UK

HSBC Asset Management has partnered with HSBC UK to launch a direct lending platform, targeting smaller and mid-cap corporates.

The momentum behind green equity capital markets built further this week in the UK, with the latest deal from Greencoat UK Wind and the opening of books on the London flotation of NextEnergy Renewables, the solar power company.

Two sizeable block trades priced on Tuesday evening demonstrated appetite for sell-downs after several quite weeks while companies were in earnings blackouts. Bankers expect more sales in the next few weeks as bullish equity investors line up to take on risk.

TP ICAP, the interdealer broker, received strong demand from its shareholders for its £315m rights issue to part-fund the acquisition of Liquidnet.

US private placement agents have struggled to attract their typical stable of well rated corporates to their market this year. Public bond markets have proven too cheap for PP funding to compete and the European wing of the market has suffered as a consequence. But instead of waiting for the scales to tip back, agents should find new European borrowers from the financial institutions sector.

Nationwide Building Society has become the first borrower to issue a 10 year deal linked to the Bank of England’s Sonia index. The covered bond, which was issued on Tuesday with a highly oversubscribed order book, provided Nationwide with its cheapest ever funding and will be closely watched by other issuers looking to make similar deals.

Real estate is set to continue to be a key source of equity capital markets issuance in EMEA over the coming months as companies navigate the economic reopening driven by the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines according to sources speaking to GlobalCapital.

Will Adderley, the deputy chairman of home goods and furnishing company Dunelm, has sold a 15m share stake in the company raising £192m.

Mitchell & Butlers, a company that owns UK pubs and restaurant chains including Harvester, will raise £350m through an underwritten equity raise to navigate its way through the latest Covid-19 lockdown. A shareholder consortium made up of Joe Lewis (the owner of Tottenham Hotspur); former Manchester United owners JP McManus and John Magnier; and currency trader Derrick Smith, will back the raise.

Mercuria has launched a US private placement deal, according to market sources. The privately-owned Swiss commodity trader is the third company to enter the PP market from Europe this year.

Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Ltd, a new fund focused on opportunities in digital infrastructure, has finished its IPO on the London Stock Exchange, raising £370m.

Fix Price, the Russian owner of discount variety stores, filed initial paperwork for listings in London and Moscow on Monday. The company gives investors a very different sort of offering than recent European tech listings but is still providing buyers with huge growth metrics.