UK

Metro Bank came back to the sterling market on Wednesday to make a second effort at selling non-preferred senior debt, raising the pricing on its offer by 200bp to 9.5%. Market participants suggested the transaction was already a ‘done deal’, but warned that the interest costs would weigh very heavily on the bank’s profit and loss statement.

MUFG has hired a new head of its derivatives solutions group in EMEA from HSBC.

Globalworth Real Estate Investments, the London-listed real estate investment trust focused on commercial properties in Romania and Poland, is preparing to raise up to €276.45m of fresh equity to finance its bulging pipeline of acquisitions.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Metro Bank a month after giving the UK lender its first rating. It expressed concern about Metro’s recent failure to raise debt for looming regulatory requirements, but the bank is insisting that it still has plenty of options on the table — including looking at solutions in the private market.

Merlin Entertainments, the UK-listed theme park operator, has launched a £2.4bn ($2.96bn) loan syndication to back its £5.9bn buyout by a private equity consortium. It is expected to add bonds to the financing package.

Suez Water Resources, the US subsidiary of Suez, the French water and waste management company, has issued $375m of US private placements, with the longest note expiring in 40 years — a rarity for dollar PPs.

Royal London Mutual Insurance Society came off the back of a successful roadshow to sell £600m of tier two debt in the sterling market this week — a small increase above the amount it had initially expected to raise.

The UK Treasury has started the search for the banks that will structure its second sukuk, planned for early next year.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd, the London-listed fund that invests in music catalogues, has launched its £300m share sale to finance the acquisition of more music intellectual property rights.

Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets was marketing its first senior unsecured bond in euros on Friday, taking advantage of a quiet primary market. The issue gave investors a ‘healthy’ new issue premium, according to a FIG banker.

The Bank of England prides itself on its magisterial oversight of the UK's banking sector. But Metro Bank is going to give it some thorny dilemmas in the coming months that will test its silky skills.

Aston Martin printed a $150m senior secured private placement (PP) this week at a racy yield of 12%. But some investors felt was more like an equity raise — stirring memories of the firm’s torrid IPO in October. S&P showed no mercy at the iconic carmaker swelling its leverage, cutting its credit rating to triple-C. The firm is now placing its future in the hands of a new luxury SUV.