UK

Gina Miller, the fund management executive who won the court case to give the UK’s Parliament a say on triggering Article 50, said the government has no grounds for its planned appeal to the Supreme Court. Her side could be joined by Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar for the appeal hearing.

Equity block trade business came back to life this week, as sellers hastened to monetise stakes before the US presidential election.

Sirius Minerals completed an $855m equity financing on Wednesday, for the first stage of its plan to build a fertiliser mine in a National Park in North Yorkshire. Priced on Thursday morning, the $400m convertible bond — too risky for many conventional investors — is already trading in the money.

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Despite the damage done to this autumn's IPO season, with a string of deals pulled and several trading badly, there is still a handful of flotations in the market, and ECM bankers believe they have a chance of success, writes Aidan Gregory.

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.