Yeah, it's rarely not fixed, and a lot was tied to the historic expectation of the investment being at most ~5-7 years.
Closely related, you can read about the PE Zombie funds that cover a lot of this debt.
My understanding is that almost all deals are built on floating rate debt, with some hedging. I don't work in PE though, maybe someone here knows the market in more detail.
> Yeah, it's rarely not fixed, and a lot was tied to the historic expectation of the investment being at most ~5-7 years.
You've got it reversed, the debt BDC's and PC firms write is usually floating rate based off SOFR. That' s why they do so well in rising rate environments.
Now they often borrow at fixed rates by issuing bonds or preferred shares that pay a fixed rate so falling rates has to opposite effect on them.