UK

Renewables pair bring sunshine to project finance market - National Bank of Oman launches loan syndication - Cubico lights up project finance desks - Drax completes bridge refinancing with PPs, ESG debt - Italy’s IMA raises €50m via Euro PP market

East Midlands Housing Group (EMH), a housing association located in the UK county of Leicestershire, has secured £100m ($124.8m) of long-dated debt from the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC).

As the market prepares for Libors to end their run as the world’s most prevalent reference rates, there is growing support for the benchmarks to be reprieved.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Banco Santander tapped the sterling market for senior bonds this week and what bankers said were high-quality orders led both issuers to increase the size of the benchmark transactions.

An expected return of Brexit volatility means that there are likely to be fewer UK firms doing IPOs in the fourth quarter of the year, but London will continue to host high profile international listings to make up the shortfall.

Drax Group, the UK electricity generator, has sold £375m of US private placement debt, alongside a £125m environmental, social and governance facililty to repay a bridge loan used to fund its acquisition of Scottish Power Generation.

Renewables companies Sonnedix and Solarpack have signed separate project finance facilities totaling €260.6m, with the funding going towards solar photovoltaic plants in Italy and Spain.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tapped the sterling market through its London branch on Wednesday to become the first Chinese bank to sell a senior benchmark bond in the currency. Demand was driven by an anchor investor, with the lead managers increasing the size of deal to satisfy as many orders as possible.

The UK Debt Management Office sold a new 10 year Gilt via auction on Tuesday that was priced with its second lowest yield in history. Investors piled into the haven asset as the risk of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal rose following Boris Johnson's anointment as leader of the ruling Conservative Party.

An acquisition of British pub giant Ei Group by its smaller competitor Stonegate is about to trigger a clause that allows Ei Group to redeem £1bn of its senior secured bonds at par. Secured bondholders will likely have to swallow a pint of bitter if the sponsor behind the deal does not budge.

London’s capital markets are again under threat of severe disruption as the UK’s clown prince in chief, Boris Johnson, became prime minister this week.

Forth Ports, the port operator headquartered in Edinburgh, has sold roughly £300m-equivalent of US private placements (PPs).