UK Sovereign

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, January 25. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

Rating: Aa3/AA/AA-

The UK Debt Management Office launched a new 25 year line on Tuesday, raising £6.5bn. The DMO also published the minutes of its call with investors and Gilt-edged Market Makers on Monday, revealing strong appetite for inflation-linked products.

The UK Debt Management Office has chosen the banks to lead the sale of a new 25 year conventional Gilt via syndication, following support for this maturity by Gilt-edged Market Makers (GEMMs) and investors in a consultation at the end of November.

The UK Debt Management Office has responded to a letter from the chair of Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee Mel Stride, questioning whether the DMO’s syndications were priced to obtain the best value possible for the taxpayer.

The looming threat of a no deal Brexit, as well as the chaos ensuing from the UK’s new stricter restrictions to combat Covid-19, caused Gilt yields to plunge on Monday morning. Unless EU and UK politicians are able to come to agreement on a trade deal soon, negative rates look almost inevitable.

As Boris Johnson embarks on a green industrial revolution, he has happened upon one of those rare moments when government policy seems completely aligned with investor appetite. The UK must use this capital markets sweet spot to transform its energy infrastructure next year and beyond.

Capital markets professionals are resigned to a no-deal Brexit, after UK prime minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen failed to find a way through an impasse in trade negotiations over dinner on Wednesday. Equities are set to suffer the most, and the ability of UK companies hurt by Covid-19 to raise capital is now in serious doubt. Sam Kerr, Lewis McLellan and Mike Turner report.

The UK Debt Management Office has put out a request for green structuring advisers for the launch of its first green Gilt.

Bankers and investors are unconcerned by an inquiry by UK members of Parliament into the cost-effectiveness of syndicated Gilt issues.

The House of Commons' Treasury Select Committee has asked the UK Debt Management Office to answer a series of questions on its bond syndication programme, specifically on the pricing of its bonds and the fees it pays to bookrunners.

Building a UK green government bond market would take a minimum issuance of about £30bn and “some time” for the UK to establish a benchmark size for the market, according to the head of the UK Debt Management Office.