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LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Japanese and other Asian bankscemented their positions as the lead arrangers forproject-financing deals last year while several big Europeanbanks continued to retreat from the business as they shrinktheir balance sheets.
There were $204 billion of project finance deals globallylast year, up 0.8 percent from 2012, and the top six arrangerswere from Japan, India, China and Korea, according to ThomsonReuters data.
Mitsubishi UFJ ranked first, the same as 2012,after arranging deals worth $11.5 billion for a 5.7 percentmarket share, Thomson Reuters estimated.
State Bank of India was second with a 4.9 percentmarket share, followed by China Development Bank, which jumpedfrom 47th place in 2012 and grabbed a 4.1 percent market share.
France's Credit Agricole was the highest rankingEuropean bank in seventh spot with a 2.5 percent share, justahead of HSBC and Barclays.
BNP Paribas and Societe Generale previously ranked among the top firms in project finance butthey have reduced activity since 2011 as they came underpressure to shrink their balance sheets.
SocGen ranked 16th last year, down from eighth in 2012, andBNP Paribas slipped to 17th from ninth.
Power projects accounted for $70.1 billion of last year'sbusiness, or more than one-third of the total. Oil & gas dealsand transportation each accounted for a fifth of volume.
Europe, Middle East and Africa was the most active region,with $90 billion of deals, up by a quarter from 2012, ThomsonReuters said. Americas deal proceeds rose 21 percent to $51billion, but Asia volume fell 29 percent to $63 billion.
