Loan Ranger

As we come to the end of the year, Loan Ranger has spent some time reflecting on 2011 and how much the market has changed over the last 12 months. And so, we present our festive review (with apologies to George Michael and the other man in Wham whose name escapes, er, everyone).

The season of peace and goodwill to all men is nearly upon us... but not just yet. Just hours before the annual songfest that is the Commerzbank carol service, one market participant — with a remarkable resemblance to Shane Warne — had spent the afternoon raging down the phone to Loan Ranger about what he saw as bankers and investors avoiding the real issues at the previous day’s LMA meeting.

Another week, another opportunity to increase the waistline. But it's not quite the same boozing around toned Olympians. The guilt gets to you.

Being a well travelled connoisseur of bars and pubs around the world, Loan Ranger knows that all drinks are not priced equally. But nothing has been as jaw-dropping as the price tag that one beer cost a banker earlier in the year.

On Thursday night Barclays took refuge away from the protesters at St Paul's, the original venue for the bank's annual November syndicated loans bash, and ended up cramming Christ Church Spitalfields with what felt like the entire loan market. A shame really — the possibility of the spectacle of rosy-cheeked bankers confronting the great unwashed on a mild Thursday night is one that won’t pop up again for a while.

Loan Ranger rarely says no to a press invite — he’ll even consider pretending to be a bond reporter if the canapés are good enough. But we are on edge about this Wednesday. It’s our annual opportunity to get up close and personal with Moody’s London team... but this year it may get a little too intimate. The event is being held in the swimming pool at a top London hotel.

What has happened to Barclays Capital? Loan Ranger is in shock. First, Bob Diamond, once dubbed “the unacceptable face of banking”, makes a speech about how bankers must strive to be “better citizens”. Then Barclays ducks out of a face-off with the protesters around St Paul’s by changing the venue of its Loan Syndicate reception.

Let’s face it, good news is going to be thin on the ground for the rest of the year — the market rally that followed Wednesday’s night’s Eurozone summit probably used up a good three months of luck.

Loan Ranger knows (far too well) that Barclays’ annual loan syndications jolly at St Paul’s Cathedral is better than an M&A mandate with tasty margins. But really guys, camping outside the a month in advance just to make sure you’re front of the queue for the champagne (see evidence below)? A bit much, surely?

The investment grade loans market has the turning circle of a 400 foot tanker, so after all the volatility of the summer, loans bankers are sighing with relief that margins are starting to move back up.

On Friday, Loan Ranger took off to Bishopsgate to meet David Milward, Henderson’s head of loans, to get his opinions on everything from the state of the loan market to the eurozone crisis and the UK economy.

Loan Ranger, ever striving towards the levels of journalism exemplified by the likes of the News of the World and Johann Hari, has the highest standards for this column. But it seems that in the coverage of RBS’s recent victory in the CVC StreetLeague2 charity six-a-side football tournament, there was a startling omission.