UK

Property firm Derwent London has issued a £105m US private placement, its first since 2013. Three institutional investors, all of whom are new to the relationship, bought the notes.

HSBC’s Asian business gained momentum last year, with the bank booking the lion’s share of its earnings from the region. But there are challenges ahead, with the firm under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its hiring practices.

Apax made on Tuesday night its first selldown of stock in Auto Trader, the UK car sales website, since floating the business last March. As had been expected after the IPO was increased, Apax was able to sell virtually its whole remaining stake in one go.

Genus, the bovine and porcine genetics company, retained all of its relationship banks when it signed a £160m revolving credit facility on Monday.

Any fears that investors might be nervous about sterling bonds in the run-up to the UK’s referendum on European Union membership eased with a pair of deals on Tuesday.

The London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Boerse are in talks over a potential merger, the boards of both groups said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Heathrow has extended the maturity of its £1.4bn revolving credit facility, signed November 2014.

Mark Bamford, head of global fixed income syndicate, is leaving the firm, and several promotions have been made to fill the gap. Fixed income syndicate has also been transferred out of fixed income and given its own risk reporting.

Bank of England governor, Mark Carney on Tuesday told UK members of parliament the contingent bank capital market worked exactly as it should when bonds and shares suffered a sharp sell-off earlier this month.

DagangHalal, the halal verification business, expressed on Monday its intention to float on London’s junior stock market.

Options market participants have demanded higher premiums to bear exposure to volatility in the British pound after talks in Brussels failed to produce a decisive deal to help UK prime minister David Cameron win the upcoming referendum.

A plunge in sterling’s value on Monday after the UK government picked a date for the country’s European Union membership is unlikely to stop SSAs adding to a record breaking year in the currency so far, said bankers.