Icap launches retail bond paying 5.5pc interest Icap, the FTSE 100 listed City middleman, is expected to launch a retail bond paying 5.5pc for six years this afternoon. There will be a minimum initial investment of £1,000 with additional deposits of £100 of more permitted. It is expected that the bond will sell out before the issue ends. Primary Health Properties (PHP) raised £75m in its retail bond offering this week, reaching its maximum target a week earlier than expected. The 5.4pc coupon is paid twice yearly for seven years. Fixed income funds have outsold their equity counterparts in recent months, with investors pouring more than £4bn into these lower-risk funds since September. Such is the demand for any decent level of income that Tesco Bank was forced to take its latest corporate bond off the shelves two weeks early in May. The bond, which offered a tasty yield of 5pc, drew in £200m in two weeks. A boutique hotel booking company called Mr and Mrs Smith has even got in on the act, launching a corporate bond that pays either a fixed cash yield of 7.5pc or a "loyalty currency" that can be used for hotel bookings through the site, paid at a higher rate of 9.5pc. Mark Dampier of Hargreaves Lansdown said he understood why savers were being lured by the appeal of bonds. "Some bonds can even offer capital returns as well as a steady yield, thanks to demand - so, in a low-interest-rate environment, bonds are attractive," he said.