Fundraising drought suggests nerves over Brexit

The flow of new debt and equity deals hitting markets slowed to a trickle in January and the following month has shown little sign of a pick-up, particularly in the UK, suggesting that Brexit is weighing heavily on companies’ plans to raise money. For the opening two months of 2019, the number of new bond deals in the UK was 40, the lowest since 1995, and a drop of two-fifths compared with the same period last year, according to data from Refinitiv. Total proceeds reached $26bn, down by almost a half.