With sterling debt investors shaken by the growing strain on the UK high street, British bed seller Dreams is turning to an unusual source of funding: Sweden. Owner Sun Capital Partners this week began marketing a €175m high-yield bond under Swedish law to fund a “dividend recapitalisation” of Dreams, a term for when private equity groups layer debt on a company to take money out for themselves, the Financial Times reported. The Florida-based firm bought the bed retailer out of administration five years ago and unsuccessfully sought to sell the business last year.

Struggling children’s goods retailer Mothercare on Thursday said negative press coverage in the past year had damaged its brand, causing sales in the UK to decline, the Financial Times reported. Mark Newton-Jones, chief executive, said that while he was not blaming the media for reporting the company’s difficulties, internal research “clearly showed that the Mothercare brand suffered damage from coverage of store closures”.

Therium Group Holdings Ltd., a leading provider of litigation finance globally with over $800 million of assets under management, has appointed Stephen Akers to lead its insolvency funding practice, based in London, Litigation Finance Journal reported. Stephen is one of the world’s leading insolvency practitioners, with a career stretching more than three decades, in which he has worked on some of the most complex, multi-jurisdictional insolvency cases involving substantial litigation.

The economic gap between the south and north of England has widened since the UK voted to leave the EU, according to new forecasts of regional economic growth published by the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence, the Financial Times reported. After adjusting for inflation, London’s economy is roughly 5 per cent bigger than it was at the time of the referendum compared to growth of about 1.3 per cent in the North East of England, the data said.

The Pension Protection Fund is expected to lodge a claim of £305m with Johnston Press’s administrators amid concern that its pension scheme was not treated appropriately when the newspaper group went into administration, the Financial Times reported. The expected action by the PPF, which compensates members of pension schemes of failed companies, came as the Pensions Regulator began to probe Friday’s deal to rescue Johnston Press. When a company enters administration, the PPF seeks to cover the cost of taking on its pension scheme.

Brexit is already weakening the UK’s grip on Europe’s capital markets, denting London’s status as a hub for millions of deals each day. Key parts of the trading infrastructure for equities, sovereign debt and repo markets are setting up in the Netherlands and Italy, the Financial Times reported. Banks are moving jobs to Paris and Frankfurt. This is “an invisible revolution in the European capital markets”, says Merel van Vroonhoven, chief executive of the AFM, the Dutch regulator.

London will no longer be the first stop for European governments selling bonds, as the bulk of business on a key platform switches to Milan ahead of the deadline for the UK’s departure from the EU next year, the Financial Times reported. From the start of March only the UK government and UK-based banks will use a London-based arm of MTS Cash, a venue owned by the London Stock Exchange Group. It plays a key role in linking sovereign borrowers with the investment banks that help price the bonds and sell them to asset managers.

England’s higher education regulator has admitted it provided a “short-term liquidity loan” to a university in the summer to keep it operating, despite a promise that it would never bail out an institution, the Financial Times reported. The Office for Students, which was formed only this year, did not name the institution or confirm reports on the BBC that the loan was worth £1m. However, the regulator insisted that the university had not been at risk of bankruptcy.

A company set up by lenders to Johnston Press has acquired the publisher, saying debt cancellation and a cash injection would allow titles including The Scotsman, The Yorkshire Post and The i to continue operations as normal, the Financial Times reported. The “pre-pack administration” deal was completed following the court appointment of administrators to Johnston Press, the newly founded owner JPIMedia said in a statement. The acquisition was denounced by activist Christen Ager-Hanssen, CEO of Custos Group, Johnston Press’s largest shareholder.

Those lending to high-risk property borrowers on peer-to-peer sites could be caught out by lower house prices and higher interest rates, amid warnings that the growing sector’s low default rate is due in large part to benign financial conditions, the Financial Times reported. Property peer-to-peer finance allows lenders seeking investment returns to make loans to borrowers aiming to buy or develop properties. The sector has come under the spotlight in recent weeks following legal issues at property peer-to-peer lender Lendy.