UK

The US private placement (US PP) market considers itself well placed for the volatility surrounding Britain’s expected departure of the European Union on March 29, and participants expect additional deal flow as a consequence.

Coventry Building Society became the first financial institution to issue a five year Sonia-linked covered deal on Tuesday, just beating Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) to the punch.

There has been feverish talk over the past few days that the UK and European Union are close to agreeing a deal to determine the future of the continent’s financial services industry, but that talk is premature: real negotiations likely haven’t even started yet.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) on Tuesday said it had moved to the testing phase of a new credit derivatives “warehouse” that processes credit derivatives trades with distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) and Coventry Building Society have mandated leads for the first five year Sonia-linked covered bonds, Lloyds is out with the first Reg S dollar covered bond from a UK issuer in years, and DZ Hyp has mandated leads for the first deal under its new brand name. Elsewhere, Bank of Nova Scotia has opened order books for a three year sterling tap.

Two listings from Slovenia and Belarus are due to close this week and the sellers are hopeful of getting the deals across the line, despite market challenges.

FX and equity markets jump as a possible US-China trade deal is back in sight, Chinese president Xi Jinping promises more developments on free-trade zones and a registration-based stock system, and the Dubai International Financial Centre takes action to expand Chinese institutions’ access to the Middle East Africa and South Asia (MEASA).

Merian Chrysalis Investment Co, a new closed-end investment fund focused on private companies, has raised £100m against a difficult market backdrop, after concluding its fixed price IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

The euro leveraged loan market appears keen to counter recent criticisms against lack of financial maintenance covenants with yet more cov-lite issuance, including a buyout deal from private schools operator Inspired.

Representatives from European Union member states are debating the make-up of a proposed body to supervise clearing houses (CCPs), according to leaked documents seen by GlobalCapital.

BioPharma Credit, the UK closed-end investment fund that provides debt funding to the life sciences industry, has priced its latest capital raise, growing the deal to $305m.

Northern Gas Networks (NGN), the UK gas distribution company headquartered in Yorkshire, has sold £200m of US private placements notes, pricing at a tighter margin than what it could achieved from a sterling bond, said a US PP market participant.