UK

Cellnex, the Spanish wireless telecommunications company, has agreed a deal to acquire the telecoms division of Arqiva for £2bn and is undertaking a €2.5bn rights issue to help fund the transaction.

Hong Kong Stock Exchanges and Clearing has dropped its plan to acquire the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), shelving the £31.6bn bid that would have created a powerhouse among financial marketplaces.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management has made two hires to its international equity team.

UK covered bonds in euros have been modestly supported in the secondary market, as investors view spreads as relatively generous compared to the rest of Europe, and because some say the UK's chance of leaving the European Union at the end of October without reaching an agreement has receded. However ‘the risk of a no-deal exit remains high,’ Standard and Poor’s warned on Monday.

IPO investors have one less deal to buy this autumn after Kazakhstan fintech firm Kaspi decided against proceeding with its London listing on Monday, because of volatile markets and disagreements about valuation.

Investors are growing more comfortable with Kazakhstan following a $344m trade in Halyk Savings Bank last week, and sources are hopeful the momentum will carry on through to next year as the country’s privatisation wave continues.

Linde, the multinational industrial gas company, is making a strategic equity investment in ITM Power, the UK hydrogen machine manufacturer, as part of a fundraising plan worth up to £58.2m.

Metro Bank could be forced to overhaul its strategy for growth after agreeing to pay an exorbitant rate on a new senior bond this week, in desperation to meet a looming set of regulatory requirements. Tyler Davies reports.

Holding Group Almex, the investment vehicle owned by Dinara Kulibaeva and her husband Timur Kulibayev, closed books on a 10% stake in Halyk Bank on Thursday, sold via a marketed sale of global depositary receipts in London and Astana.

As IPO investors are considering the advantages of Kaspi, the Kazakh fintech and e-commerce firm seeking to list in London, its CEO, Mikheil Lomtadze, talked to GlobalCapital about the share sale and the advantages of being the Alibaba of central Asia.

Swiss investors’ thirst for yield was quenched in some style at the end of last week, when Russian Railways printed the largest Swiss franc transaction of the year from an emerging market borrower.

Allied Irish Banks was met with a strong response for an additional tier one (AT1) in the euro market on Wednesday, just a month after its national peer Bank of Ireland had to pull a subordinated bond amid fears about the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU.