Briefs: ANZ global appoints corporate advisory leader, syndicated loans drop

ANZ has appointed Martin Hanrahan as global head of corporate advisory. He will be responsible for providing mergers and acquisitions services to international and institutional banking clients in Australia and Asia. Before joining ANZ Hanrahan was managing director of Bancorp Australia, after working in corporate finance at Morgan Grenfell Australia. Hanrahan has worked in ANZ's industrials advisory team since 1998 and advised on recent notable deals including Fosun International's acquisition of Roc Oil, Formosa's joint venture with Fortescue Metals Group and the sale of Holcim's NZ lime business to Graymont.
Syndicated loan volume in the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) region totalled US$214 billion in the first half of 2015, a drop of 15 per cent on the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters. Australia's loan market got off to a slow start in the first quarter of this year but thanks to a few M&A financings, including the jumbo merger deal of AU$5.1 for Novion Property Group and Federation Centres, second-quarter volume of US$25.2 billion provided a substantial boost to 1H 2015 totals, which were down 33 per cent on 1H2014. The lack of lending activity is more apparent on a deal count basis, with only 608 transactions closed in the first six months of the year, compared to the 870 deals completed in the corresponding period in 2014.