Asia-Pac syndicated loan volume fell 12.8% to US$75.9b

Only 214 deals were recorded in 1Q.

According to Thomon Reuters, Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) syndicated loan volume reached US$75.9bn via 214 deals in 1Q 2014, down 12.8% from US$87.1bn via 261 deals completed by the same time last year and a 47% fall from the US$143bn completed in 4Q 2013.

M&A loan volume for the first quarter of 2014 reached US$13.69bn via 12 deals, accounting for 18% of overall volume. The largest market in terms of 1Q 2014 loan volume was Hong Kong, which closed over US$19.6bn in loans, up 47% from US$13.3bn a year ago.

Hong Kong volume, representing 26% of the Asia Pacific (ex. Japan) loan market this quarter, was driven by a few large facilities raised by blue-chip borrowers.