UK

Citi has named a new head of its EMEA FIG investment banking group, hiring Piers Davison, former EMEA head of banks and UK head of FIG at JP Morgan.

The chance of the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union has been driving sterling option premiums sharply higher, but so far has not affected the price of risk in the euro. That, say strategists, is likely to change.

Shares in Saga, the UK insurance and holidays group for the over-50s, have risen sharply since the biggest ever block trade in the stock — and the last for its private equity owners — which Numis Securities handled alone on April 21.

The European IPO market’s busy spring season received further encouragement this week, when its second and third major deals, for Forterra and Mediawan, were both completed — though Forterra’s was priced at the bottom of the range and edged down in trading.

The UK’s Debt Management Office is to sell an additional £2.1bn of Gilts for the year to March 2017. The increase comes as the government’s net cash requirement rose by £2.9bn compared with the forecast published in the 2016 budget.

Jaws dropped on equity syndicate desks across London on Thursday evening when Numis Securities, on its own, launched an audacious £688m cleanout block trade in shares of Saga, the UK insurance and holidays group focused on the over-50s.

The UK’s Debt Management Office is to sell an extra £2.1bn of Gilts in the year to March 2017, after the government's net cash requirement rose by £2.9bn compared to the forecast published alongside the country's budget a few weeks ago.

Forterra and Mediawan have closed and completed their IPO bookbuilds this afternoon, though Forterra’s will be priced at the bottom end of the range.

Moody’s said in a report released on Wednesday that the UK leaving the European Union would be credit-negative “for most UK-based companies”.

The UK moved quickly, and a long way, on bank capital, but apparently it hasn’t done enough. In a year when the Basel Committee is supposed to be finally finishing its own capital rules, do we really need more uncertainty?

Burford Capital, the litigation finance firm, has raised £100m with its retail bond issue, the third this year on the London Stock Exchange’s Orderbook for Retail Bonds, and the largest since August.

A vote by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union would entail a host of negative consequences for the derivatives market, according to Allen & Overy lawyers. The concerns include a deterioration of counterparty creditworthiness, changes in mark-to-market exposure and a decline in the value of UK linked collateral.