ANZ remains loan Aussie major in Asia
The latest monthly statistics from Thomson Reuters for the Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) loan market show that 739 deals were closed by the end of August 2017. The volume of funds lent stood at US$246 billion, the lowest since the comparable point in 2012, when syndicated and club loan volume for the region was less than US$196 billion.The APAC deal pipeline volume has also decreased (down by US$14.6 billion), compared with the same time last year.In 2017 YTD the Northeast Asia market provided over US$146 billion of the total volume, with Australasia (ie Australia and New Zealand) accounting for less than US$49 billion.The largest M&A deal of the quarter in the APAC region was a three-month loan worth US$3.6 billion (HK$28 billion). The proceeds will be used to back the privatisation of shoe retailer Belle International Holdings Ltd.Loans arranged in the Australia-NZ market for YTD reached US$48.6 billion at the end of August 2017. This translates into an increase of 11.5 per cent in volume compared to the same time last year, where volume stood at US$43.5 billion.Looking at the revised APAC (ex-Japan) loan league tables, covering the 2017 year to date, for Australian banks figure, notably ANZ:• Mandated arranger: ANZ has retained its number three spot, on the back of 110 deals worth a total of US$10.8 billion, behind Bank of China (US$39.6 billion, 277 deals) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (US$14.6 billion, 98 deals). Among the Aussie majors on this table, CBA remained at number 11 US$5.7 billion, 54 deals), Westpac (US$4.4 billion, 53 deals) and NAB, which jumped two spots to edge into the top 20 (US$3.5 billion, 49 deals).• Bookrunners: as with mandated arrangers, ANZ retained its number three spot (YTD responsible for loans totalling US$8.7 billion, from 48 deals), behind Bank of China (US$36 billion, 167 deals) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (13.8 billion, 49 deals).Overall, the Aust-NZ deal count was 137 by the end of August 2017, well ahead of the 112 deals finalised as at the comparable time last year.