UK

EasyJet, the UK budget airline, has mandated three banks for its first ever bond issue, and will run a roadshow next week.

TDR Capital has set bank meetings for January 12 to market a £745m debt package for its minority investment in Euro Garages, the UK’s second largest independent petrol station operator.

2015 will be remembered as a year when volatility returned to financial markets. With strong technical buffers to the trading range of US and European equity markets going into 2016, short volatility strategies look set to be compelling money earners in the year ahead, writes Andrew Barber.

A member of Mizuho International’s bond syndicate team has left the firm.

Westpac NZ launched a sterling senior bond on Wednesday and Santander UK will soon follow with a debut holdco deal, as FIG's first signs of life in 2016 favour the UK market.

Barclays has printed one of the largest dollar senior trades from a European bank in recent memory, as it and Santander UK took home $5bn of holding company debt between them on Tuesday.

UK banks have wasted no time in plundering a deep dollar market for holding company senior debt this week, while euro investors have been restricted to a variety show of covered bonds.

BGC Brokers, the interdealer broker, is making a push into the competitive world of over-the-counter derivatives portfolio compression and has already taken out over €800bn notional of swaptions.

Acadia Healthcare, the US psychiatric and behavioural health care provider, has agreed to buy UK peer the Priory Group from Advent International for around £1.5bn.

Lloyds opened the sterling covered bond market on Tuesday with a three year floating rate bond. The deal encouraged another issuer to look to tap the market with the same instrument.

Keval Shah has been promoted to head of bond syndicate at Lloyds Bank, GlobalCapital understands.

Barclays has offered to buy back up to £7.5bn of senior unsecured notes, and could shortly be in the market with fresh holdco debt as it looks to satisfy regulatory capital requirements.