Unlock closes $358.5M home equity agreement securitization

Unlock Technologies completed a $358.5 million securitization backed by home equity agreements (HEAs), marking the company’s first transaction of 2026 and the largest HEA securitization completed in the market this year.

The financial technology company announced on Tuesday that its Unlock HEA Trust 2026-1 transaction closed on May 21 and securitized approximately $358.5 million of home equity agreements originated and managed by Unlock. The deal was issued and sponsored by D2 Asset Management.

The transaction is backed by a pool of 3,546 HEAs. It represents Unlock’s seventh rated securitization and eighth overall.

According to Unlock, the offering was oversubscribed and attracted strong demand from institutional investors, including six first-time participants in the company’s securitization program.

“That breadth of participation underscores how this market is maturing and how investor appetite for the asset class continues to deepen,” Peter Silberstein, Unlock’s chief capital officer, said in a statement.

The deal marks the first broadly syndicated HEA securitization sponsored by D2 Asset Management. D2 previously sponsored Unlock’s UNLOK 2025-3 transaction, a privately placed securitization completed in December 2025 that the companies said was the largest HEA securitization at the time.

The securitization included $254 million of senior Class A notes rated A (low) (sf), $48.5 million of mezzanine Class B notes rated BBB (low) (sf), and $42.2 million of subordinate Class C notes rated BB (low) (sf), according to Morningstar DBRS. The Class A and Class B notes received investment-grade ratings.

The collateral pool includes both senior- and junior-lien home equity agreements, with first-lien HEAs accounting for about 19% of the pool by investment payment.

Jefferies served as sole structuring lead and bookrunner. Cantor Fitzgerald and TCBI Securities Inc., doing business as Texas Capital Securities, acted as co-managers.

Unlock CEO Jim Riccitelli said the transaction reflects growing institutional acceptance of HEAs as an asset class.

“The strong, oversubscribed demand reflects the continued maturation of this market and the confidence investors have in the HEA,” Riccitelli said.

Luke Doramus, co-founder and managing partner of D2, said the transaction reinforces the firm’s confidence in both the HEA market and Unlock’s growth prospects.

“As one of the most active participants in this market, we bring the structuring and capital markets expertise to scale a strong originator, and Unlock is exactly the kind of partner we want to do that with,” Doramus said.

This article was written by Sarah Wolak and generated with the assistance of HousingWire Automation, then reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication.