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| Latest
News |
| 06th
January 2010 / Times of India / Ahmedabad Edition |
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In a first, crisis-hit Cambridge to sell bonds for funds
London: For the first time in its 800-year history, Cambridge
University is planning to issue bonds to raise money from
the markets, a varsity official said. The university is
considering turning to the bond market in a bid to raise
£400 million to fund two of its capital projects
— to develop its residential and research facilities,
the Times reported.
Andrew Reid, the university’s finance director,
has admitted he was worried by the step into the relative
unknown but insisted that it was the best way to secure
the huge sums of money required for two one-off building
projects.
“We usually raise money through benefactors but
this time we need a significant sum so are turning to
other methods. At the moment we are completely unleveraged.
It worries me. But we are a very stable organisation and
we need to manage our finances properly,” he said.
The university’s recourse to the bond market, a
trend set by some institutions in the United States, suggests
not so much penury — its investment assets as a
whole are currently valued at about £4 billion.Several
American universities have issued new bonds in the past
one year after market losses in their portfolios severely
dented the value of their investments. And, Lancaster
University was the first in the UK to go for a bond in
1995 with a 35-million-pound issue. PTI
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