday to pick the next UK government, with the outside possibility of a far left Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government keeping capital markets bankers awake at night. But the return of Marxism might hold some silver linings for them.

The Conservatives may push for further deregulation of the UK’s financial system after Brexit, including allowing dual-class share structures on London's main market, if they emerge victorious from the general election on Thursday. This would be a mistake — they should not put at risk London's high corporate governance reputation in order to seek to compete with New York or Hong Kong.

Another packaging company is hunting for better financing terms in the issuer-friendly European high yield bond market. Berry Global follows companies such as Crown, Ball, Smurfit Kappa, Owen-Illinois and Ardagh with an ambitious refinancing that could be priced as early as Thursday — the day of the UK general election.

Utmost International, the life assurance group which mandated leads to run investor meetings for a senior bond in mid-November, may have missed the issuance window this year as the primary market slows to a standstill around the UK's general election.