The Australian syndicated loan market took a tumble in the March quarter, with the number of deals falling from around 30 in the December quarter last year to around 10 in the latest quarter.KPMG's latest Debt Market Quarterly said volume has come down from a recent high of about 50 deals in the June quarter last year.KPMG attributed the low volume to a lack of borrower demand rather than a lack of bank liquidity. It said: "The volume of bonds exceeded syndicated loans for the quarter, demonstrating the ongoing trend for borrowers to diversify the mix of bank versus debt capital market funding."Global demand for fixed interest investment has corporate Australia looking offshore for both increased liquidity and longer tenors."Of the syndicated deals that were done in the March quarter, 58 per cent of the loans were for large infrastructure projects. These included Whitehaven Coal's A$1.2 billion development of Maules Creek mine, a US$1.5 billion capital expenditure facility for Ichthys LNG and a A$1 billion project loan for Brookfield Rail.KPMG said: "Given the increased level of competition from the corporate bond market (and offshore alternatives), thin deal flow and lower cost of wholesale funding for banks, we expect these factors to contribute to ongoing lower margins for investment grade credits in the bank loan market."