Collateral Is Being Rewritten

Markets reacted quickly to the latest AI headlines. Public software and data stocks repriced sharply. But this is not a tech selloff story. It is a private markets collateral story.

For more than a decade, software cash flows were underwritten as durable, sticky, and financeable. Recurring revenue became collateral. 

That framework is now being tested as replacement risk entered the underwriting model.

When moats look less durable, financing tolerance tightens before performance breaks. 

The private adjustment comes through covenants, leverage appetite, and exit math.

Private markets do not reprice narratives. They reprice collateral. 

When an asset's defensibility weakens, capital moves first through underwriting assumptions. Advance rates compress. Exit multiples become conditional.

The stress does not start with defaults. It starts when lenders, LPs, and wealth allocators question whether yesterday's collateral still clears tomorrow's financing. 

Even if portfolio performance holds, easier replacement forces the capital stack to reprice.

Leverage gets pulled back. Exit windows narrow.

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After a brief wave of redemption pressure, nontraded BDCs have stabilized and capital continues flowing into private credit. 

Investors are recalibrating what they will tolerate. They want transparent liquidity options, consistent valuation practices, and predictable access.

This shift matters when collateral quality comes under pressure. If software disruption risk shows up in credit portfolios, capital may stay, but leverage compresses and hold periods shorten.

The adjustment happens in structure before it shows up in allocations.

Investor Signal:

Private credit remains open to assets with credible liquidity design and defensible collateral. Structures reliant on valuation stability rather than cash durability will face faster constraint.

The reported friction between Nvidia and OpenAI over their planned mega-deal illustrates a financing risk that extends beyond AI hype. 

Infrastructure investors are committing billions to buildouts predicated on long-term contracts with creditworthy counterparties. 

When commitments wobble, certainty evaporates before demand.

Lenders underwriting AI infrastructure don't just model utilization. They model contract enforceability and counterparty reliability. 

When partnerships delay or terms renegotiate, financing that looked inevitable becomes contingent. Projects stretch. Capital costs rise. 

The infrastructure asset becomes a credit negotiation.

Investor Signal:

Assets dependent on concentrated counterparties or deferred commitments will be re-underwritten on contract enforceability and cash timing. Scale without certainty now carries a financing penalty.

When Novo Nordisk warned of declining profits amid intensifying drug price pressure, it highlighted a broader private markets risk. 

Businesses built on pricing authority rather than contractual protection face sudden fragility. 

This mirrors the software disruption dynamic. In both cases, investors assumed durability that turned out to be conditional. Markets are reassessing any business where profitability depends on permission rather than locked-in terms. 

The assets that clear financing are those with defendable economics, not just strong demand.

Investor Signal:

Private assets exposed to regulatory or reimbursement discretion will face tighter financing and shorter tolerance windows. Control over pricing matters more than scale when permission can change.

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When software and data stocks lost $300 billion in market value on AI disruption concerns, the immediate story was about public market volatility. But the deeper implications run through private capital structures.

For years, recurring revenue businesses were treated as low-risk collateral. Private equity paid up. Private credit leaned in. Wealth vehicles financed against stability assumptions built on switching costs and embedded workflows. 

AI disruption challenges that foundation. 

Not because software disappears, but because replacement risk compresses duration certainty. When alternatives emerge faster, lenders reassess advance rates. 

Buyers reassess exit multiples. Sponsors reassess hold periods.

The public selloff raises the question. Private markets answer it through covenants and leverage.

If software cash flows are no longer treated as permanent, financing tightens even when revenues hold. 

Collateral weakens before income statements do.

Deep Dive Investor Signal:

Software exposure across private equity, private credit, and wealth vehicles is being re-underwritten around durability, not growth. The next adjustment shows up in financing terms and exit math, not immediate defaults.

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Private markets are not rejecting technology. They are re-pricing what counts as collateral.

As AI accelerates replacement risk and policy reshapes pricing authority, capital is shifting toward assets that defend cash flows contractually rather than reputationally. 

PMD is positioned for a market where collateral quality matters more than conviction, and financing clears only where durability can be proven, not assumed.