The London Stock Exchange's new retail bond market – reshaping corporate finance?

On Monday 1 February, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) launched its long-awaited Electronic Order Book for Retail Bonds (ORB). In order to maximise take up from issuers and investors alike, ORB has been designed to operate in a very similar fashion to equities markets, and the LSE estimates market demand could be around £20bn. Both gilts and corporate bonds will be available to retail investors via ORB, including nine previously issued corporate bonds plus the new RBS 5.1% 10-year retail bond launched on the LSE on the first day of trading. The launch is an exciting and timely development which will provide corporate financiers with a useful new option at a time when sources of finance are becoming increasingly limited.

In conjunction with the London Stock Exchange, Taylor Wessing held a seminar on ORB on January 28th which attracted over 50 attendees. Tim Stocks, head of Taylor Wessing's Financial Institutions and Markets group chaired the seminar, and Taylor Wessing partners Robert Fenner and Marke Raines spoke alongside Gillian Walmsley, Fixed Income specialist at the LSE.

Lawyers Robert Fenner, Tim Stocks