UK

Spanish football club Atlético Madrid has signed a €300m US private placement, following its rivals FC Barcelona into the market.

Bridgepoint Group, the UK private equity group, is garnering strong interest for its IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Sources close to the deal said that it coming so late in what has been a tricky summer deal window surprised some but that investors have warmed quickly to it.

Investec has hired two new staffers to its growth and leveraged finance team, after launching an inaugural direct lending fund at the start of 2021.

Barclays has hired a senior trader from JP Morgan in New York to replace Naseer Al-Khudairi as head of electronic trading and digital strategy for its markets division.

London’s booming investment trusts market is showing no sign of slowing down, with three new deals pricing on Monday including space-tech vehicle Seraphim Space Investment Trust.

Activity in the recruitment market for sustainable capital markets experts has ticked up this year, as banks looking to staff up in this area see a small but growing talent pool to tap. A recent hire by Santander in London is a good example.

Essentra, the UK speciality fibres and plastics maker, has closed a US private placement deal at $250m.

Shares in Wise, the UK fintech group, had traded up more than 22% by Friday afternoon compared to the price at which it completed the first ever direct listing by a technology unicorn on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Equity bankers hailed the transaction as an alternative route to going public when the IPO market is difficult but the list of companies that could do such a deal is short, writes Aidan Gregory.

With private equity-backed mergers and acquisitions hitting record levels in Europe, bankers have their tails up as they jostle for the most lucrative fee opportunities, writes David Rothnie.

As capital markets bankers gradually start to spend more time back in the office, a nuanced debate is playing out over how much flexibility they can expect to enjoy with regard to remote working when pandemic restrictions are finally lifted.

Muenchener Hypothekenbank took the unusual decision of stretching execution over two days for its fixed rate sterling Pfandbrief, the first to be issued this year. The measured approach paid off with the issuer managing to tighten the spread by 3bp and achieve a larger than expected size.

Mike Lamb, a senior investment banker covering the insurance sector, has left Barclays to join Citi in a chairman role in London.