European secondary loan trading volume fell 11.5 percent to $18.27 billion during the third quarter from $20.64 billion in the second quarter. The number of trades also fell 14 percent to 3,005 from 3,528 in 2Q14. It is the same picture when comparing with the same period last year. It was a quieter third quarter due to the focus on a busy primary market. 
A large number of deals were syndicated during July and August. With many transactions in the market, investors had little time or appetite to trade on Europe’s secondary loan market. Adding the wider macro-economic issues and movement in the wider capital markets this summer, this has resulted in less trading activity and a softening of secondary loan prices with new credits trading down after freeing to trade.
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