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Stonebriar closes $869M equipment ABS, with GPUs now a growing slice of collateral

What's the deal? Eldridge Capital Management has closed SCFET 2026-1, an $869 million equipment asset-backed securitization for Stonebriar Commercial Finance, an Eldridge-managed company. The deal is Stonebriar's 16th equipment ABS, and the Eldridge Diversified Credit Fund II (EDCF II) participated alongside Stonebriar in the financing.

What's inside it? The securitization is backed by leases and loans on essential-use assets across the marine, mining, energy, manufacturing, and technology industries. Fitch RatingsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and KBRA rated the transaction, and Bank of America acted as sole structuring agent and lead bookrunner, with BNP Paribas, TruistDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Wells Fargo as joint lead bookrunners.

Why it matters? Reporting on the deal says GPU loans made up roughly 15% of the collateral, bringing AI-computing hardware into a diversified, broadly syndicated equipment ABS. It follows Wingspire's $407 million equipment securitization in September, which also carried substantial GPU exposure.

What could go wrong? The pool stays diversified across equipment and industries, but the growing role of GPUs makes borrower exposure and the value and useful life of the hardware risks to watch.

Why now? "Bringing EDCF II into Stonebriar's financing technology is an innovative step for us," said Nicholas Sandler, co-president and co-head of diversified credit at Eldridge. He noted the firm has placed almost $11 billion of ABS bonds since 2016. Since 2015, the Eldridge platform has originated over $19 billion of large-ticket equipment finance transactions.

The signal: An established funding channel — Stonebriar's 16th such deal — is being adapted to a newer asset class. As GPU financing moves from conventional loans into securitized markets, the way lenders fund AI infrastructure is widening.

Read more: markets.financialcontent.com

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