UK

Shares in Hollywood Bowl, the largest ten pin bowling lane operator in the UK, dropped 3.3% on Friday morning after Electra Partners, the private equity group, sold the remainder of its stake through an accelerated bookbuild.

Rating: Aa2

Yorkshire Building Society defied concerns around the UK’s decision to leave the European Union this week, issuing a well oversubscribed covered bond that was very broadly distributed and that priced almost flat to its curve.

Shares in Tullow Oil, the Anglo-Irish oil and gas drilling company, closed 5.5% higher on Thursday on an adjusted basis, after they began trading ex-rights before its £607m rights issue.

The University of Southampton made its debut in the bond markets this week, printing a £300m April 2057 trade amid a torrent of investor questions over the impact of Brexit on the UK’s education sector.

The heads of funding at DNB Boligkreditt and Royal Bank of Canada told delegates at this week’s IMN conference that investors are well protected from a potential fall in house prices. UK covered bonds are similarly resilient, said a director at Fitch Ratings. And even in a hard Brexit, the privileged position of covered bonds would be upheld by UK courts, said a partner at Clifford Chance.

Laird, the UK maker of mobile phone parts, microchips and antennas, has finished its £185m rights issue to bolster its balance sheet after a fall in profits last year.

Euronext spurned the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) on Monday by completing a preliminary agreement with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Clear Netherlands that will provide the European exchange's clearing services in commodity and financial derivatives for the next 10 years.

Yorkshire Building Society issued a €500m six year covered bond almost flat to its curve with strong demand on Monday. At the same time Commonwealth Bank of Australia priced a €750m seven year, a solid trade but one that lacked sparkle.

Aston Martin, the UK luxury car maker, made savings of up to 400bp on Friday as it wrapped up its latest bond refinancing bond. Investors came along for the ride but found it a bit of a squeeze.

Micro Focus, the UK legacy software firm, has launched the $5bn loan to finance its acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s software business — the biggest new money loan in the European leveraged loan market this year.

Yorkshire Building Society could kick-start covered bond issuance in the second quarter, as it lines up to sell its first deal in the format since late 2015.