The launch of the Loan Market Association (LMA) leveraged facilities agreement in January 2004 is indicative of the increasing maturity of the leveraged finance market and the desire of bankers to improve the efficiency of the process in these deals.

The LMA was lobbied by its members for months, mainly due to the rapid growth in this sector, to produce a standard document – something akin to the investment grade document produced in 1999, which was created as a result of market pressure.