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CMS Cameron McKenna LLP is delighted to announce that the ground-breaking £550m bond issue for Wellcome Trust, the first issue of bonds by a charity in Europe, has been selected for the International Financing Review (IFR) Sterling Bond of the Year award for “demonstrating the relevance of the capital markets to the sector and capturing the imagination of the investor community.”
CMS Cameron McKenna acted for the Wellcome Trust, one of the world’s largest medical research charities, in its landmark issuance of a 30-year bond that will raise £550 million from the capital markets. In so doing, the Wellcome Trust is the first charity in the UK to issue a bond on the public markets. The IFR Awards are firmly established as the ultimate symbol of excellence in Capital Markets. The awards ceremony will be held on 8 January 2007 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
The CMS Cameron McKenna team worked closely with John Stewart, Head of Legal and Company Secretary at the Wellcome Trust, and was led by Client Relationship Partner, Niall McAlister; Capital Markets Partner, Jason Harding and Corporate Tax Partner, Richard Croker; assisted by Michael Cavers and Victoria Frowen.
The bond issue will allow the Wellcome Trust to increase funds for long-term investment and annual spending, enabling it to increase the amount of grant funding for medical research, which totalled more than £480 million in 2005. The Trust has an endowment of more than £12 billion and has been given a triple-A credit rating, the highest available, by both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. This is an unprecedented rating for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the United Kingdom.
“We are delighted that IFR has selected the Wellcome Trust’s bond issue as Sterling Bond of Year in recognition of what it offers to the Trust, the charity sector, and the capital markets.” commented Niall McAlister.
Jason Harding added, “This innovation will hopefully encourage other major trusts and endowments to look at bond issues as a way of raising funds. From a legal perspective this bond issue has raised many unique challenges that we have had to address.” |