UK

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.

Lloyds Development Capital, the private equity division of Lloyds Bank, has completed the first selldown of shares in Team17, the UK games developer, since its IPO on the London Stock Exchange in May last year.

CVC sold a £271m chunk of its stake in Avast, the London-listed Czech cyber security company, on Tuesday evening but the stock traded below issue price throughout the day on Wednesday.

Retailer Sports Direct has offered to buy Debenhams for around £61.4m in cash, though the companies disagree on whether Mike Ashley’s firm will be able to deal with the department store’s immediate debt servicing requirements.

The IPOs of two payments companies being marketed in Europe have moved ahead in the past 48 hours. Italian firm Nexi has set a price range, while Dubai-based Network International has attracted Mastercard as a cornerstone investor. Equity investors are now assessing whether to pay high multiples for future growth.

Find out how far European sovereigns have progressed in their 2019 plans as the first quarter draws to a close.

Equity bankers expected clarity about Brexit by this week, for better or worse, and had hoped to start work again on UK IPO projects. But further delays and political uncertainty have swept these deals back to the sidelines.

Virgin Money sold its debut covered bond on Friday. The deal was well subscribed but it attracted much less demand than two earlier Sonia-linked trades this week, reflecting weakening sentiment among investors.

SSA sterling issuance was muted this week, with only the Inter-American Development Bank bringing a small deal, as the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met.