Syndicated lending picks up in the June quarter

After a weak start to the year the Australian syndicated loan market picked up momentum in the June quarter.

According to the latest KPMG Debt Market Update, there were 44 syndicated loans worth US$25 billion settled during the June quarter, compared with 20 loans worth US$7 billion in the March quarter.

The average deal size for the quarter was US$573 million.

The value of deals in the first six months of the year was down 33 per cent on the same period last year.

KPMG said the slowdown in activity was due largely to the slowdown in the mining sector.

Notable deals included a A$5.1 billion facility for shopping centre operator Federation Centres, which was used to fund its merger with Novion Property Group.

Lend Lease secured a SG$2 billion facility for new Singapore projects, and TPG secured a A$2 billion M&A facility for its iiNet acquisition.

And in May the BHP Billiton spin-off South32 established a US$1.5 billion five-year multi-currency syndicated facility. Pricing on the deal was just 90 basis points over Libor.