Loan Syndication & Competition Law in the EU & UK

Introduction

EU and UK syndicated loans are likely to continue to play a significant role to try to solve the liquidity crisis emerging from the 2020 global pandemic. As economic activity slowed and uncertainty rocketed during the COVID-19 outbreak, non-financial firms dashed to debt markets - namely, bond and syndicated loan markets - to secure funds for covering operational expenses, and possibly buttress their cash buffers. However, banks should be aware of the potential competition law risks inherent to syndicated loans and know how to mitigate them.

This webinar will provide an overview of loan syndication and a reminder of the findings of the European Commission’s report on the EU syndicated lending sector, ‘EU loan syndication and its impact on competition in credit markets’ (‘the EC Report’) and the Loan Market Association’s ‘Notice on the application of competition law to syndicated loan arrangements’ (‘the LMA Notice’).

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Why loan syndication is inherently risky from a competition law angle
• EU - The EC report and the six stages of the loan syndication process raised which can give rise to competition law concerns and how to mitigate them
• The bidding process when appointing individual banks to the lead banking group
• Post mandate to loan agreement
• The allocation of ancillary services across banks and the pricing of such services
• The use of debt advisors
• Coordination by lenders on the sale of the loan on the secondary market
• Refinancing in conditions of default
• UK - The LMA Notice recommendations and guidance
• Consequences of breaching EU/UK competition law
• Conclusion - general safeguards to ensure competitive outcomes in the loan syndication process

This webinar was recorded on 6th May 2022