"Last week, the gloom that recently enveloped investment banks was partially lifted," says Louise Armistead in The Sunday Telegraph. But as usual, good news for the City is not necessarily that great for other investors; the cause of this jubilation was "a sudden rush of activity in their capital markets division" or, in other words, a flurry of rights issues.
Those passing around the begging bowl aren't just banks such as RBS, HBoS and Bradford & Bingley looking to patch the holes in their balance sheets. "Companies as diverse as Johnston Press, the regional newspaper group, G4S, the security group, and First-Group, the rail and bus company, announced they were raising capital too." More shockingly, construction group Balfour Beatty, debt-free and with £380m in cash on the balance sheet, raised £186m to support its growth plans.
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