UK

UK drug maker GlaxoSmithKline agreed to buy Novartis’ 36.5% stake in the pair's consumer healthcare joint venture just days after backing out of an acquisition for a similar Pfizer unit. But analysts disagree whether GSK’s ratings are being stretched to breaking point despite the new trade being far smaller.

Citi has appointed a new country officer for Ireland to lead the bank’s business in Dublin, its post-Brexit European headquarters.

The UK government has waded into Melrose’s hostile bid for engineering firm GKN, seeking assurances from the industrial conglomerate that it plans to protect UK jobs should the deal go ahead in the latest hurdle for a £7bn-plus debt financed acquisition.

The UK government has waded into Melrose’s hostile bid for engineering firm GKN, seeking assurances from the industrial conglomerate that it plans to protect UK jobs should the deal go ahead, in the latest hurdle for the £7bn-plus debt-financed acquisition.

JD Sports, the UK athletic wear company, has agreed a new revolving credit facility underwritten by existing relationship banks Barclays and HSBC, to finance its $558m acquisition of the US’s Finish Line.

Galliford Try, the UK construction company, has revealed the terms for the £157m ($221.1m) rights issue which it announced in mid-February to cover the costs of Carillion’s collapse.

After months of posturing, pan-European securities watchdog ESMA came down hard on "speculative" retail derivatives, restricting or banning products for three months.

Europe’s corporate bond new issue market is distinctly subdued as Easter Week begins. Investors, issuers and banks alike feel the market could do with a gap to digest the very heavy issuance earlier this month. This week brought two liability management deals, one with a new issue.

John Laing Group, the UK infrastructure projects company, has closed its £210m ($295.74m) rights issue after the deal attracted substantial interest.

Melrose’s £7bn-plus hostile takeover bid for UK engineering company GKN has entered its final week, with the industrial conglomerate making another case to GKN’s shareholders before Thursday’s deadline.

JD Sports, the UK casualwear company, is set to break into the US market by buying Finish Line for around $558m. The acquisition will be financed in the loan market.

Pfizer’s consumer healthcare business has gone from being the belle of the ball to the last one left on the dancefloor on Friday, after GlaxoSmithKline joined Reckitt Benckiser in pulling out of a potential acquisition of the unit.