HedgeCo.Net — Franklin Templeton and its alternative credit manager Benefit Street Partners said they have completed a transaction with Encina Lender Finance that expands BSP’s asset-backed finance platform. A new fund backed by Franklin Templeton and BSP-affiliated funds acquired an initial seed portfolio with approximately $480 million of commitments originated by Encina, and a 14-person Encina investment team has joined BSP to keep managing and originating investments through the strategy.
The Encina team provides senior secured, unitranche and first-out financing to consumer and commercial asset originators across the U.S. and Canada, backed by diversified pools of collateral that include consumer loans, credit card receivables and small business loans. BSP said the deal broadens its capabilities in consumer and commercial lender finance.
The acquisition continues BSP’s buildout of a multi-strategy, middle-market private ABF platform that now spans corporate asset-backed lending, equipment leasing, aircraft leasing, consumer finance and lender finance. The combined platform gives BSP access to roughly 100 investment professionals and a track record dating to 2013. Having completed more than $10 billion of investments since inception, BSP said it believes the platform can now originate more than $3 billion a year.
The structure is notable: rather than an outright corporate acquisition, Franklin Templeton used its balance sheet to seed a fund with an existing book and an intact team, a template that lets managers add origination capacity quickly while giving future LPs a visible starting portfolio. Franklin Templeton cited industry data showing ABF accounted for around 20% of private credit fundraising in 2025, within a global private credit market of roughly $6 trillion.
As of September 30, Franklin Templeton managed $1.8 trillion, including more than $300 billion in alternatives, of which about $97 billion is managed by BSP. Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett advised Franklin Templeton and BSP; Berkshire Global Advisors was exclusive financial advisor to Encina Lender Finance.