From Mickey Mouse to Mexico: A brief history of 100-year bonds

100-YEAR GILTS

UK Chancellor George Osborne's reported plan to issue a 100-year bond has received a lukewarm response thus far.

Leaked in the middle of a bad week for gilt prices and swiftly followed by Fitch slapping a negative outlook on the UK's AAA rating yesterday evening, it's fair to say the plan has hardly hit the ground running. Such a bond has few precedents on a sovereign level. The UK itself has issued a number of perpetual gilts since the 19th century, the bulk of this debt being accounted for by the £1.9bn War Loan issued in 1917. But just three sovereign nations in recent history have issued 100-year bonds: China in 1996, the Philippines in 1997 and Mexico in 2010. Also of note is the fact that ...