UK

The Co-operative Group, the UK food retailer and provider of funeral, legal and insurance services, launched its first sustainable bond on Wednesday and achieved impressive demand. But that had little to do with its ethical characteristics.

Co-operative Group returned to the sterling market on Wednesday with its first senior deal since 2011 and was set to price an increased transaction at the tight end of guidance.

Barclays Bank kept the primary covered bond market alive on Wednesday, launching its first deal of the year and its first Sonia-linked transaction — though at £500m it was the bank’s smallest covered bond yet.

Sir Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England, this week outlined the risks the UK will face once it breaks from the European Union. Foremost is the uncertainty of the relationship after the divorce.

The UK Debt Management Office has chosen the tenor for the first syndication of its 2019/20 financial year, which is expected to come in the week commencing May 13.

Santander UK, Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt (Spabol) and Erste Group were able to price flat or through their covered bond curves on Tuesday after stoking up hefty demand for their new issues.

Equity capital markets bankers are pitching aggressively for any new business they can get, often disregarding issuer region or the size of the deal, to make up for the dearth of supply so far in 2019.

Watches of Switzerland Group, the largest retailer of luxury watches in the UK, is exploring an IPO on the London Stock Exchange to cut its debt and allow its private equity owner Apollo Global Management to sell down some of its shares in the company.

The UK Debt Management Office has mandated four banks for the first Gilt syndication of its 2019/2020 financial year.

Investors eyeing up Tottenham Hotspur’s plan to repay some of its debts by borrowing against its stadium should be wary of buying into a sport that has a long history of burning investors.

Euro investors have become more receptive to UK bank debt this year, leading to a blowout reception for a covered bond from Yorkshire Building Society this week. But issuers are yet to break a long period of silence in sales of unsecured products, mindful as they are of a Brexit hangover in the euro market.

Sirius Minerals, the London-listed miner, has won investor support for the equity leg of a $2.8bn financing project that will fund the largest polyhalite mine in the world.