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The London Stock Exchange today welcomed the latest new bond listing to its Order book for Retail Bonds (ORB). Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) plc, the specialist investment firm and asset manager, has raised £35 million on the market. Evolution Securities acted as the sole book runner on the deal.
The launch of the bond shows the diverse range of sectors that ORB is currently supporting. The fixed rate 7 year bond is available in £100 denominations with a minimum initial investment of £2,000.
This latest offering takes total fundraising on ORB in the last six months to over £500 million, with 154 bonds now available for trading on the platform.
Pietro Poletto, Head of Fixed Income Markets at London Stock Exchange Group, said:
"We are delighted that ICG has issued a corporate bond on ORB, a sign that an increasingly diverse range of companies are looking to this market to issue debt. A non-retail name raising such an impressive amount with their first offering on ORB shows investor appetite is strong. ORB has shown that it can help companies diversify their debt portfolio while at the same time offering private investors the chance to participate in the UK's growing retail bond market."
Philip Keller, CFO, at ICG PLC, said:
"We are pleased with the response for our first retail bond in overall difficult market conditions. This first issue has met our objective of establishing ICG as a successful name in the retail bond market, which we see as an attractive new source of funding for ICG as we continue to diversify our debt financing profile.
"We see a growing pipeline of potential investments due to the dislocation in the credit markets, and are keen to maintain the strength of our balance sheet in order to take advantage of the opportunities."
