The UK’s biggest companies have raised £3.4bn from investors since the beginning of the government's nationwide lockdown, as the corporate sector grapples with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Companies raised £1.8bn through cashboxes, a type of fundraising that involves creating and buying an unlisted offshore shell company using new equity that is sold to select shareholders, allowing companies to raise cash quickly, research from law firm Pinsent Masons shows. The firm pulled the data together from completed equity fundraisings announced by listed companies on the London Stock Exchange’s Regulatory News Service.