The most important event for the loans market in 2Q25 came on the second day of the quarter. On 2 April, the US government announced trade tariffs that shook the market. The impact started before the formal announcement, and was particularly marked on the leveraged loans side. Global volume decreased gradually following a strong start to the year before bottoming out in April, with monthly volume less than half the January figure.

It is unclear where the 2Q25 figures would be without the US announcement, but it is fair to say that as the extent of the tariffs started to ease, some optimism returned to the market.

Issuers all over the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions had to find their way again to syndication markets, and Dealogic figures show they did. Following the initial hit, the market gradually recovered and closed the quarter on a positive note.

As at 30 June, Dealogic data shows the loans market printed USD 1.24tn-equivalent in 2Q25, down 28% on 2Q24 record issuance (USD 1.78tn) and a fall of 18% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). Considering the market has closed the quarter at a good pace, this figure may yet rise with further updates. However, it represents a positive development after the tariff trauma and the time the market was shut.

It is important to highlight that 2024 represented a recovery for the market against a backdrop of declining interest rates, reaching a record USD 6.2tn. So far, 2025 issuance is not replicating that pace, but the USD 2.75tn issued in the year to date (YTD) is not that far off last year’s USD 3.2tn. Nevertheless, it is better than the YTD figures for 2023, 2022 and 2020, beyond being very close to 2021’s USD 2.8tn.

Issuance in the Americas totalled USD 863bn in 2Q25, 25% below the impressive USD 1.16tn in 2Q24 – the highest quarterly figure on record. In QoQ comparisons, the fall is only 6%, with a potential increase on the back of further updates.

In EMEA, loans amounted to USD 279bn-equivalent in the second quarter, 33% less than 2Q24 and 1Q25. The figure is the lowest for the past five second quarters, but has room to grow with late updates in this busy market.

Figures for APAC had reached USD 100bn at the time of writing and may yet increase, but were still far from previous marks. The average for the second quarters between 2020 and 2024 was USD 167bn, with 2024 being the previous lowest point at USD 149bn.

Leveraged loans rock in Americas

Non-investment-grade companies boosting global loan issuance remained a trend in 2Q25, mainly in the Americas region. Leveraged loans finished on top in the Americas in 2024 for the first time since 2021, and are on their way to repeat the result. Non-investment-grade companies issued USD 953bn YTD in the Americas, while investment-grade (IG) companies issued USD 831bn.

In EMEA, the 1H25 story has been different. After finishing the first quarter almost even, leveraged loans (USD 270bn) are behind IG (USD 430bn). However, note that after very quiet times in April and May, the second quarter of June has been the busiest moment of the year in the European leveraged loans market, and these figures may both be updated and the good momentum carried to early July, delaying the traditional summer break.

Non-refinancing deals edged up to 33%

Loans in which refinancing constitutes the main use of proceeds continue to dominate the market, but their share has retreated slightly in 2Q25. After reaching 71% of all the money issued through loans, refinancing deals got to 66% of the total in 2Q25. Since 4Q23, the share of refinancing deals in the loan market has been a minimum of 60% or above.

Following years of restrictive monetary policies, companies are still keen to renew and extend deals, and are making the most of the opportunity of doing so under better conditions than a couple of years ago. The improvement in fundamentals has yet to fully materialise in the flow of new money into the market, but the most recent figures bring some hope.

New money issuance – which comprises deals with proceeds put towards mergers and acquisitions (M&A), leveraged buyouts (LBOs), general corporate purposes (GCP), and project finance – jumped to 28% in the closing days of 2Q25 from 22% in 1Q25. There was an increase in M&A financing via loans to 10% from 6%, and GCP to 11% from 8%. The bad news came in LBOs, which had a tough quarter following the market freeze and accounted for only 3% of the total.

ESG issuance storms back

Recorded issuance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) loans surged 45% QoQ and 30% year-on-year (YoY) in 2Q25. ESG issuance represented 10.46% of total issuance, a strong advance compared with 5.92% the previous quarter. This is the first time in five quarters that ESG has surpassed the 10% mark.

Once again, EMEA accounted for more than half of ESG issuance (60.5%). However, there was an important step forward in the Americas region, where issuance jumped to USD 37.1bn QoQ from USD 16.6bn QoQ to account for 28.5% of the total.

Tenors narrowing

Deals issued in 1H25 have, on average, shorter maturities than in 2024 across all three regions, which changes the direction of the year once the first-quarter data had shown a lengthening. In EMEA, the shortening went from 5.79 years in 2024 to 5.58 years in 2025 YTD.

In the Americas – the region with the shortest average maturity – average maturity now stands at 4.3 years, shorter than the 1Q25 data of 4.48 years. In APAC, average tenors have been on a rollercoaster of late, with a move up following a move down every year for the past six years.

Releasing pressure

The past couple of years have been a good moment to refinance, and the main consequence of it is a relief to borrowers’ maturity walls. At the end of 1Q24, 24% of the debt pile was due by end-2025 and 38% by end-2026. These figures have been reduced to 7% and 20%, respectively.

The Americas remain the region with the shortest maturity wall, with 71% of debt expiring by 2029. This is considerably higher than EMEA’s 58% and APAC’s 54%.