UK

Petrol station forecourt company EG Group’s credit worthiness has come under pressure after the UK firm announced $2.15bn of debt-financed acquisition plans last week.

Barclays has hired a new global head of electronic equities from Credit Suisse, following Stephen Dainton into the revamped UK firm, and signalling the importance of electronic execution.

Rating: Aa2/AA/AA

The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) this week rounded out its syndication programme for the 2017-18 financial year with another deal that met with acclaim. Unlike several of its last few deals, the UK did not build a record book — but that development may have helped sway a debate over the future of its syndication programme.

UK media company Entertainment One has tapped its outstanding 6.875% bonds due 2022 for £70m ($97.6m), as the company looks to snap up the remaining stake in the television studio Mark Gordon Company that it does not already own.

Deutsche Bank plans to put up to 40 bankers at director level and above in its EMEA investment banking division at risk of redundancy, including the bank's co-head of FIG DCM, GlobalCapital understands. Several of those put at risk were based in Birmingham, including the bank’s head of Europe-US private placements.

Entertainment One, the UK media company, has tapped its 6.875% bond due 2022 for a further £70m, as it seeks to snap up the remaining stake in television studio Mark Gordon Co that it does not already own.

United Utilities became the third UK corporate issuer to sell a sterling bond in 2018, when it printed a seven year deal 24 hours later than initially planned. The company held an investor call on Monday, but then paused for a day due to global markets' volatility, before launching the deal on Wednesday.

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever has become known in the corporate bond markets for its multiple tranche deals. Its latest deal is its third such trade in the last three years, and investors showed they still have plenty of appetite for the name, helping the company print its largest ever deal, despite market turmoil in the US.

Global stock markets have suffered from volatility in recent trading sessions but European primary leveraged finance markets had already slowed down as investor pressure grew around a €1.4bn deal for storage firm Algeco Scotsman and the worrying performance of UK retailer New Look.

TalkTalk Telecom Group, the UK provider of telecoms and broadband services, raised £200m on Thursday from an intra-day capital increase after issuing a profit warning.

United Utilities became the third corporate issuer to sell a sterling bond in 2018, when it printed a seven year deal 24 hours later than initially planned. The company held an investor call on Monday, but then paused for a day due to global markets' volatility, before launching the deal on Wednesday.