The FT’s Helen Warrell and Thomas Hale report: “The U.K. has fired the starting gun on its largest ever sale of student loans to private investors, in an effort to divest public assets and cut the national debt. The deals, announced on Monday, will involve £4 billion of loans made to about 450,000 students, which first entered repayment between 2002 and 2006. The price is expected to be lower than face value, since not all the debt will be repaid in full. While the government has previously marketed older, mortgage-style student loans, this represents the U.K.’s first foray into selling debt whose repayments depend on graduates’ earnings passing a defined threshold.”