South-East Asia Loan House: DBS Bank
Reinforcing its position
In 2025, DBS Bank reinforced its position as a premier bank in South-East Asia, scoring an impressive array of sole-led deals and jumbo loans.
The bank was sole MLAB on a US$350m facility for Export-Import Bank of Thailand, which marked the borrower’s return to the market after nearly three decades.
DBS was sole mandated lead arranger and underwriter on a S$300m (US$232m) loan supporting TBS Energi Utama’s acquisition of Singapore-based Sembcorp Environment.
It closed – as sole MLABU – a US$158m-equivalent facility for Indonesian fast-moving consumer goods company FKS Food Sejahtera that attracted eight lenders in syndication.
“2025 was uniquely challenging where we saw distinct extremes, the world went from optimism to ‘liberation day’ and back to recovery in a span of nine months. Throughout, DBS maintained our focus on delivering winning solutions for clients, and this has enabled us to outperform the market, scoring multiple successful sole and debut deals,” said Mildred Chua, group head of syndication and loan solutions.
The Singaporean lender was one of the seven mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners of a US$3.46bn-equivalent debut green loan for the Malaysian projects of DayOne Data Centers.
The borrowing, which included a murabaha facility, marked the largest data centre financing in Asia Pacific as well as Malaysia’s largest green Islamic syndicated loan. The dual-currency facility closed to a strong response, attracting 22 lenders in general syndication.
DBS was also one of the active bookrunners and underwriters on a US$2.8bn loan for the Malaysian assets of Bain Capital-backed Bridge Data Centres, which drew 23 banks in syndication. Other deals in South-East Asia included an US$835.5m debut Asian loan for hyperscale data centre operator Yondr Group to finance a greenfield facility in Malaysia and a S$3.78bn-equivalent sustainability-linked loan for Australia’s AirTrunk.
As Singapore’s largest lender, DBS further cemented its leadership, acting as one of the four coordinators on the country’s largest syndicated loan – a S$12bn borrowing for Marina Bay Sands that closed with 22 other lenders joining in syndication.
DBS won repeat mandates from Indonesian state-owned Bank Mandiri, arranging a US$1bn debut syndicated loan in March and a US$400m facility in July.
DBS was sole coordinator for a US$1.07bn loan for Avolon Holdings, the Irish aircraft leasing company’s largest Asia-focused syndicated facility. DBS also acted as sole coordinator for BOC Aviation’s US$1.5bn borrowing, marking the borrower’s largest syndicated term loan.
Standout deals from the commodities sector included Vitol Asia’s US$2.875bn borrowing, Gunvor Singapore’s US$1.335bn sustainability-linked loan, and Louis Dreyfus’ US$800m sustainability-linked facility that drew participation from 35 banks.
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