UK’s Beaten-Down Assets Give Sterling Junk Loans an Edge

Commuters pass the Bank of England (BOE) in London.Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Tax rises loom. Borrowing costs remain stubbornly high. And inflation is still way above target. But for investors in UK companies there’s at least one bright spot: sterling junk loans.

Typically an unloved, illiquid corner of corporate debt markets, leveraged loans denominated in the UK currency are having their moment in the sun — £21.2 billion ($27.9 billion) of issuance so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, an annual record with two months still to go.