UK

The London Stock Exchange’s Orderbook for Retail Bonds (Orb) is about to reach £185m ($260.05m) of issuance so far this year, after Burford Capital’s £75m bond announcement on Wednesday.

The Financial Conduct Authority’s study of competition in investment banking has found no need for action over competition in the primary debt markets. However, the regulator said it will closely monitor the use of reciprocity to award mandates, particularly in covered bonds.

Arrow Global, the UK consumer debt manager, will start investor meetings on Thursday for a €225m floating rate note to fund its buyout of InVesting BV and repay its revolving credit facility.

Nationwide issued the joint largest sterling covered bond of 2016 on Wednesday, attracting the largest order book of any sterling deal in the year. Leeds said it planned to issue its first euro deal at the short end of the curve on Thursday after finishing its four day, two team roadshow earlier this week.

Forterra, the UK maker of bricks and concrete blocks owned by Lone Star, began the bookbuild for its London IPO on Tuesday, hoping to raise up to £220m.

A year can go by without an IPO in Prague, but this week has brought two. The day after GE Money Bank set out to float, Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH), the Czech coal, gas and power company, began investor education for its plan to list EP Infrastructure, its energy transmission and distribution business.

Over the past 15 years UK banks have set aside over £53bn to pay for their misconduct, according to a report published on Monday, with the end nowhere in sight.

Royal Bank of Scotland said on Monday it would take a loss on buying back some £2.3bn of opco and holdco debt, as it continues to position for the incoming total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) regulations.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has boosted its institutional sales team in Europe, hiring Paul Lavelle from Royal Bank of Scotland.

Jefferies and UBS conducted on Thursday night the second block trade of shares in DFS Furniture, the UK sofa retailer, since they led its £221m IPO in March 2015.

The UK Debt Management Office started its 2016-17 funding programme by auctioning £5.25bn of debt this week, using a mechanism it has introduced to enhance Gilt price discovery.

The first block trade in Worldpay since its £2.5bn IPO in October took place on Wednesday evening, as Advent and Bain, its private equity owners, sold a 13.75% stake for £740m. The sale went very well, as it was soon increased and priced at a tight discount.