Wingspire readies US$407m equipment ABS backed by US$438m lease-and-loan pool

Wingspire Equipment Finance is preparing a US$407.07m asset-backed securitisation backed by US$438.18m of equipment leases and loans, giving the specialist lender another route to recycle capital from its middle-market finance portfolio.

KBRA assigned preliminary ratings on 17 September to six classes of notes expected to be issued by Wingspire Equipment Finance 2026-1 LLC.

The transaction is Wingspire’s third equipment ABS and is backed by 211 lease and loan contracts across 63 obligors. The pool had an aggregate securitisation value of approximately US$438.18m at the 31 August cut-off date and a weighted pool yield of about 9.22 per cent.

Average securitisation value is US$2.08m per contract, while average exposure per obligor is US$6.96m. The largest obligor accounts for US$41.41m, equivalent to approximately 9.45 per cent of the collateral pool.

That concentration makes individual borrower performance more significant than in a highly granular consumer securitisation, although the transaction also incorporates structural protection for investors.

KBRA said the notes benefit from overcollateralisation, excess spread, a reserve account and subordination, except in the case of the Class E notes.

The underlying contracts have a weighted average original term of 47 months and a remaining term of 43 months.

Wingspire Equipment Finance, formerly Liberty Commercial Finance, focuses on mid-to-large-ticket equipment financing. Its overall portfolio had a net asset balance of US$683m at the end of June across 484 contracts and 114 obligors. The business is majority owned by Wingspire Capital Holdings, a portfolio company of Blue Owl Capital Corporation.

The proposed securitisation would place a substantial portion of that equipment-finance book into a capital-markets structure.

For a specialist lender, ABS issuance can diversify funding and release balance-sheet capacity that can subsequently support additional originations. That is an inference from the financing structure rather than a disclosed use of proceeds.

The notes have only received preliminary ratings, so the US$407.07m figure represents planned issuance rather than completed funding.