LONDON (Reuters) -Britain sold 10 billion pounds of its first ‘green’ government bond on Tuesday after attracting over 100 billion pounds ($137 billion) of demand from investors, a record high that shows the clamour for assets that can be marketed as good for the planet. Tuesday’s launch of the new gilt maturing in July 2033 represents the largest single sale by a sovereign issuer, topping the previous 8.5 billion euro record set by Italy in March. Britain aims to raise around 15 billion pounds in total this year from Tuesday’s sale and a new 20- to 30-year maturity green gilt next month, a relatively small fraction of the 253 billion pounds in total gilt issuance that is planned. Foreign investors made up 17% of the demand, above the 10% that is more typical at a gilt syndication. The more than 100 billion pounds in orders for the gilt were the highest ever for a British bond syndication, topping a previous record of 82.6 billion pounds in May 2020.

Source: MetroXpress September 21, 2021 09:00 UTC