The UK has eased investors' concerns that it may struggle to raise £220bn (€261bn) in the government bond markets this year and next to finance its vast debt burden, with the successful sale of £7bn of 25-year gilts via a syndicate of four lead banks - the largest syndicated sovereign bond issue on record.

In a transaction that was deemed crucial to the UK Government given its massive financing programme for 2009/2010, the UK Debt Management Office, the funding agency that manages gilt issuance, sold a record amount of new sovereign syndicated bonds, smashing the previous record held by Greece.