NewsNTech

Software buyouts face $40bn refinancing crunch as AI erodes the underlying assets

8/31/2026

The maturity wall is a concentration event: leveraged buyout debt written in a single vintage comes due in a single window, removing the optionality that staggered maturities provide.

For private equity groups holding Covid-era software buyouts, that window is 2028, and the $40bn aggregate refinancing need arrives at a moment when artificial intelligence is rewriting the competitive assumptions those deals were built on.

Covid-era software buyouts were underwritten at low rates on expectations of durable, subscription-based revenue.

The logic was standard LBO logic: cheap debt supports the acquisition while cash flows grow into an exit multiple.

Keep reading

Read the full story

Open on NewsNTech