The financing market has capacity to support a lending facility of up to $50 billion for high investment-grade corporate buyers, potentially leading to more transformational takeovers this year, a top Lazard investment banker said on Thursday. This year will see a higher number of large deals thanks to unprecedented cash levels and cheap financing, although concerns remain about unrest in the Middle East, inflation in commodity prices and European sovereign health, said Antonio Weiss, Lazard Ltd's (LAZ.N) global head of investment banking. In the world's largest deal announced so far this year, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) has agreed to provide a $20 billion bridge loan to AT&T (T.N) to help finance its proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE).
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