Search

Comments on the Link Biotransformations Programme in Great Britain.

Brunel Pensions Partnership, a UK pension scheme, has launched a £2.1bn sterling corporate bond fund, with syndicate officials saying that another buyer in the small market will be helpful, but unlikely to 'move the needle'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Berkeley Group, one of the UK's biggest home builders, found the pulse of the sterling bond market on Wednesday, two weeks after some bankers had declared the market dead until the autumn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Berkeley Group, one of the UK's biggest home builders, has mandated for a green bond, a week after high grade corporate issuers faced such a torrid time in the sterling market that some bankers called the market shut until the autumn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metropolitan Housing Trust, the UK housing association, had a tough day in the sterling bond market on Wednesday, with a debut sustainable bond that limped over the line despite two days of marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metropolitan Housing Trust, a UK housing association, has mandated for a sterling bond, amid rising concerns among bankers and investors in the UK on the almost complete easing of coronavirus pandemic social restrictions in England from Monday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anchor Hanover, the UK's biggest retirement home company, hit the sterling market on Wednesday with a debut sustainable bond, as it continues to shift its capital structure towards socially responsible finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drax, the UK-based power company, has refinanced an M&A bridge facility with a sustainability-linked loan, as ESG finance inches closer to M&A deals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to the articles "Kipps Engine Shed and the Locomotives of Monklands," "A summer Saturday trip over Beattock," and "South Worcestershire steam in colour."

The Financial Conduct Authority warned on Monday against using benchmarks other than risk free rates in the transition from Libor, as the UK regulator asks any companies under its remit to tell their FCA supervisors if they plan to use alternatives known as credit sensitive rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vattenfall, the Swedish energy company, and UK care home operator Assura have mandated for sterling use of proceeds ESG deals, as sustainability bankers say that the sterling market is growing in popularity for issuance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority on Thursday proposed creating a synthetic Libor for three sterling and yen settings to be used after the benchmark falls out of use at the end of this year. Market participants called the move "incredibly significant". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survitec, the UK survival and safety company, has signed a revolving credit facility, bringing debt raised by the acquisitive company in the last few months to £297.5m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grosvenor Group, the UK property company, has signed a £1.1bn-equivalent sustainability linked revolving credit facility, while taking the unusual step of not formulating complete key performance indicators before signing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spate of UK borrowers have signed loans that use Sonia as the benchmark rate from day one this week, with the consistently tricky transition given some cheer after companies said that the process is fairly simple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kingfisher, the UK home improvement retailer, has signed a £550m sustainability-linked revolving credit facility that uses Sonia as the pricing benchmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe's high grade corporate bond market began this shortened week for issuance with an ESG focus, as Australian engineering company Worley mandated for its debut sustainability-linked bond and UK housing association Notting Hill Genesis began marketing a sustainability deal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University College London has issued the first public ESG-labelled bond from the UK's higher education sector, which it priced flat to fair value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University College London has issued the first public ESG-labelled bond from the UK's higher education sector, which it priced flat to fair value. But bankers say that while the demand is there, a lack of supply means deals like this are going to be a rarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JLEN Environmental Assets, an infrastructure fund, has signed a £170m-equivalent multicurrency sustainability-linked revolver, becoming the latest UK infrastructure company to switch to Sonia as its interest benchmark for sterling drawdowns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe's high grade corporate borrowers piled into the bond market on Wednesday to sell debt before the public holiday weekend in the UK. Investors showed no signs of indigestion on one of the busiest days of the year so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hammerson, the UK property development company, launched a sustainability-linked bond through its Irish subsidiary on Wednesday, hoping to achieve a better cost of funds by printing a deal that was eligible for ECB buying. The still-nascent SLB market gave few comparables for the trade, leaving investors needing a range of metrics to try and determine fair value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plymouth Community Homes, a UK social housing landlord, has signed a £65m loan facility, as real estate-linked borrowers continue to be some of the most frequent users of the debt markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A smattering of European investment grade companies are lining up bond issues, as May continues to bring the turnaround in issuance levels that the market had been hoping for in the run-up to the UK bank holiday at the start of the month. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joules, the UK outdoor clothing company, has signed a £34m ESG-linked loan package, as European lenders throw more effort into making socially conscious borrowing attractive to smaller borrowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joules, the UK outdoor clothing company, has signed a £34m ESG-linked loan package, as European lenders throw more effort into making socially conscious borrowing attractive to smaller borrowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wickes Group, the UK do-it-yourself retailer, has signed an £80m revolving credit facility, as the company completes its postponed demerger from Travis Perkins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clarion Housing, the UK housing association, has signed a £100m sustainability-linked loan, with the borrower using Sonia as the pricing benchmark for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vi Davda has been promoted to a new role of head of UK debt capital markets at ABN Amro, as the Dutch bank looks to expand its business across UK financial institutions and corporate clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finastra and Hubx, two UK fintechs, have partnered to create a new syndicated loan tool that the companies claim completely digitises the bookrunning process, as the loan market makes its slow trudge away from manual processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drax, the UK power generation company, has had the final approvals waived through for its £226m-equivalent debt-funded acquisition of Canada's Pinnacle Renewable Energy, as debt bankers say the M&A pipeline is strong for the second quarter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3i Infrastructure, the UK investment trust, is leaning on bank debt facilities to finance a planned €182m acquisition for a majority stake in German broadband provider DNS:Net. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utmost Group, a UK life assurance group, has made a roughly £483m cash offer to buy high net worth investment platform provider Quilter International, with four banks lined up to provide debt for the deal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Guinness Partnership, a UK affordable housing company, has signed a £150m revolving credit facility linked to Sonia from day one, as loan market participants say momentum is growing to leave Libor behind before the end of year deadline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atotech, a UK speciality chemicals technology company, has followed up its IPO last month with a $1.84bn-equivalent loan refinancing, with some of the money earmarked for acquisitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National Grid, the UK utility, is planning a loan-funded £7.8bn acquisition of the UK's largest electricity distribution business from US firm PPL Corp. The deal could see £2.7bn of the utility's assets sold to PPL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban Logistics, a UK Reit, has taken on a £48m debt facility on top of its bank revolving credit facility, as the property sector piles on new debt. But other companies are starting to show cracks. Retail Reit Hammerson issued grave warnings over its debt pile after posting a £1.7bn loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High grade corporate bond investors were given the choice between a green trade from Finnish paper company UPM-Kymmene Corp and a conventional trade from UK cigarette maker Imperial Brands on Monday, with some investors passing up on the cigarette company on ESG grounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WH Smith, the UK high street retailer, has extended its bank term credit lines and cancelled a crisis liquidity facility, as the borrower posted better than expected trading figures since the start of the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy Capital Partners, a UK private equity company, has signed £192m in loans and trade finance facilities, refinancing debt for gas turbines that have been linked to the transition to carbon neutrality in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has set an expiration date for 35 Libor benchmarks to be December 31, which loan market participants hope will force some corporates to engage more fully with the transition to risk-free rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK small and medium sized enterprises are at risk of collapsing under their coronavirus pandemic debt burdens, warned a member of an influential cross-party parliamentary committee in the wake of Wednesday's budget announcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

McColl's, the UK retailer, has amended and extended £167.5m of bank debt in part to relax covenant requirements, as banks are still being called upon to be lenient with borrowers a year after the coronavirus pandemic started. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermediate Capital Group Enterprise Trust (ICGT), a UK private equity investor, has signed a €200m loan facility, a month after the company's parent refinanced its sterling facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workspace Group, the UK office space company, is marketing a green sterling bond as its debut in the public fixed income market, marking the second time a UK company has made this "very rare" choice in less than a year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Public Partnerships, a UK listed infrastructure investment company, has refinanced a £400m loan to extend the maturity and switch the margin from the Libor benchmark, as lenders hope that other borrowers do the same rather than cram into the second half of the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real Estate Investors, a UK commercial property REIT, has refinanced £51m of term loans, as the real estate sector continues to be one of the main drivers of European debt activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workspace Group, the UK office space company, sold its debut bond on Thursday, raising £300m using a green structure, as sustainability bankers say that ESG-linked debuts on the bond market are going to become more commonplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workspace Group, the UK office space company, sold its debut bond on Thursday, raising £300m using a green structure, as sustainability bankers say that ESG-linked debuts on the bond market are going to become more common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]