Loans in Asia Recover as Borrowing Costs Slip Most in Decade

Syndicated lending in Asia rebounded last year as companies boosted borrowing to take advantage of the biggest drop in loan interest rates in a decade.

Borrowers led by China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Origin Energy Ltd. pushed lending volumes in the Asia-Pacific region outside Japan to $423.6 billion last year from $387.6 billion in 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The average interest margins charged for U.S. dollar-denominated loans shrank 23 basis points, the most since at least 2003, to 267 basis points, the data show.