India leads syndicated loan tally in Asia-Pacific

“This year’s syndicated loan volume has surpassed the previous high of $38.1 billion achieved in full year 2007 and accounts for 23 per cent of Asia Pacific’s,” Dealogic said.
India syndicated loan volume has reached a total of $38.5 billion through 108 deals so far this year, up 17 per cent from its year ago level.

Syndicated loans are large financing facilities granted to a borrower by a group of financial institutions who share the lending risk between them.

They combine the commercial financing relationship between a bank and its client with the features of market traded debt.

Volume from Indian companies has surpassed Australia, where syndicated loan volume amounted to $36.5 billion and has become the leading nation in Asia, Dealogic said, adding that Indian companies raised money mainly to fund their upcoming as well as current projects.

Dealogic said loans for project finance purposes accounted for the majority of total India loan volume (78 per cent) and stood at $30.2 billion through 62 deals since the beginning of this year.

Three-fold up

This year the amount of $30.2 billion to finance projects was over three times than the $9.7 billion in the corresponding period a year ago, Dealogic added. SBI Capital topped the chart of India mandated arranger in 2009 with a share of 64 per cent, while international banks such as Deutsche Bank and Citi ranked fourth and fifth, with shares of 1.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.

Since 2002, the syndicated loan volume of the country has been on an uptrend.In a separate report, Dealogic said the Indian metal and steel industry has raised $4.6 billion through equity capital market by way of 11 deals so far this year.