UK

MetLife chose to come to market with a bulldog bond on Tuesday, looking to sell funding agreement-backed securities (FABS). It became the issuer’s smallest sterling trade since 2006 with a barely subscribed book.

Dartington Hall Trust, a charity and social enterprise in Devon in the UK, is looking to attract bondholders for a secured deal open to retail investors. It has eschewed the London Stock Exchange’s order book for retail bonds (ORB) to use NEX instead.

UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chair Charles Randell invoked ancient Greek mythology during a speech on Tuesday in which he said that the FCA did not see Brexit as an “opportunity to join a race to the bottom in regulatory standards”.

Lloyds Banking Group was selling a new additional tier one in the dollar market on Tuesday, as members of the UK's governing party met for a conference in Birmingham. Investors in UK assets are keenly focused on the risk that the UK exits the EU without an agreement with the bloc.

Bookrunners on Aston Martin's IPO priced the landmark transaction at £19 ($24.71) a share on Wednesday, a boon for the company and a sign that markets backed its ambitious growth strategy. But the stock has traded down in the aftermarket.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group on Monday released clearing for OTC swaps based on the secured overnight financing rate (Sofr), the preferred benchmark to replace dollar Libor.

Barclays had hired an equity capital markets banker from Goldman Sachs to expand its corporate broking team.

The first two major IPOs of the autumn, Funding Circle and SIG Combibloc, have both stayed above water in trading.

Pan-European securities watchdog ESMA on Friday announced that it would renew its restrictive measures for contracts for difference (CFD) products for another three months.

Issuer rating: Baa1/BBB+/BBB+

When UK telecoms company Vodafone announced in May that it had agreed to buy some of US rival Liberty Global’s European operations, it said it would use existing cash, €3bn of mandatorily convertible bonds and new debt, including hybrid bonds to fund the €18.4bn acquisition. On Wednesday, Vodafone sold the hybrid bonds, using four different tenors in three currencies. Nigel Owen reports.

Prudential plc came to the market on Wednesday for a strategic deal to boost the capital position of a prospective entity it plans to cut loose, M&G Prudential. Those on the buy-side saw the notes as cheap, notwithstanding any extra cost for a clause allowing for issuer substitution.