BoE's $2 bln Eurobond sale attracts almost $3 bln in orders-leads

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - The launch of a Bank of England $2 billion three-year Eurobond attracted orders close to $3 billion by the time order books closed, lead managers on the deal said on Tuesday.

More than half the investors comprised other central banks, the lead managers said in a statement following the sale of the bond, which pays a coupon of 1.25 percent and matures on March 16 2018.

The sale was part of an annual programme to finance the BoE (Shenzhen: 200725.SZ - news) 's foreign currency reserves.

Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) , JPMorgan (LSE: JPIU.L - news) , Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) were the lead managers.

For more details, see (Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by William Schomberg)