The London Stock Exchange has hired Barclays Capital and Royal Bank of Scotland to run its first bond. The deal will help refinance the exchange's £510m (€744m) capital return to shareholders last month that was a key part of its defence against takeovers.

BarCap and RBS will share the books on the sterling-denominated benchmark bond, which will be the LSE's first as a public company, and will help repay a bridge facility provided by the two banks to fund the capital return. It will be worth at least £250m.