UK

Nationwide Building Society launched a 10 year senior unsecured transaction in sterling on Thursday, building on the back of recent successes from other UK issuers.

French firm Fnac will imminently launch syndication of its loan to buy retailer Darty, after winning a bidding war with South Africa's Steinhoff. Meanwhile, banks supplying a £920m loan for the thwarted rival await instructions.

French retailer Fnac will imminently launch syndication of its €1.35bn Darty acquisition loan, according to a banker close to the deal.

University College London has signed the largest ever European Investment Bank loan to a higher education institution, it announced on Thursday.

Nationwide Building Society launched a 10 year senior unsecured transaction in sterling on Thursday, building strongly on the back of recent successes from other UK issuers.

London & Quadrant Housing Trust rode the waves of strong demand for corporate sterling paper on Wednesday as it achieved a minimal new issue premium for a bond that was over three times oversubscribed.

The European Investment Bank sold a £500m tap of its February 2019s on Wednesday, taking sterling issuance from public sector borrowers to its highest level for nine weeks.

Moody’s has downgraded Care UK, which claims to be the country's largest independent provider of health and social care, to a corporate family rating of Caa1.

Signs of progress under new chief executive Jes Staley saw Barclays shares up almost 4% early on Wednesday, but with profits down 25% and return on equity languishing at 3.8% in the first quarter, they were soon trading down.

A trio of taps and a UK Gilt syndication this week have demonstrated that fears of the country’s June 23 referendum on EU membership disrupting the market may be misplaced. Indeed, investors have expressed greater worries about risks elsewhere in Europe.

Just two working days after Numis’s dashing block trade in Saga stock on Thursday last week, Credit Suisse brought another sparky, sole-managed deal to the market on Monday night, with a £1bn sale of SABMiller shares for Jan Kulczyk, the Polish billionaire.

Travelodge Hotels, the UK budget hotel chain, on Tuesday began marketing a £360m two tranche bond, its debut issue, in a European high yield market still eager for confirmation that deal flow will pick up in the coming weeks.