UK

NatWest has promoted Carla Floyd to head of debt and financing solutions — a newly created job that sits in its ringfenced bank but nonetheless effectively involves running debt capital markets origination for corporate clients.

Tryg Forsikring found strong demand for a new restricted tier one (RT1) bond in the Swedish market on Wednesday, as it looked to optimise its capital structure in preparation for the purchase of RSA Insurance Group’s Nordic businesses.

UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has proposed a “British Recovery Bond” — a retail government issue that would be used to finance SME lending to help kick-start the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. It can be tempting to dismiss such measures as political posturing, but there are some genuine advantages to the proposal, and it deserves its day.

Banks arranging private placements in Europe have started weighing up bringing companies from the financial sector to market, amid a deal drought from the corporate borrowers which are the usual staple fare.

Auction Technology Group, the UK developer of proprietary software for online auctions, has surged by more than 30% in the aftermarket after completing its £273m IPO on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

BPCE found plenty of demand for a long-dated senior deal in euros on Monday, even as secondary spreads drifted wider.

UK pub and restaurant group Mitchells & Butlers has fixed the terms for its £350m recapitalisation, which is intended to repair its shattered balance sheet after the third UK lockdown forced further closure of its venues.

Fund managers are eyeing up opportunities in the additional tier one (AT1) market this year, with spreads still said to be well wide of their potential lows.

German optical maker Jenoptik has launched a euro and dollar Schuldscheine with margins tied to its sustainability performance.

This week’s ground-breaking 10 year Sonia index-linked covered bond transaction from Nationwide is most likely to appeal to other UK Building Societies, as opposed to the large UK commercial banks who have a larger proportion of suitable assets to access central bank funding.

Two factors bear outsized influence on capital markets — Covid-19 and central bank stimulus. But the temptation to see these powerful forces culminating in one of two extreme outcomes — another crash as a feeble economy flounders, or a boom like the 1920s US — must be resisted.

If companies rushing to raise equity capital defined last year’s spring, what about this year’s March and April? Well, they could prove to be just as busy — for different, and more positive reasons. This year, companies are looking to raise capital from buoyant investors as they take advantage of the effect of Covid-19 vaccines and the reopening of economies. Aidan Gregory and Sam Kerr report.