UK

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.

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.