Syndicated loan volumes fall away in 1Q 2015

Bernard Kellerman
Syndicated loan volume for the Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan) exceeded US$67 billion for the first quarter of this calendar year, according to Thomson Reuters. Nevertheless, this represents a 40 per cent decline from the same quarter last year, when US$111 billion was transacted through 424 deals.

Syndicated_loans-APac,ex-Japan,1Q2015

Syndicated_loans-APac,ex-Japan,1Q2015

Refinancing activity continued to drive loan volumes, the Thomson Reuters analysts said, but these types of loan slumped 41 per cent to US$24.3 billion, a serious drop from US$41.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2014.

In 2014, China was the promoter of loan growth in the region, accounting for US$22.2 billion in loan volume, or fully one-third (33 per cent) of the regional total. More specifically, it was infrastructure and project finance loans in China that represented 74 per cent of the country's loan volume.

This also saw Chinese banks placed in the top three spots in the 1Q 2015 Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) mandated arranger league table.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China topped the table with a 14.2 per cent market share, followed by China Construction Bank and Bank of China with market shares of 9.2 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.Mizuho Bank and ANZ completed the top-five positions, with market shares of 4.7 per cent and 4.1 per cent, respectively.

The Thomson Reuters' numbers show that Australia was the fourth largest borrower among Asia Pacific region (nearly US$7 billion), and NZ slipped into the top ten with its banks and a mix of offshore lenders providing a tad under US$2 billion.