UK

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust, the London-listed fund focused on energy efficiency projects, has raised £100m as it prepares to ramp up its investment activities.

The next economic downturn will be much more severe than the last financial crisis because firms have twice as much outstanding debt as they did in 2008, said a leading academic this week.

A surprise agreement between the UK government and the European Union has led to renewed optimism for the country's capital markets. There is hope that an orderly Brexit, or even a long extension, will lead to an increase in investment from UK companies, particularly in the form of M&A. Investors are more than willing to finance these deals, write Sam Kerr, Jasper Cox and Mike Turner.

Mann+Hummel struggles in Schuldschein market amid splurge in auto trades — Bureau Veritas returns to USPP market — Seplat turns to loans for Eland buy — Endava swaps to syndicated sterling borrowing — Bravida refis revolver, eyes more buys

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd, the London-listed fund that invests in music catalogues, has concluded its share sale, which the company announced last month to finance the acquisition of new song rights.

Investors have piled into bonds to fund the buyout of UK theme park operator Merlin, despite the covenants on the unsecured debt being considered the worst ever. Meanwhile, the “net short” provision, designed to curb CDS investors, looks to have made it to the final documentation for the first time in a European deal.

WH Smith, the UK retailer, raised £155m of equity capital in a block trade on Thursday morning in order to acquire US firm Marshall Retail Group.

Nationwide Building Society announced a consent solicitation on Wednesday with plans to convert two floating rate covered bonds to pay coupons based on Sonia rather than Libor, and is considering doing the same on all of its Libor-based bonds. The UK issuer followed Lloyds, which won plaudits from Moody’s for undertaking a similar exercise on a covered bond earlier this month.

Citigroup launched a senior unsecured bond in the sterling market on Wednesday, just as the UK government appeared to be making some progress over its Brexit deal with the EU.

The astonishing rally in UK domestic equities in the past week as a Brexit deal with the EU started to look more likely showed how important an orderly exit from the bloc is to the market. If there is more progress towards a deal this week, the little loved sector could be primed for a resurgence in capital markets.

Institutional investors from the US have been lending to German borrowers using the Namensschuldverschreibungen (NSV) — a non-callable registered instrument that is, unlike the Schuldschein, non-cancellable after 10 years. But some are sceptical of their involvement in the market, as they are of US lenders participating in the Schuldschein market.

DNEG, the UK-based motion picture visual effects company that has worked on blockbuster hits like the Avengers and Harry Potter franchises, has filed initial paperwork to list in London.