UK

Vodafone has lived up to its reputation for daring in corporate finance by launching an €18.4bn takeover of Liberty Global’s German business Unitymedia that includes a second outing for the unique and controversial equity-neutral mandatorily convertible bond it first used in 2016, writes Jon Hay.

Vodafone's agreed takeover of Liberty Global's Unitymedia business in Germany and assets in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania for an enterprise value of €18.2bn could set off a wave of other deals in Europe's telecoms market, especially in the UK.

The Bank of England avoided bringing any surprises before the UK Debt Management Office sells its first syndication of the 2018-19 financial year next week as it kept its base rate on hold on Thursday. But some analysts are warning that investors may be overconfident of a hike later this year.

Hastings Group Holdings said on Thursday that it was looking to shield itself from future interest rate movements by issuing a fixed rate senior bond in the sterling market.

With Brexit negotiations still fraught with risk, DCM and syndicate managers are already figuring out fixes to make sure that their primary markets business continues to function after the UK leaves the European Union — with the minimum disruption possible for their mainly London-based staff.

Interserve, the struggling support services and construction firm, has signed an £834m-equivalent three year refinancing facility, just months after it narrowly avoided breaching a covenant on its old debt.

Avast, the Czech cybersecurity firm, closed a well-covered book for its IPO on Wednesday at what bookrunners said was an attractive price, but the stock traded down on its first day.

A long-awaited civil settlement with the US Department of Justice this week could prove to be a boon for Royal Bank of Scotland, which has had the risk of heavy fines looming over it for some time.

Vodafone, the UK-based telecoms group, is planning a raft of capital market activity to finance its €18.4bn acquisition of Liberty Global’s cable assets in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, including a second try of the ground-breaking mandatorily convertible bonds it issued in 2016.

Barclays has continued to beef up its corporate broking presence, a central plank of its UK growth strategy, by recruiting Deutsche Bank’s former head of corporate broking.

A sale of Burberry shares by Group Bruxelles Lambert caught investors by surprise on Tuesday and left Goldman Sachs believed to be holding stock or nursing a loss in the luxury fashion house after being unable to cover the deal in full.

One of the select group of companies that has issued Eurodollar bonds in recent years returned to the market on Wednesday after a two year absence, as BP raised $500m, aided by strong demand from Asia.