Loan Ranger

Loan marketeers must be relieved. Not only is Easter approaching but the first quarter, in many ways the most dreaded, is just about out of the way. So how has the market performed?

Reading Anheuser Busch InBev’s annual report this week, Tonto was overwhelmed by page after page of glossy pictures of beautiful people enjoying fine booze. Playing pool, hanging out in sunny spots or simply cheering at something unspecified off-camera, these people all looked amazingly happy. And surely their association with Anheuser Busch InBev is what is making them so utterly overjoyed.

The ranch hopes everyone has recovered from last week’s loan awards and the after-party shenanigans in such dens as Mayfair’s Whisky Mist.

We know that the Oscars are coming up, and the Baftas too, but who really cares about those piffling events when you have the EuroWeek Loans Dinner? The great and the good, the beautiful and the otherwise, descended on the Guildhall in the City of London on Wednesday night and a fabulous evening was had all round: Loan Ranger spotted Jonathan Pughe maneuvering to be first at the post-dinner bar, Ian Fitzgerald catching up with Nigel Pavey, and Roland Boehm looking particularly happy with Commerzbank’s clutch of trophies.

The year’s barely begun but hostilities have already broken out in the loan market over falling margins. Some marketeers are complaining that instead of keeping pricing at traditionally high levels for as long as possible, a few lenders are undercutting their rivals and letting margins “nosedive”.

Celebrations are afoot in the ranch this week, as the sun has decided to shine on leveraged finance once more. Even better, it’s at the expense of the equity market. We’re convinced that KKR’s £955m snatching of Pets at Home from the jaws of an IPO is the beginning of a trend.

Psychologists know the third Monday in January as Blue Monday. Statistically, it’s the most depressing day of the year. Indeed somebody somewhere has actually bothered to make to calculate this, taking into account the weather, debt (we presume they mean average household debt rather than dealfow in the syndicated loan market), the time since Christmas, the time since failing our New Year’s resolutions, low motivation levels and the feeling of a need to take some action.

The ranch got particularly excited this week when Manchester United — you know, the team David Beckham (Posh Spice’s hubby/Golden Balls) used to play for — announced a £500m junk bond to pay back its loans.

Snowed in this week? Can’t get into work, or, perhaps worse, spending hours a day in commuting hell? The ranchers feel your pain, although, being more used to the sunny climes of the Wild West, we confess we found ourselves even less prepared than most for the onslaught of arctic conditions.

We hope all marketeers are bracing themselves, their singing voices at the ready, for next Wednesday’s carols at St Clement Danes in central London. Last year’s inaugural Loan Market carol concert was a great success, the gruff, out-of-tune voices apart. Some bankers have already pardoned themselves. “I’ve got young kids, which means I’ve got quite a few carol services to go to next week,” said one. As excuses go, that one’s just about acceptable. But for the rest of you, do try and make it down. After all, it’s a good cause, with all money going to Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Société Générale’s events team certainly think of everything when planning their parties. For their winter press reception, held on Monday at Aqua in London’s West End, they made sure that every detail suited the theme, even arranging for the outdoor temperature to be plunged to a bracing -4 degrees.

The great and the good of the loan market gathered at the Royal Exchange in the City of London on Wednesday evening for Lloyds’ annual loans syndications bash.