Lloyds Bank

Marks & Spencer, the UK retailer, has negotiated with its lenders to relax the covenant testing on its £1.1bn revolving credit facility, as it tries to mitigate the effects of a pandemic that has sent its ratings crashing into junk territory.

The UK’s EasyJet is about to have $500m of funds released to it, after the budget airline sent a utilisation request to its banking group at the start of the week.

UniCredit has said that it will redeem €2.5bn of tier two capital next month, with regulators allowing banks to manage their debt capital stacks freely during the coronavirus crisis.

Riverside Group has signed what it claims to be the first loan in the UK's social housing sector priced over the Sterling Overnight Index Average (Sonia), as signs of innovation continue in the loan market despite the crushing effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

European banks broke a five year record for funding volumes in the first quarter, despite steering clear of markets for most of March. Their blistering start to the year will help them to sit out a while longer, as they wait for funding costs to settle during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mandates are rolling in for high grade corporate issuers, as syndicate bankers disagree about whether the blistering pace of the market can last.

Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets spied an opportunity to launch a new senior bond on Thursday, with credit markets performing well despite the tougher backdrop in equities this week.

Oil firms burst into the corporate bond market on Thursday with BP, Royal Dutch Shell and OMV opening books on multi-tranche trades, as comments from US president Donald Trump sent oil prices rocketing.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will prevent its financial institutions from redeeming subordinated bonds during the coronavirus pandemic, putting itself in contrast with other parts of the world, where banks remain free to manage their debt capital as they see fit.

Lloyds Bank is looking to buy back one of its more costly perpetual tier one capital instruments, after its valuation collapsed in March. The move took some market participants by surprise, since it would have been approved by UK authorities, which are at the same time insisting that the country's banks conserve their capital levels during the coronavirus crisis.

A trio of UK companies drew down on their revolving credit facilities this week, as firms in the country build up their cash piles despite an unprecedented financial support package from the government.

BBC Commercial Holdings, a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that produces and sells content to other broadcasters across the world, has decided to delay a £170m debt refinancing in the US private placement market, according to market sources, as bankers struggle to cope with price discovery.