Encina Private Credit is changing its name to Encina Commercial Finance, a move the firm says reflects an extension of its signature First-Out Enterprise Value loan product into structures that combine cash flow underwriting with collateral-based structures that incorporate accounts receivable, inventory, equipment, real estate and intellectual property.
The name change, announced today, comes as the firm — long known as a leading non-bank provider of First-Out Enterprise Value financings in partnership with direct lenders — broadens its underwriting toolkit to serve both asset-light and asset-intensive borrowers. Mike Hensinger, President and CEO, said the rebrand is meant to catch the company’s name up to a strategy that has already been evolving for years.
“Our business has evolved significantly over the years, and so this name is really meant to better reflect our broadened capabilities,” Hensinger said in an interview. “We feel like commercial finance is more reflective of us as a specialty finance company. We’re not what you might consider a traditional private credit platform.”
Hensinger was careful to draw a line between what’s changing and what isn’t. “Our mission hasn’t changed, our strategy is not changing,” he said. “We remain completely focused on being the leading non-bank First-Out Enterprise Value lending platform. These product extensions have been and are a natural evolution that’s prompted the name change.”
Built on Customer Feedback and a GE Capital Bench
According to Hensinger, the expanded collateral-based capability didn’t emerge from a single strategic pivot but from years of requests from the firm’s direct lending partners and sponsors, who asked Encina to look at more asset-intensive companies and incorporate collateral into deal structures to find more optimal financing solutions.
To build toward that, Hensinger said the firm staffed up with professionals who could structure and underwrite both ways. “We built the team by hiring folks that had a background in both asset-intensive kind of lending — including borrowing base, accounts receivable, inventory and equipment — along with that traditional enterprise value lending,” he said. Many of those hires, across origination, credit and operations, came from GE Capital, which historically ran both cash-flow and asset-based lending books. “Luckily GE Capital did both of those, and many of the folks on the team are our former GE Capital colleagues,” Hensinger said. “We hired people with this combination, kind of always with the expectation that it would evolve into this. So we’re excited — we’re finally here.”
How the Underwriting Decision Is Made
Asked how Encina decides, deal by deal, whether to underwrite on enterprise value alone or blend in asset value, Hensinger described a process that starts with the business itself. “We always kind of start with the enterprise value approach — do we like what this business does, do we like the segment they play in and where they are positioned in the market,” he said. From there, he said, it becomes “a collaborative process with the sponsor and our direct lending partner ” to find the most efficient capital solution — for instance, sizing a larger revolver governed by a borrowing base tied to accounts receivable and inventory to match a company’s seasonality.
Importantly, Hensinger said assets aren’t a requirement. “We don’t require assets to do a loan. We can do an asset-light EV First-Out loan for a services company,” he said, “but if it’s helpful for the transaction, we can dig in and find ways to make the structure better for the borrower.”
He pointed to a live example: a transaction the firm liked as a straight enterprise-value loan, where the borrower wanted a larger revolver than would typically accompany that structure. By layering in a borrowing base, Encina said it could commit to a larger facility that grows with the company’s AR and inventory over time — a structure Hensinger said reflects deals the firm has historically not pursued.
Demand Drivers: HALO Loans and AI Caution
Hensinger tied growing interest in blended financing to broader shifts in private credit, particularly around technology risk. “There’s been a lot going on in private credit recently, especially as it relates to AI and software,” he said. “We’ve certainly seen a shift to what the market has called HALO loans — hard asset, low obsolescence types of companies.” At the same time, he said, investors and lenders “have become more selective around software and looking to protect against AI disintermediation,” pushing more asset-intensive deal flow toward the firm.
Deal Size and Growth Targets
The firm’s typical deal size runs $75 million to $100 million, Hensinger said, within its broader $15 million to $150 million range; Encina has closed First-Out financings up to $200 million, often alongside partners. He said the new capabilities could stretch that range in both directions — toward larger deals as collateral supports bigger commitments, and toward smaller companies in the lower middle market, including businesses with EBITDA of $20 million and below.
On what’s changing internally beyond the name, Hensinger said: not much. “The strategy is completely unchanged, our mission unchanged. The senior leadership team is unchanged, our ownership is unchanged,” he said, adding that direct lenders “will continue to work with the same team they’ve been working with.”
Looking ahead, Hensinger set concrete growth targets. Encina currently works with roughly 30 direct lenders and has completed deals with 40 sponsors; he said he’d like to see those figures climb to about 50 and 60, respectively, within a year, alongside more repeat, “programmatic” relationships with existing partners.
Founded in 2018, Encina Commercial Finance has originated more than $3 billion in commitments and closed more than 60 loans, with a current portfolio of roughly $1.7 billion in commitments, according to Hensinger. He said the firm has grown more than 40% annually over the past three years, with the second quarter of 2026 its best on record and the first half of 2026 its strongest first-half start to date.
“I would expect Encina Commercial Finance to continue to lead the evolution and the innovation in the First-Out product and the market,” Hensinger said. “We think it’s a big and growing market, and for now we will focus on this First-Out EV product and continue to innovate on the nuances of that product.”