Blackstone shelves US$1.3bil mortgage bond deal

On hold: A pedestrian in front of the Blackstone headquarters in New York City. As the spread on the bonds has become too wide, the sponsor has decided to halt the sale process. — Reuters

NEW YORK: Blackstone Inc’s plan to sell a US$1.28bil bond backed by commercial real estate debt is now on hold while issuance of the debt continues to soar.

A group of banks including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp were in the process of selling the single-asset, single-borrower bond, which was backed by mortgage debt tied to more than 60 industrial properties located across 13 states.