UK

The growth of corporate issuance in the green bond market is a compelling trend in modern capital markets. While this growth will continue, market entrants must pay heed to the market’s unique demands, say Antonio Keglevich, head of green bond origination, and Robert Vielhaber, green bond analyst at UniCredit

BMW has kept its bond issuance going apace in the past fortnight, since it returned to the market for the first time after the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal.

Groupe Fnac, the French book, music and electronics retailer, has signed €865m of loans for its €615m acquisition of Darty, the London and Paris-listed French electricals retailer.

Lloyds is set to exchange two old tier two instruments for new longer dated debt as it shifts towards holding company issuance in the wake of regulators' new emphasis on loss absorbing capital.

Royal Bank of Scotland has hired a well known high yield specialist to head corporate and event driven credit trading.

The United Kingdom has mandated banks to manage a reopening of its 0.125% index linked Gilt maturing March 2046.

The sterling market has fizzed for investment grade corporates this week, as both British American Tobacco (BAT) and Mondelez nabbed long dated tenor in the currency.

British American Tobacco has offered the sterling market its second long dated bond in as many days, a £350m 40 year tranche as part of a €1.1bn offering.

GlobalCapital has closed the poll to decide the winners of its 13th Syndicated Loan, Leveraged Finance and Private Placement Awards 2016.

Last week we highlighted the positive performance of the mining sector with the Euromoney Global Mining Index returning +8.55% in October. Certainly not a bad start to the fourth quarter. Platinum producer Lonmin, who has been in the Euromoney Global Mining Index since 1985, topped the companies’ performance league table. That could be a bit misleading.

UK building materials producer Breedon is eyeing a move to main market of the London Stock Exchange after its £336m acquisition of competitor Hope Construction Materials.

Lonmin's $407m rescue rights issue passed its first hurdle on Thursday (November 19), when shareholders voted strongly to approve the deal. Lonmin's shares fell 2.6%, but that was mild by recent standards.