UK

UK bank debt has been having a hard time this week, with spreads gapping out by about 15bp on fears that the country could crash out of the European Union without a deal.

UBS and Citi trader Tom Hayes was jailed for 11 years for manipulating Libor. But while the trader argued that he was made a scapegoat for the financial crisis, perhaps the rate he rigged is a bigger victim.

Populism and economic change are melting down old idols. When the next crisis comes, new fiscal and monetary tools will be used — including helicopter money.

A dire two days for sterling served as a sharp rebuke to the UK government about its Brexit strategy and equity bankers and investors hold little hope for an imminent recovery in the country’s fortunes.

Synthomer, the Malaysian-backed UK producer of aqueous polymers, has finished its £204m rights issue after the deal won a high take-up among shareholders.

Andrew Hollingworth, a portfolio manager at Holland Advisors and shareholder in Sports Direct, has urged Mike Ashley, the sports retailer’s owner, to pay more attention to corporate governance. But had Hollingworth known about the US private placement market’s experience of dealing with Ashley — in this case over debt owed by one of his other businesses, Newcastle United FC — he might have campaigned for it even more strongly.

Cobham, a UK aerospace and defence supplier, could soon change owners as private equity firm Advent plans to finance its £4bn acquisition with £2.517bn equivalent of interim loans. The latest public-to-private buyout is on shaky ground, jolted by a looming bidding war, possible regulatory intervention and reluctant shareholders.

Indian mining billionaire Anil Agarwal has unwound the fiendishly complicated structure he used to amass a 20% stake in Anglo-American, becoming its largest shareholder in the process.

Nationwide Building Society took the opportunity to issue a £1bn three year Sonia-linked covered bond on Friday, pricing the deal flat to fair value. With Brexit negotiations expected to raise execution risk and volatility, another UK issuer could jump in with a follow-on deal early next week.

In this round-up, the US and China will meet in Shanghai next Tuesday to continue trade negotiations, newly elected UK prime minister Boris Johnson showed some love to China and Mainland regulators are continuing a crack-down on real estate financing firms.

UK capital markets are once again in flux and in the dark over the country’s future, as new prime minister Boris Johnson vowed to take the UK out of the European Union on October 31 “do or die”, write Sam Kerr, Tyler Davies and Owen Sanderson.

Boris Johnson, the UK's new prime minister, has spent most of his first week in power making life difficult for his new chancellor. Announcing big investments in transport infrastructure, health and social care in his first speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street, Johnson is already racking up the bills.