UK

UK water utility Severn Trent sold a £250m five year corporate bond on Monday, building upon the positive tone in the sterling market from the previous week.

Globalworth Real Estate Investments, the Aim-listed real estate investment trust focused on Poland and Romania, is pushing ahead with its proposed €300m capital increase, after securing the backing of several cornerstone investors.

TSB Bank (TSB) has mandated leads to market its inaugural covered bond. At the same time Moody’s has rated the programme at Aaa.

M7 Multi-Let Reit, the UK real estate investment trust focused on regional multi-let commercial property, has become the latest firm to abandon its plans to list on the London Stock Exchange.

Property developer Country Garden, which holds the record for selling the Panda market’s largest bond, has obtained approval for a Rmb9.5bn ($1.44bn) issuance programme, the company said in a filing on Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The Dutch State Treasury Agency's primary dealer quotation obligations gave Bank of America Merrill Lynch trader Paul Walter the chance to pick off his counterparts on the ‘BrokerTec’ platform — behaviour for which he was fined by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority on Wednesday.

Property has been one of the most favoured sectors in the corporate bond market in 2017 and this week saw three more deals. Germany’s TLG Immobilien and Spain’s Inmobiliaria Colonial added €1.2bn to the year’s supply in euros, while UK student accommodation provider Liberty Living sold a £500m ($665.3m) deal.

Sabre Insurance, the UK insurance company focused on higher risk car drivers, may be worth up to £600m when it lists on the London Stock Exchange next month.

BGL Group, the owner of UK price comparison website Comparethemarket.com, has cancelled its preparations to list on the London Stock Exchange, after agreeing to sell a minority stake to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

The Bank of England has published its gender pay gap report, and has reiterated that it is doing everything it can to recruit senior female talent — but sources GlobalCapital spoke to said it isn’t hiring women that is the problem, but keeping them.

Increased UK borrowing needs could take the shine off an opportunity for SSA borrowers to take advantage of a potential drop in issuance by the European Investment Bank as the UK leaves the European Union, said bankers.

Direct Line Insurance is set to become the first insurer to sell a benchmark restricted tier one (RT1) deal in the sterling market. The UK insurer will use the proceeds from the transaction to buy back some of its older tier two notes and optimise its capital stack under Solvency II.