UK

This was the week high yield borrowers in sterling came out of the Brexit shadows to face a market ridden with political tensions — what they found was hungry, but sober, investors.

A decision by the UK High Court on Thursday that the country’s parliament must vote to start the process of leaving the European Union could lead to market volatility in the weeks ahead, issuers and bankers have warned. The decision came during an eventful week for the UK, which also included a Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting, a warning from Moody’s over single market access and a debut issue from Aberdeen City Council.

A decision by the UK High Court on Thursday that the country’s parliament must vote to start the process of leaving the European Union could lead to market volatility in the weeks ahead, issuers and bankers have warned.

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Varta AG, the German micro-batteries manufacturer spun out of the historic Varta Group in 2002, has joined the small group of European companies braving the choppy waters of the IPO market.

UK challenger bank Virgin Money had a strong result on its return to the sterling market for more additional tier one paper on Thursday, bankers said, after the country’s High Court ruled Parliament must vote on exiting the European Union.

Into a gloomy equity capital market where the expected line-up of deals has been decimated by investor risk-aversion, Sirius Minerals today launched a rare and challenging transaction, combining a capital increase and convertible bond that amount to a $940m project financing for a potash mine in the north of England.

Four banks have teamed up with law firm Simmons & Simmons to introduce market standard documentation for use in listed and unlisted repackaging transactions, in a move that they hope will ease hedging counterparty concerns for investors and help drive activity in this part of the market.

Worries that the UK could lose access to the single market are already largely priced in, said SSA bankers, as Moody's warned that it could downgrade the sovereign if access is not part of a deal with the European Union.

LCH has outlined plans to deepen its dominance of the interest rate derivatives market, by launching a centralised service for non-cleared trades.

On Wednesday, UK financial software firm Misys pulled the $1.5bn refinancing it had been marketing as part of its planned IPO, having dropped the share sale last week.

On Wednesday morning, Sirius Minerals, the company seeking to build a new potash mine in North Yorkshire, launched a bold $940m equity capital increase and convertible bond to finance stage one of the project.