UK

Investors in bank bonds were taking profits this week and heading for cover, hoping for better markets before they participate in new deals following the escalation of trade antagonism between the US and China.

UK government bonds could lose some of their stature as a risk-free investment and start to be treated more like credit products in the event that no breakthrough is made in Brexit negotiations, according to one portfolio manager.

Aquila Capital, the Hamburg-based alternative asset manager, is hoping to float a renewable energy fund in London which is unusual in giving exposure to wind, solar and hydroelectric power.

The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) started its 2019/20 funding year with a bang on Tuesday, selling a six and a half times subscribed issue.

Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) went to market today to issue a six-tranche euro and a two tranche sterling deal. It intends to raise debt to finance the acquisition of Worldpay as announced last month.

Private debt and loans bankers are trying to work out possible approaches to the City of London Corporation’s plans to return to capital markets for the first time in a generation when it looks to raise around £1.75bn ($2.24bn) over the next three years, writes Mike Turner.

Ken Brown, until last year head of global finance for EMEA at Nomura, has joined Barclays as chairman of its equity capital markets business in Europe and the Middle East.

There has been no covered message sent on the IPO of Finablr, the financial holding company which owns Travelex, though the deal is set to close today, Monday May 13. The banks are still working hard to close the book on schedule.

The World Bank printed its second Sonia linked note on Wednesday as part of efforts to build its Sonia curve. The supranational has now sold over £2.5bn of Sonia paper across two benchmark bonds since September 2018.

Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group kept the sterling covered bond market busy this week with Sonia-linked trades that drew strong demand and were priced with no new issue premium.

Lloyds Bank found good demand for its third visit to the sterling covered bond market in the last eight months and the largest Sonia linked bond of that type issued this year. Attractive relative value and a prospective supply slowdown propelled demand, enabling the deal to be priced flat to fair value.

Banks face big decisions over client selection and positioning as Europe’s M&A boom falters, writes David Rothnie