Global high-yield debt sales hit a record $11.7 billion this week, according to Thomson Reuters data, as companies rushed to issue debt while borrowing costs were still low. A spectacular rally in company debt since the nadir of the global financial crisis in late 2008 has helped free up borrowing for corporate treasurers.

Many are wary of possible future shocks in credit markets and keen to refinance or issue new debt while investors are still keen to buy it. This week's high yield bond issuance has surpassed the previous record, set during the week of November 5, 2006, when $11.4 billion was raised. The $14.4 billion of junk bonds sold so far in January marks the biggest start for this type of debt issuance since records began in 1980, Thomson Reuters data shows.

Issuers from the telecommunications, materials and industrials sectors account for nearly 75 percent of junk bond sales so far this year.

This week's roughly $2.4 billion sale by U.K.-based Virgin Media was the second-biggest U.K. junk bond issue on record, Thomson Reuters said. Companies in the United States and Britain have issued 88 percent of the high yield offerings so far in 2010, Thomson said.

Copyright Reuters, 2010