A tale of two bonds – Cambridge & De Montfort

A new article on university bond issues has appeared in the latest issue of Research Fortnight.

It revisits ground I wrote about in Autumn 2011 to consider the bond issues last year by Cambridge and De Montfort.

Bonds promise to make more credit available to universities at a fixed cost; the risk is that the minimum size needed for a public offering might encourage overreach. The impact of a bond issue on a university will depend on the soundness of its investment strategy and how good governance is ensured with long maturities.

Most readers of my blog should be able to access the article via an institutional subscription (you may need to contact your research office or equivalent for the passcode).

Update

In unrelated news, DMU has now launched a KFC BA in business management. Unfortunately, it’s only open to employees of the fried chicken joint.