The London Stock Exchange today welcomed the latest new bond listing to its Order book for Retail Bonds (ORB). Tesco Bank, the personal finance arm of the leading international retail group, has raised £60 million on the market, direct from private investors. Barclays Capital, Evolution Securities and Lloyds TSB Bank Plc acted as book runners on the deal.
Celebrating the launch, Therese Procter, Personnel Director at Tesco Bank, today opened the market at the London Stock Exchange.The 8-year bond is available in £100 denominations with a minimum initial investment of £2,000.
This latest offering takes total fundraising on ORB since it was launched in 2010 to over £1.3billion, with 153 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 Tesco Bank has issued its second corporate bond on ORB, a market that continues to go from strength to strength. This new inflation-linked corporate bond demonstrates the increasing prominence of ORB as an alternative source of funding for issuers looking to diversify their investor base. Providing simple, transparent access, ORB offers private investors the chance to participate in the corporate bond market and today’s listing demonstrates the strong appetite for this type of issue. We are very much looking forward to continuing to develop this market."
Benny Higgins, CEO at Tesco Bank, said:
"We are delighted by the excellent response by investors to the second issue of Tesco Bank Retail Bonds. Although we are principally funded by retail deposits, the success of our second Retail Bond, which once again exceeded our target, shows the keen interest of a broad customer base in both Tesco Bank and in the range of savings and investments that we offer."
The transaction follows Tesco Bank’s hugely successful 5.2 per cent fixed bond issue in February which raised £125m. This issue was chosen by Tesco to offer retail investors direct inflation protection.
