New York, December 30, 2005 - 2005 marked another record year of issuance for the U.S. corporate syndicated loan market, which weighed in at $1.5 trillion, according to Reuters Loan Pricing Corporation, a global provider of loan market news, data and analytics.

The $1.35 trillion 2004 marker broke a three-year trend of declining volume, but certainly no one could have predicted yet another record in 2005 . . . at least not by such inventive means.

Breaking down the $1.5 trillion: Investment grade lending climbed past $669 billion, up 9% from 2004 and the second-strongest year on record. Not only that, but the high grade companies’ cost of borrowing continued to fall.

Meanwhile lending to the riskier segments of the market hit new records. Leveraged lending (lending to sub-investment grade companies) cleared $500 billion for the first time ever, buoyed by dramatic growth in loans backing both LBO and corporate merger activity. Meanwhile the number (and size) of loans to institutional investors (such as mutual funds, hedge funds and collateralized loan obligations) continued to climb, hitting a record at $224 billion.

Simply stated: More deals were getting done – and bigger deals were getting done. More than 30 institutional loans totaled $1 billion or larger, by far and away a record.

When asked why lending climbed so much, lenders point to two intertwined phenomena: Low default rates and huge lender demand for loan assets. With U.S. speculative grade default rates below 3% all year, even the scares from the auto sector couldn’t derail the market. Meanwhile the global liquidity glut encouraged both banks and institutional investors to buy as many loan assets as they could.

Once again, the top five kept not only their order but their positions. J.P. Morgan was the leading bank loan lender in 2005, arranging $420.81 billion. Bank of America was second in overall lending, with $272.91 billion, followed by Citigroup ($255.84 billion), Wachovia ($89 billion) and Deutsche ($50.35 billion).

Rank	Bank Holding Company	Volume	# of deals	Market Share
1	J.P. Morgan	$420,814,461,091	912	28%
2	Bank of America	272,915,148,945	948	18%
3	Citigroup	255,836,672,373	377	17%
4	Wachovia Corp	88,999,421,213	344	6%
5	Deutsche Bank AG	50,349,621,115	102	3%
6	Credit Suisse First Boston	39,284,309,730	141	3%
7	Goldman Sachs & Co.	27,421,586,500	65	2%
8	Wells Fargo & Co.	27,328,641,166	164	2%
9	Lehman Brothers	26,194,650,018	65	2%
10	Barclays Bank Plc	26,112,371,000	58	2%

Leveraged Lending
No change in the 2005 Top Five for the overall leveraged lending leagues from 2004’s banks - J.P. Morgan posted $90.94 billion; BofA finished second, with $77.93 billion, followed by Citigroup ($51.8 billion), Deutsche ($36.6 billion) and Credit Suisse First Boston ($35.1 billion). Leveraged loans, which often back M&A transactions and leveraged buyouts, have been prized by lenders because of the hefty interest rates and fees often paid by borrowers on those loans and related business.

Rank	Bank Holding Company	Volume	# of deals	Market Share
1	J.P. Morgan	$ 90,937,965,750	354	18%
2	Bank of America	77,926,988,711	455	16%
3	Citigroup	51,797,229,489	131	10%
4	Deutsche Bank AG	36,607,092,081	79	7%
5	Credit Suisse First Boston	30,241,409,730	126	6%
6	Wachovia Corp.	26,079,132,213	154	5%
7	Lehman Brothers	24,173,650,018	59	5%
8	Goldman Sachs & Co.	19,188,086,500	56	4%
9	General Electric Capital Corp.	16,883,069,000	145	3%
10	Morgan Stanley	13,337,361,298	29	3%

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