Firms to seek $60-trn new debt as Asia's needs grow

Corporate issuers globally will seek about $60 trillion in new debt and refinancing through 2018, with the majority of that growth and its attendant risks concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, Standard & Poor's said. Debt in the region will overtake the US and Europe combined as China and neighboring countries widen their lead as the world's largest group of corporate borrowers, the ratings company said in a report published on Monday.

Bonds, as opposed to bank loans, will also become a more important source of financing, increasing 3.5 per cent, or nearly $3.1 trillion.

The emergence of Chinese companies as the biggest group of corporate borrowers and "faster debt growth in sectors related to the growing global middle class are likely to drive global corporate debt issuance over the next four years," Jayan Dhru, S&P's global head of corporate ratings wrote.

Borrowers from China and Hong Kong have sold $52.3 billion of dollar-denominated securities this year, some 55 per cent of total sales in the region outside Japan.