UK

The UK drew its largest ever book as it printed its biggest syndication in nominal terms in nearly three years on Tuesday — taking care of nearly a quarter of its overall syndication programme for the 2017-18 financial year in the process. Bankers away from the trade suggested some of the rampant demand may be due to investor hunger for 40 year paper.

Litigation finance house Burford Capital is set to become this year’s second issuer on the London Stock Exchange’s Order book for Retail Bonds (Orb).

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) on Monday committed to expanding its use of cloud technology “across a much greater range of its services and applications” over the next three to five years.

The Province of Quebec will print in sterling for the first time in over 20 years after hiring banks on Monday for a five year deal, joining other Canadian provinces in returning or debuting in the currency in 2017. The trade will come in the same week as the UK sovereign sells the first syndication of its 2017-18 financial year.

Barclays has priced the tightest sterling covered bond since January 2015 and attracted more demand than for any sterling covered bond ever issued.

The victory of Emmanuel Macron in France’s presidential election has helped unleash a wave of equity block trades this week, even though the real boost to investor sentiment came after the first round of the election on April 23.

Royal Bank of Scotland this week gave capital markets the clearest view yet of how banks are set to re-engage with the covered bond market as a staple source of financing, as the sector comes under pressure to wean itself off the special fundings schemes set up by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

Tritax Big Box Reit, the real estate investment trust that owns large UK logistics warehouses, raised £350m on Thursday as it closed its latest equity capital raising oversubscribed, at an increased size.

Felix Fletcher, a UK DCM banker, has joined boutique investment bank Chalkhill Partners to work on debt origination.

Standard Chartered has hired a banker for a new job covering UK corporate DCM within its European debt capital markets operation.

Standard Chartered is strengthening its credit teams in Singapore, Hong Kong, London and New York, the bank said this week.

Clare Francis, head of global corporates at Lloyds, is to leave the UK firm.