I had missed this yesterday but it’s worth flagging for our readers in search of an investment bargain.
PENSION funds will be able to buy 30-year bonds at an interest rate of around 5pc, in a move that could ease funding difficulties for schemes. To be known as sovereign annuities, the new bonds may also lessen the liabilities in pension funds … Buying the likes of “safe” German 10-year bonds yields only 3pc, which does little to ease the funding difficulties in pensions … Director of funding at the National Treasury Management Agency Oliver Whelan told a conference yesterday there will also be an inflation-linked version of these bonds … Mr Whelan insisted that there was no default risk for pension funds buying Irish sovereign bonds, despite repeated questions from a number of trustees about such a risk … Mr Whelan insisted that no western country had defaulted since West Germany in 1948.
In a related development, Irish pension funds are soon to be offered shares in a well-known New York bridge. Apparently, it’s a tremendous investment opportunity.