UK

Gilt investors in Scotland last Friday called on the UK Debt Management Office to reduce the proportion of long end issuance in both conventional and index-linked formats in its next financial year.

The UK Debt Management Office has appointed a four bank syndicate to run the final syndication of its 2018/19 financial year.

Tritax Big Box Reit has returned to the market with a £250m placing and open offer to finance its acquisition of a majority stake in DB Symmetry, the owner of one of the largest strategic land portfolios for development of Big Box warehouse assets in the UK.

Shares in Blue Prism, the UK robotic automation company, closed 14% higher on Thursday after it completed a £100m capital increase to finance its growth plans and product development, in the wake of positive 2018 earnings.

Thames Water sold roughly £220m of US private placement notes this January.

Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance (RRPF), a structured aero-engine lessor owned by GATX Corp and Rolls-Royce Holdings, has sold a $700m US private placement (PP). It’s the fourth time it has entered the market, and the second in 12 months.

The UK’s JD Wetherspoon has increased its sterling revolving credit facility to £875m, as the pub chain with heavily pro-Brexit management announced significantly higher costs in its latest trading update.

Metro Bank’s update to the market on Wednesday has led to speculation it will need to raise capital once more. It revealed slowing loan and deposit growth, weaker than expected profits, and a greater than expected rise in risk-weighted assets chewing up its capital ratio. The update came at a time when UK banks are pessimistic about raising capital.

Kier Group shares perked up by as much as 1.6% on Tuesday after the UK construction company said it had parted ways with its CEO following the completion of its troubled £264m rights issue.

Two US PP institutional investors headquartered in the US are considering lending to UK borrowers for the first time this year.

BNP Paribas has made a string of senior appointments to complete the reorganisation of its corporate and institutional bank that began at the end of last year.

Leveraged finance markets in Europe are looking up, and bankers expect they may even see some deals priced before long.