UK

Nationwide Building Society made a small piece of history in the covered bond market last week. The UK building society printed the first covered deal in euros from a UK bank since Brexit. It was also the issuer's first 20 year and the first covered bond in that maturity from anywhere outside the eurozone. Senior funding manager, Krishan Hirani, spoke to GlobalCapital about the genesis of the deal.

Ares Management has raised a colossal €11bn for its new European direct lending fund, but firms whose investments hit the skids through the pandemic may not find it quite so easy.

Bank of America has hired a managing director from Goldman Sachs to help lead a new team in its UK investment banking division that aims to increase the bank’s coverage of private and emerging growth companies.

Bank of Ireland Group was more than three times subscribed for a new tier two on Tuesday, as it followed its domestic peer AIB Group in applying a green label to the asset class.

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European equity capital markets sources breathed a sign of relief on Friday after Synlab, the German laboratory diagnostics company, stayed above water after it began trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange following its €670m IPO. Meanwhile, Darktrace avoided thefate of Deliveroo and traded up more than 40% in the aftermarket.

Nationwide Building Society issued the first UK covered bond of the year, the first to test appetite since Brexit was concluded and the first UK deal with a 20 year tenor in euros. As such it offered a particularly rare opportunity to get some spread and yield pick-up.

Taylor Maritime Investments, a new London investment trust, has launched an IPO on the London Stock Exchange with the aim of offering investors a chance to invest in the recovery of the global shipping industry after the Covid-19 pandemic.

NatWest Group recorded a loss at its investment bank on Thursday, after climbing down from the dizzying heights of last year’s first quarter profits. The weaker numbers weighed on the performance of the group, but the bank still managed to breeze past market expectations.

Origin Housing, a housing association with homes in and around London, has sold £125m of US private placements – one of the bigger deals from the sector.

UK retailer WH Smith has tapped the convertible bond market for the first time as part of a wider refinancing package intended to position it for a return to growth this year once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Euronext, the European stock exchange operator, has launched its long-awaited €1.8bn rights issue to part-fund its acquisition of Borsa Italiana Group from the London Stock Exchange Group.