The London Stock Exchange’s ORB: Materials from the Retail Bond Issuance Forum
In this February 2011 post we summarised the key features of the London Stock Exchange’s Order book for Retail Bonds (ORB), which in the words of the Exchange “provides corporate debt issuers with direct access to retail investors through a cost effective and transparent electronic market”. This first serious attempt to launch a UK retail bond market has seen some success in 2011, with eight companies raising £1.22 billion.
In November 2011 the Exchange and Evolution Securities held a Retail Bond Issuance Forum, to encourage interest from corporate issuers in having their debt traded on the ORB. A comprehensive presentation by Evolution Securities on the UK Retail Bond Market can be accessed here, and the Exchange’s own overview of the ORB is here.
Key themes from the Retail Bond Issuance Forum
Two of the themes that emerged from this Retail Bond Issuance Forum were the appetite of retail investors for bonds issued not just by companies but also by universities, charities and housing associations; and that issuers were not put off by having to produce a retail prospectus. The other key themes of the Forum are summarised in a note on the Exchange’s website, as follows:
