Last week, no bank appeared as sole lender on the tabled deals. This week First Citizens, J.P. Morgan, BMO, TD and East West Bank were all back. Sixteen deals hit the ABL Advisor tables, totalling roughly $1.1 billion in commitments.
Yet the largest ticket, a $600 million exit ABL for a retailer just out of Chapter 11, went to non-bank capital at SOFR + 5.75%. The most interesting small ticket was $20 million of equipment finance against GPUs.
Together they show where the credit premium sits right now. It goes to lenders who can underwrite collateral that moves fast, whether a receivable settling in two days or a chip that loses value with every new generation.
The ABF Edge
Great American Capital Corp.: $600MM exit ABL
GACC, majority-owned by GA Group and funds managed by Oaktree, joined a new $600 million ABL tied to a borrower’s completed restructuring. The borrower is unnamed, but the size, timing and Oaktree link match the exit ABL QVC Group put in place on emerging from Chapter 11 on 6 August.
According to QVC Group’s 8-K, that revolver advances 90% against eligible card receivables, 85% against instalment receivables and 85% of NOLV on inventory, with a drawn margin of SOFR + 5.75%. That is a bank product, run and priced by non-bank capital. The premium pays for post-bankruptcy status. The collateral itself is ordinary.
Risk: Three pools on three clocks. Card receivables settle in days, instalment receivables take months, and inventory is seasonal and sold through a TV channel in structural decline. Takeback notes also hold first-priority liens, so the intercreditor is central.
Opportunity: Exit ABLs offer a near-double-digit coupon on short-dated, self-liquidating collateral. Lenders who can re-underwrite the base weekly capture it without equity-like risk.
Post Road Equipment Finance: $20MM GPU facility
Post Road financed next-generation GPUs for a U.S. cloud provider, tied to a new multi-year customer contract. This is the lower mid-market version of the neocloud trade. If amortisation matches the contract, the loan is repaid from contracted cash flow before hardware residual value matters.
Risk: Obsolescence, rental rate pressure, single-customer concentration and dependence on a third-party data centre.
Opportunity: Mid-market GPU providers are too small for structured desks and too asset-heavy for venture debt. Lenders who track assets by serial number can own this niche.
The rest of the week
First Citizens’ $157 million refinancing of Blue Doors Storage Fund IV is fund-level lender finance against stabilising and development-stage storage. The test is occupancy ramp against maturity.
BMO and TD’s $80 million syndicated facility for Cannara Biotech shows Canadian cannabis credit moving from specialists to bank syndicates. The spread narrows. The monitoring burden does not.
CIT Northbridge ($70 million, flexible packaging), Republic Business Credit ($15 million apparel factoring with a $20 million accordion) and SLR Business Credit ($10 million A/R-only ABL for a fuel distributor) round out a week where structure mattered as much as size.
Key risks to watch
- Post-reorganisation collateral: Two exit facilities closed this week. Appraisals done in bankruptcy reflect stress, and eligibility shifts most in the first 90 days after emergence.
- Split liens: When takeback notes and an ABL both claim priority, the intercreditor decides who owns which dollar.
- Consumer credit inside commercial ABL: Instalment receivables need roll rates and vintage losses in the eligibility tests.
- Depreciating tech collateral: GPU loan-to-value must be marked to secondary pricing and contracted revenue, not the original invoice.
- Bank re-entry: Where banks return, specialist spreads narrow. Structure and monitoring become the differentiator.
Where the opportunities are
Exit ABLs at term-loan pricing. Contract-backed GPU facilities of $10–50 million. Fund-level lending into operating real estate. Accordion-led factoring for brands with strong sell-through.
The strategic read
The two most interesting deals sit at opposite ends of the size range but rest on one idea. In both, the IRR is decided after closing. Utilisation, reserve accuracy, eligibility drift and collateral marks determine whether the coupon becomes return or a workout.
Cardo AI gives ABF lenders and private credit managers one platform for borrowing-base calculation, eligibility and concentration testing, covenant surveillance, waterfall modelling and loan-level analytics. AI-driven ingestion keeps borrower data current in days, not months.
If any of this week’s deals look like your book, we would like to show you how our clients run them.
Strategic considerations
The two most interesting deals this week sit at opposite ends of the size range, yet they rest on the same idea. In QVC-sized retail, the credit premium compensates the lender for owning a borrowing base that has to be re-underwritten every week after a restructuring. In GPU finance, the premium compensates the lender for owning an asset whose value falls on a schedule set by the chip industry rather than by the borrower.In both cases, the IRR is decided after closing. Utilization, reserve accuracy, eligibility drift, contract cash-flow coverage and collateral marks determine whether that coupon turns into return or into a workout.
Cardo AI gives ABF lenders, private credit managers and capital allocators one platform for all of it: borrowing-base calculation, eligibility and concentration testing, covenant surveillance, waterfall modeling and loan-level collateral analytics. AI-driven ingestion of borrower reporting keeps the data current in days rather than months. Whether the collateral is card settlements and installment vintages at a post-reorg retailer or serial-numbered GPU servers in a leased data hall, the workflow is the same and the visibility is continuous.
Sources
ABL Advisor deal tables (September 11-17, 2026); QVC Group Form 8-K, 7 August 2026; GACC press release, 16 September 2026; Post Road press release, 14 September 2026. The GACC–QVC link is Cardo AI’s inference from public information and is unconfirmed by GACC. For information only, not investment advice.
If you’re scaling an asset-based or private credit book, we should talk.