UK

UK banks have surfaced in the unsecured debt markets for the first time in about four months, buoyed by optimism about a series of crucial votes on Brexit in parliament next week. Experts suggest that the country’s financial institutions will have to get used to these sorts of narrow issuance windows, with the country yet to even start the most challenging stages of its exit from the European Union.

Shares in Funding Circle Holdings, the UK peer-to-peer lending platform, closed up on Thursday despite the company reporting a widening loss in 2018 because of the costs of its £440m IPO on the London Stock Exchange in September.

Dan Oakes, head of international ECM origination at Commerzbank, is changing roles with the bank and moving to Paris.

Pearson, the UK educational publisher, has signed a $1.2bn bank facility with a novel margin link to the company’s progress in educational reach, but loans bankers say that this increasingly popular form of funding is unlikely to drag the market out of its low volume melancholy.

Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, may be facing what could be one of the biggest disruptions in its history, in the shape of Brexit, but its approach to the bond market on Tuesday was smooth. Having roadshowed last week, it glided in on the wave of credit demand and landed this year’s fourth corporate 15 year issue in euros.

Anglo American, the South African mining company now headquartered in London, returned to the sterling bond market after an 11 year absence on Wednesday, the day after an upgrade by Standard & Poor’s to BBB (stable), and two days after a parallel raise by Moody’s.

Inchcape, the UK car dealer, has amended and extended its bank debt, and senior loans bankers have come out in favour of this early refinancing structure, though it is reviled in some parts of the market.

Clydesdale Bank was more than four times subscribed when it launched a new additional tier one capital bond in the sterling market on Wednesday, in an interesting test of demand for UK risk assets at a crucial stage in the Brexit negotiations.

Vodafone brought to market on Tuesday its second mandatorily convertible bond that comes with language indicating Vodafone will buy the shares back — a second attempt to achieve the corporate financing holy grail of 100% equity credit without diluting shareholders.

UK financial institutions are returning to the debt markets ahead of a fresh vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement next week, with Lloyds Banking Group hitting the US market on Tuesday and HSBC Holdings turning to sterling after a dollar transaction earlier in the week.

Metro Bank has come under pressure from investors building short positions against it in recent days, but sources are still confident in its chances of executing a successful rights issue.

South East Water, the UK water supplier headquartered in Kent, has debuted in the US private placement (US PP) market, according to participants in the sector.