Firms in Europe boost long-dated debt this year

London

COMPANIES in Europe have taken on more long-term debt this year than at any time this century as they seek to lock in low borrowing costs.

The region's largest businesses have sold 225 billion euros (S$355 billion) of bonds maturing in a decade or more this year, the most in annualised data compiled by Bloomberg going back to 1999. Bonds due in more than 10 year…