Legal & General has raised £300m ($492m) in fresh capital through a junior bond issue, highlighting both improved investor appetite for riskier financial debt and the alternatives to equity issuance that life insurers are using to bolster financial strength.

The L&G bond sale follows two junior debt issues from Prudential raising £400m and $750m in recent months, while RSA raised £500m in May although that was to replace a different bond the general insurer was due to repay. Also this month, MetLife became the first US insurer to issue such debt with a $500m deal.