UK

HSBC Holdings stormed into the Singapore dollar bank capital market on June 1 with a S$1bn ($722m) additional tier one that notched up a number of firsts, as the issuer took advantage of the liquidity and stability of the currency.

The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) is keeping its options open on a planned syndication for September, as Gilt yields fell following polls showing the opposition Labour Party was gaining ground on the ruling Conservatives ahead of next week’s UK general election.

Barclays has sold more than half its stake in Barclays Africa, its separately listed South African subsidiary formerly known as Absa Bank, through a huge R37.7bn ($2.9bn) block trade on Wednesday night that was covered in 45 minutes.

Investors put more than €2.25bn of orders into a rare operating company level senior bond from Royal Bank of Scotland on Thursday, as floating rate bonds appear as a "more attractive option" for an increasing numbers of issuers, according to bankers.

North London football club Tottenham Hotspur has signed a £400m five year loan with a group of banks to finance the building of its new almost 62,000 seater stadium.

The UK Debt Management Office is keeping its options open on a planned syndication for September, a deal some investors feel the sovereign should use to push its conventional curve out to 2072. Meanwhile, a French agency is bringing its first syndication in sterling for over two years.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) today announced that Ulrich Karl has joined the organisation as head of clearing services.

The European high yield market roadshowed more than £2bn of new sterling bonds from two issuers this week, both with single-B ratings and from industries investors watch with caution.

Alfa Financial Software has completed one of this year’s hit IPOs, which was priced at the top of its range. “Pretty well every respectable investor who thinks about technology, either as a generalist or a specialist, wanted to own it,” said a banker on the deal.

Standard Chartered has become the first non-Chinese bank in Singapore to close a dollar-renminbi FX forward trade via the onshore China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), the firm said in a statement on Thursday.

Investors have called on the UK Debt Management Office to extend its conventional curve with a syndication in September — although the view is far from unanimous.

On Wednesday night, the vibrant trading in the equity blocks market continued with several large deals from Turkey and the UK.