Leveraged loan amend-and-extend volume hits $106 billion in the first half of 2026, running well ahead of last year's pace

Amend-and-extend (A&E) activity in the US leveraged loan market reached $106 billion in the first six months of 2026, comfortably ahead of the roughly $84 billion recorded over the same period in 2025, according to LCD data. June alone generated $27 billion of A&E volume across 24 transactions, up from $26 billion across 21 deals in May. An amend-and-extend transaction is a restructuring of an existing loan facility in which the borrower negotiates with lenders to push back the maturity date of its debt without a full refinancing, typically in exchange for a pricing adjustment or improved lender protections. The process avoids the cost and execution risk of a full new issuance while giving borrowers more runway on their existing capital structure. The 2026 activity is split broadly equally between institutional lenders (large asset managers, CLOs (collateralised loan obligations, investment vehicles that pool and tranche leveraged loans), and credit funds) at $54 billion and pro rata lenders (typically banks holding revolving credit and term loan A facilities) at $52 billion. In 2025, borrowers concentrated on pushing back 2026 and 2027 maturities; on the institutional side, 2028 maturities were the primary focus, with $54 billion of institutional loans due that year extended. The sustained volume signals that many leveraged buyout borrowers are managing near-term maturity walls by extending rather than refinancing outright, keeping existing lender syndicates intact and avoiding public markets execution risk.