UK

Italian infrastructure engineering firm Maire Tecnimont has brought a sustainability-linked note to the Schuldschein market, the second to be launched this week. However, with this debut issue, the margin rise or fall is larger than the previous two, making it an interesting test for investors.

Several senior equity capital markets bankers have been let go as part of UBS’s reorganisation of its underperforming investment bank, including the global head of equity capital markets.

Gestamp, the Spanish automotive engineering company, has closed its Schuldschein with indications of a final size at about €180m. Market players believe that Spain and Italy may be the next key sources of growth in the years to come.

The IPOs of Française des Jeux, the operator of the French national lottery, and DNEG, the UK special effects company, are both gaining strong traction among IPO investors hoping for a strong finish to 2019.

Dechra Pharmaceuticals, the UK veterinary pharmaceuticals company, has entered the US private placement (US PP) market, according to sources, in a debut set to test institutional appetite for the sector.

SDIC Power Holdings has won final approval from the Chinese financial regulators to list in London. It will be the second company to float using the city’s Stock Connect scheme with Shanghai.

The Public Works Loans Board has given investment banks and asset managers the Christmas present they have been praying for for years. By hiking the cost of loans to local authorities, it will force them into private capital markets. Big mistake.

Austrian cellulose fibre maker Lenzing has entered the Schuldschein market with margins tied to its sustainability performance.

Yet another tortuous delay to the UK’s departure from the European Union means yet more angst for the country’s equity capital markets, which have already suffered a slump in deals this year due to the political and economic uncertainty of Brexit.

Soha Housing has sold a £40m private placement in a bilateral transaction.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress European sovereigns have made in their funding programmes as we approach the end of October.

A UK government body providing cheap debt to local authorities increases its lending margins, so in step nimble institutional investors to capture a slice of a new asset class. It sounds poetically simple. The reality will be more prosaic.