Asia-Pacific Corporates Tap Capital Markets, But Bank Loans Will Remain Dominant

Primary Credit Analyst: Craig W Parker, Melbourne (61) 3-9631-2073; craig.parker@standardandpoors.com Secondary Contact: Anthony J Flintoff, Melbourne (61) 3-9631-2038; anthony.flintoff@standardandpoors.com

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Australia And New Zealand Form The Largest Share Of Rated Bank Loans In Asia-Pacific Related Research

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Asia-Pacific Corporates Tap Capital Markets, But Bank Loans Will Remain Dominant
Changing capital and regulatory controls are spurring Asia-Pacific banks to modify their lending approach. Banks are increasingly offering companies a wider array of products and facilitating access to non-traditional sources of finance from various capital markets. In fact, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has observed that Asia-Pacific corporates in some countries are gradually relying more on capital markets. As a result, companies have multiple debt options that satisfy their needs and diversify their funding sources, as well as reduce the cost of debt. At the same time, banks are able to expand and broaden their business mix. In particular, we are seeing an emergence of non-bank and institutional investors participating alongside banks in syndicated loans. This is not surprising given the flow of funds into the non-bank and institutional sector. Also, this development eases the reliance on traditional bank funding and reduces individual banks' counterparty exposures. Moreover, it can assist in refinancing existing bank debt or enable lenders to participate in new financings arising from Asia-Pacific corporates' swelling debt appetite. Despite the regulatory imposts on banks' funding, we believe bank loans will continue to dominate the region's corporate financing landscape amid the growing reliance on capital markets. Asia-Pacific's relatively better growth prospects compared to other parts of the world will broadly underpin robust consumption of credit. Indeed, Standard & Poor's expects the region's corporates will contribute half of the world's demand for US$49 trillion-US$53 trillion in new and refinancing of corporate loans and bonds over 2013-2017. We rate bank loans and bonds, with the average rating for bank loans in Asia-Pacific falling in the 'BBB' category. We expect that the banking sector will accommodate Asia's voracious debt appetite. Within Asia-Pacific, the relatively less mature bond markets in some countries provide the banks with a healthy supply of lending opportunities. Developed markets such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand (Australasia), on the other hand, have active bond markets. Nevertheless, we believe banks will still be the largest provider of corporate funding in these markets.

Australia And New Zealand Form The Largest Share Of Rated Bank Loans In Asia-Pacific
We rate some 1,400 companies' bank loans globally that total more than US$2.1 trillion, with Australasia comprising a significant majority of Asia-Pacific's share. For Australasia, consumer-related corporates are the largest borrowers, amassing about A$30 billion of drawn bank debt at June 30, 2013 (see chart 1). The banking sector has also lent to the airline; utilities; materials and energy; project finance; and real estate sectors in Australasia. In calendar 2013, bank loans in Australasia's syndicated market reached US$100 billion. This is a jump of 25% from US$80 billion in 2012, but is still down 7% from that in 2011, when it reached a peak of US$107 billion (source: Thomson Reuters LPC). Japan is Asia's biggest loan market with US$276 billion in 2013, followed by China at US$117 billion.

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Asia-Pacific Corporates Tap Capital Markets, But Bank Loans Will Remain Dominant

Interestingly, Australian companies have recently raised about US$10 billion in the U.S. Term Loan B (TLB) market, which offered longer-term loans that are more flexible than Australian banks'. These institutional markets have offered more favorable terms to speculative-grade issuers, than loans from banks for such issuers. To a lesser extent, we are seeing some issuance from Asian corporates. TLB funding is usually of longer tenor, more heavily focused on incurrence rather than maintenance covenants, and overall, costs lower. It also diversifies borrowers' funding bases.
Chart 1

Still, we believe the Australian and New Zealand bank loan markets will continue to be the funding mainstay of corporate borrowers. Due to Australia's loan markets' size and scale, bank loan documentation is standardized, enabling transactions to be drafted, priced, and sold down to a wide pool of lenders. The preferred loan tenor is between three and five years. Nevertheless, we are witnessing borrowers choosing two-year tenors as part of a refinancing strategy, with the prospect of a takeout via capital markets or alongside debt of longer tenors. About two-thirds of the lending is to refinance Australasian corporates' debt, with the bank loan market making up the majority of non-rated corporate debt capital raisings. We believe incremental growth in loan volumes will be affected by: liquidity in the banking system, the margins that banks are seeking to charge companies over the reference rate,

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Asia-Pacific Corporates Tap Capital Markets, But Bank Loans Will Remain Dominant

and the level of commitment fees charged. Moreover, the volume of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity would fuel loan growth in the short term.

Related Research
Article on RatingsDirect: Top 10 Global Investor Questions For 2014: Leveraged Finance, Jan. 9, 2014 Article on S&P Capital IQ website: Leveraged Commentary & Data: A Guide To The U.S. Loan Market, September 2013 edition, https://www.lcdcomps.com/lcd/na/2012/09/07/2013%20Guide%20To%20The%20US%20Loan%20Market.pdf
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