"Amend and Extend" has been in full swing in the corporate leveraged loan space. Pushing the day of reconing further out in hopes of finding a way to deleverage before maturity has been the theme for many leveraged firms. A total of $38 billion of institutional loans have gone through the amend and extend process.
source: LPC
Lenders have the same dreams and hopes as the borrowers - let's give the company more time and hope earnings will improve enough to blow the loan out. The fact that there is practically no new loans in the pipeline keeps the loan market strong and helps the "amend and extend" process as well. The chart below shows how the bond market has replaced institutional loan issuance, capping the loan market size.
source: LPC
