John Lewis Partnership, owner of the eponymous department store chain and grocer Waitrose, is to raise £50m through a retail bond.

The retail group, which is expected to award staff a bonus of between 16% and 18% of salary when it issues results on Wednesday, will offer the bond to its Partnership and account card holders.

John Lewis Partnership chairman Charlie Mayfield said: “For many years the Partnership has raised finance via corporate bonds and bank lending.

“We want to explore alternative ways of raising funds as part of the Partnership’s borrowing programme, and to reach out to the retail investor.

“With interest rates and yields close to historical lows we believe our cardholders and partners will welcome a competitively priced, innovative product of this nature with the added comfort of the John Lewis Partnership brand and reputation.”

The bond has a combined coupon and voucher rate of 6.5% and will be available on a first come first served basis from today until April 11.

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