Bond Boost for charities

HOUSING and job creation charities in the London boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets will benefit from a £50m zero coupon bond being sold to businesses and individuals in the City and Docklands from next February.

The bond, which is nicknamed Boost, will raised cash that will be lent three quarters to Places for People, Britain's largest housing association, and a quarter to Tomorrow's People, the Diageo trust that helps people in deprived areas find jobs.

Bondholders will get their capital back after five years, in effect having donated the interest to the charities.