UK

UK companies hoping to be involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are heading towards a sea of red tape, with the government due to review around 100 times more transactions a year than before on national security grounds. That could prompt a spree of deals before the proposed measures become law, writes Mike Turner.

Barclays has made cuts across its debt capital markets business, with staff put at risk including several long serving bankers who have been with the firm for over a decade.

The overwhelming defeat of Theresa May’s Brexit deal on Tuesday night was welcomed somewhat by the market the following morning, with investors buying into banks’ stocks and bonds. While result of the vote did not give investors and analysts much more clarity, they believe a hard Brexit is looking increasingly unlikely.

US private placement (US PP) participants the world over will descend on Florida next week for four days of intensive meetings at a major market conference. For UK-based PP agents attending, soothing concerns over and gleaning investors’ views on Brexit is the top priority.

The size of a radical debt restructuring proposed this week by New Look, the UK fashion retailer fighting for survival, caught some by surprise. But high yield bankers and investors agreed that this event will not shut the market as the Phones 4U debacle did four years ago.

Index-linked Gilts took a hit on Thursday after a House of Lords committee concluded that the UK government should correct an “error” in the Retail Prices Index calculation — a tweak that would cause “material detriment” to bondholders.

Industry body the Futures Industry Association (FIA) has submitted a lengthy letter to the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS) lobbying for changes to the leverage ratio and how it interacts with derivatives clearing.

London-listed RDI REIT has refinanced a sterling club loan, pushing out its average maturities amid a flurry of refi activity in the European loan market.

Network Homes, a London housing association, has sold £175m of private placement notes to a group of six Canadian and US investors, as the asset class grows more familiar to overseas buyers.

Gilt yields jumped on Wednesday morning as investors bet that the UK government’s record defeat in its parliamentary vote on its Brexit deal on Tuesday would lead to a softer Brexit — or even no Brexit at all.

Libor is likely on the way out for sterling loans in 2021, and it is almost impossible to overestimate the deluge of facility amendments headed towards loans desks. But there is worse to come.

US private placement (US PP) participants the world over descend on Florida next week for four days of intensive meetings. For the UK PP agents, soothing concerns and gleaning insights from investors around Brexit is top priority.