Treasury auction of 50-year Gilts sees record demand

A syndicated sale of 50-year government debt met with record demand on Tuesday.

The Treasury received over £21.8bn in orders for the 2065 Gilt, easily surpassing the £16.5bn fetched by a syndicated sale in June 2014.

The issue had a coupon of 2.5% and was priced 1.5 basis points above the 2068 Gilt.

Strong demand allowed the Treasury to fix the deal size at £4.75bn, instead of the £4.5bn which had been targeted.

Such debt issues are popular among asset managers such as pension funds, which like being able to match some of their longer-term liabilities.

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, RBS and Santander acted as joint book-runners.