Asia Leveraged Loans Set to Stall as Global Gloom Spurs Caution

Leveraged loan volumes in Asia may decline in 2013 as Europe’s debt crisis and China’s slowdown limits mergers and acquisitions while private equity firms shy away from selling businesses at discounted prices, lenders say.

Companies are disagreeing on the value of assets amid increased global economic uncertainty, making them cautious about large transactions, according to HSBC Holdings Plc, Credit Agricole SA and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. Public-to-private M&A deals in the Asia-Pacific region are down 30 percent this half to date versus the first six months of the year while private-to-public deals slumped 34 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.