UK

Ever since Theresa May became UK prime minister in July, markets and commentators have thirsted to know what her strategy would be for the negotiations to leave the European Union. Now we know — and so far, the markets like it.

Thames Water, the UK water supplier, shrugged off currency market nerves over UK prime minister Theresa May’s speech about the UK's departure from the EU on Tuesday to engage sterling bond investors with a £500m dual tranche offering.

UK insurer Phoenix Group Holdings tightened pricing by nearly 40bp on Monday for the first ever Solvency II compliant tier three bond in sterling, as investors appeared keen to take on more bonds in the rarely used format.

Lone Star has made its first sale of stock in Forterra, the UK brickmaker, since its IPO last April. The block trade was doubly unusual, in being done on Friday evening and not being led by the IPO bookrunners.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has bolstered its loan syndication and sales effort in London with a hire as the bank looks to establish a stronger foothold in the Europe, Middle East and Africa market.

The sterling high yield bond market on Friday priced its first single-B rated issue of the year, a £275m note from Amigo Loans, a UK consumer lender, with the third highest coupon in the past 12 months for a single-B sterling issue.

The UK Debt Management Office has named the group of banks that will sell its next Gilt syndication.

Close Brothers was warmly welcomed for a new £175m tier two issuance on Friday, as the bank sought to protect its capital ratios amid important changes to the way in which banks must calculate risk weightings for their property loans.

In this round-up, RMB-denominated cross-border trade settlement suffers a big setback in 2016, turnover in the Chinese interbank foreign exchange (FX) markets revolves almost entirely around dollar trades, and GF International launches a China A-shares fund on the London Stock Exchange. Plus a recap of our coverage.

Affordable Housing

Telecom company TalkTalk and loan guarantor Amigo have this week jumped into the wave of new high yield bond issues listing on the Channel Islands Securities Exchange (CISE) as a way to get round the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), writes Victor Jimenez.

Mizuho International, the securities and investment banking arm of Mizuho Financial Group, has hired an experienced banker to lead its European derivatives risk solutions business.