UK

The number of IPOs on the London Stock Exchange is likely to remain subdued in 2019 due to a deceleration of global growth and the uncertainty of Brexit, meaning activity is likely going to be pushed back beyond the UK's exit from the European Union in March according to a report by EY.

In this round-up, People’s Bank of China (PBoC) cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 100bp, Shanghai-London Stock Connect likely postponed to late January, and Li Keqiang encourages big commercial banks to support the private sector.

Banks are courting France’s Vinci to grab lending spots on the company’s £2.9bn acquisition of a controlling stake in UK airport Gatwick. A bond issue from Vinci is possible in the first half of this year.

Nationwide raised £1bn of five year covered bond funding on Thursday with its first Sonia-linked trade. It was perfectly timed to take advantage of the UK parliament’s recess and the brief period of political calm that this offered.

The UK’s Ashtead has ramped up the size of its bank facility to $4.1bn, as amend and extend operations continue unabated after the Christmas break.

Europe’s equity capital markets are going to reopen in 2019 against one of the most difficult macroeconomic backdrops in recent memory, after the FTSE 100 suffered its worst yearly fall since the financial crisis last year and most other major equity indices finished 2018 deeply in the red.

Business services and construction firm Kier only managed to secure a 38% take-up of its £264m rights issue after the share price collapsed following aggressive shorting during bookbuilding. That left the bookrunners and sub-underwriters having to subscribe for shares.

London-listed The Renewables Infrastructure Group (Trig) has amended and extended its sterling revolving acquisition facility, cutting the margin and increasing the size.

EMEA IPO volumes are around 19% down from last year in the final week of December. Despite that it is is still the ECM asset class that has best weathered the year's volatility. But in a year of disparate performance, GlobalCapital runs through the best and the worst of the EMEA IPOs in 2018.

GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer have agreed to combine their consumer health businesses to create a market leading joint venture with sales of around £9.8bn. The companies expect to divest assets to cover the cash cost of the integration.

S4 Capital, the digital and marketing services company created by Martin Sorrell, the former CEO of WPP, has finished its £74m placing and open offer to finance its merger with MightyHive, the California-based digital advertising company.

The Bank of England said this week that it wait for Europe to take a lead on a number of important developments regarding the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) before clarifying its own position.