Private equity giants Blackstone and Brookfield have extended three loans totalling £780M that were at or close to maturity.

Notices to bondholders of the three securitised loans said that, in each case, the borrowers had exercised the option to extend loans for a year.

Borrowers are choosing to extend loans where possible because the sharp rise in interest rates in 2022 and 2023 means debt costs are now much higher than when loans were originally underwritten.

Blackstone has extended two loans secured against portfolios of UK assets. The loans were originally provided by Bank of America and then securitised.

One is a £238M loan, which was part of a wider £2.4B debt facility used to fund Blackstone’s £4.7B purchase of student accommodation giant iQ in 2020.

The other is a £323M loan used to refinance a portfolio of light industrial assets that Blackstone bought in 2020.

Brookfield has extended the maturity of a £211M loan from Morgan Stanley and Bank of America used to fund the purchase of nine UK retail parks valued at £419M in 2021.