Booming European Loan Market Tops 2016 on Chunky M&A Deals

(Bloomberg) -- Leveraged loan issuance in Europe this year has surpassed the whole of 2016, after a series of major mergers and acquisitions added fuel to the booming market.

Deals for the likes of Stada Arzneimittel, Avantor and Refresco helped pushed institutional loan volume to 54.3 billion euros ($64 billion), compared with the 53.6 billion euros raised in full-year 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The milestone makes 2017 the busiest year for new issues since at least the financial crisis with more than three months still to go.

Read more: UBS says Stada is a “high water mark” for European leveraged finance.

The M&A-related issuance has added to a thriving refinancing market, which looks poised to drive volume in the final quarter. HomeVi is the latest company set to make the most of the cheap, flexible financing currently available, announcing on Monday that it plans to raise more than 1 billion euros to repay outstanding bonds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ruth McGavin in London at rmcgavin1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net, Sarah Husband at shusband@bloomberg.net.