Asset Purchase Facility: Bank of England concludes corporate bond sales programme – Market Notice 6 June…

Following a corresponding announcement on May 12, 2023 (please see EventID 21211 in this context), the Bank of England (BoE) has issued a market notice in which it announces the conclusion of its corporate bond sales which are / were part of the Bank’s Asset Purchase Facility (APF). The APF was once developed to facilitate secondary market trading and liquidity in corporate debt, thereby stimulating corporate debt issuance and investments alike.
According to the market notice, all planned sales have been conducted, reducing the stock of corporate bond holdings by over 95% from the initial purchase amount of £20 billion. The remaining bonds, which have very short maturities and represent £833 million of the initial purchase, will be held in the portfolio until they mature on April 5, 2024. Nevertheless, the BoE will consider participating in „any open market tender offers on a case-by-case basis“.