Weeks after the U.K. split from the European Union, British companies are continuing to benefit from the continent’s cheaper borrowing costs.
The least risky U.K. corporate borrowers are raising funds by selling bonds through subsidiaries in Europe. The European Central Bank is scooping up many of those bonds as part of its 1.85 trillion euro, equivalent to $2.2 trillion, monetary stimulus program, geared toward bolstering credit markets in the single-currency zone. Its sweeping purchases have helped reduce borrowing costs for governments and companies across the region.
In the first two weeks of February, the ECB bought bonds issued by