UK

Barclays’ head of financial institutions bond syndicate for Europe, the Middle East and Africa has left the bank.

The mania surrounding the UK’s exit from the European Union is reaching fever pitch but the City has ploughed on during the last three months, despite the appalling leadership shown by the UK’s leading politicians.

Leeds Building Society showed genuine leadership on Tuesday with its first Sonia-linked covered bond, a deal that was priced tightly with a well subscribed order book. Its stance stood in contrast to UK Parliamentarians, who dithered on a series of indicative votes on alternative Brexit strategies that were held on Monday night.

Young and Co’s Brewery, the owner and operator of roughly 220 pubs in London and the south east of England, has entered the US private placement market.

Network International, the Dubai-based payments company listing in London, was covered throughout its price range on its first day of bookbuilding on Monday. It built on a surge of momentum after it announced US firm Mastercard as a cornerstone investor in its IPO in March.

AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant, has priced a historic £2.7bn accelerated transaction ($3.5bn) to fund a transformational oncology collaboration. But sources close to the deal say that execution was complicated by Brexit drama last Friday.

Man Group has plucked an investment director from GAM to head up its European private debt business, and lead Man GPM's commercial and real estate debt team.

Livin Housing, a housing association operating in County Durham in the northeast of England, has raised £65m in the US private placement (US PP) market. It joins other smaller housing associations finding a funding nest in private placements in the past few years.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has entered into a collaboration agreement with Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo to develop a new antibody-drug conjugate which it is hoped will revolutionise cancer treatment. The deal is being funded through an equity capital raise.

Vodafone launched and priced on Thursday a $2bn hybrid capital issue, to gain some more equity credit in the eyes of the rating agencies. The deal follows Moody’s decision on Monday to give no equity credit to Vodafone’s £3.4bn mandatorily convertible bond, issued on March 5.

Biffa has signed a £350m revolving credit facility, enabling the UK waste management firm to slash £2.5m ($3.26m) off its annual debt bill as a result.

Tim Throsby, CEO of Barclays International and Barclays Bank, has quit the company, as it reorganises its corporate and investment bank.