UK

Private equity firms have deployed their direct lending arms in three UK mid-sized deals in the past week, just as public market bankers begin to fret about the effects of Brexit on the sterling market.

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All eyes in the leveraged loan market this week were trained on UK health food retailer Holland & Barrett.

British American Tobacco set fire to any notion that markets close in August this week with a $20.8bn bond bonanza. It brought a $17.25bn eight tranche deal on Tuesday — the second largest bond transaction of the year in the US — and followed that with a €3.6bn-equivalent four tranche dual currency deal in Europe on Wednesday. Nigel Owen reports.

Red Football, an investment vehicle for the billionaire Glazer family, came to market on Wednesday evening to launch the sale of a 2% stake in Manchester United, the New York-listed English football club that they have owned since 2005.

A former FIG syndicate director at Crédit Agricole is understood to have joined Deutsche Bank, following a string of FIG syndicate moves in previous months.

Independent Vetcare, a veterinary group based in the UK, is back in the market with an add-on to the sterling loans that funded its leveraged buyout in April.

After bringing the second largest bond transaction of the year in the US on Tuesday, British American Tobacco topped up its borrowing with a €3.6bn-equivalent four tranche dual currency deal on Wednesday.

UK fashion retailer New Look saw its bonds trade down after poor quarterly results this week just as fears mount of a downturn for the sector. That has left high yield investors divided about the implications for issuance from New Look's peers.

Cruise.co.uk, a UK online travel agent, is buying German peer Kreuzfahrtberater in a deal that brings together the direct lending arms of private equity firms Bridgepoint and Permira.

British American Tobacco is expected to bring the week-long run without any new corporate bond issuance to an end later this week. The UK based tobacco company could issue in dollars, euros and sterling.

Shares in Triple Point Social Housing, the real estate investment trust focused on UK social housing assets, closed 2% higher on Tuesday after the company finished its £200m IPO on the London Stock Exchange.