UK

After a barren year of sterling bond issuance from international borrowers, a dry patch that some thought would last until the Brexit referendum in June, an Australian company finally broke the silence on Wednesday.

Heightened talk around Brexit is adding to the pressure on UK credit spreads and, combined with European Central Bank promises of an investment grade corporate bond purchase programme, causing British names to underperform their eurozone peers. But market participants say this presents a buying opportunity as a reversal could follow.

Standard & Poor’s astonished the equity-linked bond market on Wednesday evening by stripping the equity credit from Vodafone’s £2.9bn mandatory convertibles, issued in February, only a month after assigning the credit. The change knocks away one advantage of the deal for Vodafone and may damage banks’ hopes of replicating it.

The London Stock Exchange’s order book for retail bonds received a welcome boost this week as it won its second issuer of 2016.

The same benign financing conditions that propelled global M&A volume to a post-crisis record in 2015 are in place for UK blue chip companies this year. But treasurers are adopting a cautious approach ahead of the EU vote, writes Ross Lancaster

Small and medium enterprises are the hardworking families of the business world — politically untouchable, the foundations of growth, dynamism and entrepreneurship. This is why funding them has been so politically controversial in the UK. There’s still huge state involvement in the market, but it has become less important — SMEs now have more funding options than ever. Owen Sanderson reports.

Recent reports of the imminent death of the Gilts auction may have been premature but even debt management officials admit the system is showing signs of stress. Could changes to the process restore lost liquidity? Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker reports.

The dollar and euro markets may dwarf it in size but that doesn’t mean sterling can’t offer advantages to corporate issuers — domestic or foreign. Ross Lancaster reports.

Investors are hungry for UK public sector paper that offers a pick-up over Gilts, but deals have been in short supply. Can a new agency for local authorities fill the gap? Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker reports.

UK marketplace lenders have grown rapidly in recent years, but as they look to originate more and more new loans, platforms may want to lean on more established financial institutions for further funding. Cue the first securitization of UK marketplace loans. Tyler Davies reports

The gaggle of technology firms around Cambridge is leading the UK’s fintech efforts — and could transform the way that its much bigger brother, the City of London, operates. Peter McGill reports

The UK government has ambitious infrastructure plans and the country’s pension funds are looking for better returns than those available on Gilts. Is there a match to be made, asks Peter McGill?