Benefit Street Partners Closes $1.1 Billion CRE CLO With Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Morgan Stanley

New York, NY – Benefit Street Partners L.L.C. (BSP) announced the closing of BSPDF 2026-FL6 (FL6), a managed commercial real estate collateralized loan obligation (CRE CLO) totaling approximately $1.1 billion, on November 2, 2026. Wells Fargo Securities, LLC served as sole structuring agent, while Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley acted as co-lead managers and joint bookrunners.

Benefit Street Partners CRE CLO: Deal Terms

FL6 features a 30-month reinvestment period, an initial advance rate of 88.25% and a weighted average interest cost of one-month CME Term SOFR plus 1.77%, before accounting for transaction costs. The transaction priced on October 20, 2026, and closed on November 2, 2026.

The 30-month reinvestment period allows BSP to reinvest principal proceeds into qualifying commercial real estate loans during that window. The spread of 1.77% represents the weighted cost across the capital structure and excludes transaction expenses, so it is not directly comparable with the spread on any single rated note class.

BSP said this year it has issued five CRE CLO transactions totaling approximately $5.0 billion. FL6 is the third CLO from BSP's Opportunistic Debt Fund II.

Jerry Baglien on the FL6 Closing

Jerry Baglien, Head of Real Estate at BSP, commented: "The closing of FL6, the third CLO from our Opportunistic Debt Fund II, reflects the continued momentum across our real estate business and the strength of our financing capabilities. With approximately $5 billion of CRE CLO issuance completed this year, we remain well positioned to deploy capital selectively and pursue compelling opportunities for our investors."

Bank Syndicate: Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Morgan Stanley

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC served as sole structuring agent on the transaction. Barclays Capital Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as co-lead managers and joint bookrunners. Performance Trust Capital Partners, LLC served as co-manager.

Market Context: CRE CLO and CMBS Issuance Rising

The closing comes during an active year for commercial real estate securitization. Year-to-date 2026 private-label CMBS and CRE CLO issuance has reached $103.9 billion, up 21% from $85.7 billion in the comparable period of 2025. Fitch has also reported that 2026 CRE CLO reinvestment and new-issuance activity has already exceeded full-year 2025 levels.

CRE CLOs convert pools of floating-rate transitional loans into term financing while allowing collateral to be rotated during the reinvestment period. CRE CLO AAA spreads were approximately 130 basis points over benchmark for static deals and 135 basis points for managed deals as of June 2026, while BBB- spreads were about 300 basis points. Earlier in 2026, managed and static CRE CLO AAA spreads were around 140 to 145 basis points, with BBB- spreads between roughly 315 and 340 basis points.

Bridge Investment Group also priced a $1.25 billion CRE CLO, BDS 2026-FL18, which included 26 floating-rate, interest-only loans totaling $1.064 billion secured by 30 properties, plus $186.4 million of ramp cash.

Property Market Pressures Shape Debt Demand

Property-level pricing has remained under pressure. The spread between the average commercial real estate cap rate and the 10-year Treasury yield has compressed to approximately 160 basis points, compared with a long-run average of about 325 basis points. Cap rates are expected to rise another 40 to 60 basis points in the near term, potentially reducing average property values by roughly 6% to 10%. Multifamily and industrial are particularly exposed because of low cap rates and thin spreads.

Against that backdrop, managers of opportunistic real estate debt strategies such as BSP continue to use securitization to fund lending on transitional properties.

About Benefit Street Partners

BSP is an alternative credit manager with $97 billion in assets under management as of August 31, 2026, including Apera. A wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, BSP manages strategies spanning direct lending, real estate debt, structured credit, liquid loans and asset backed finance. Franklin Templeton, founded in 1947, had over $1.79 trillion in assets under management as of September 30, 2026, and operates in more than 30 countries.

Sources

• Benefit Street Partners press release, "Benefit Street Partners Announces Closing of a $1.1 Billion CRE CLO," November 2, 2026: https://www.bspcredit.com/us/news-and-insights/press-releases/benefit-street-partners-announces-closing-of-a-1.1-billion-cre-clo-nov-2026/