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YoY shift: Lean +
Year-over-year tone shift - average net-tone change across Risk Factors and MD&A vs the prior 10-K. This filing is 0.21pp more bullish than last year's.
Why YoY instead of absolute: the LM lexicon has ~6.6× more negative words than positive (legal/risk-disclosure language is heavy on hedging), so every 10-K reads bearish on raw tone. Year-over-year change strips that bias and surfaces the actual shift in management's framing.
Tone shift by section
The two components the gauge averages: how Risk Factors and MD&A each shifted in net tone versus last year's 10-K. The headline above is their average, so a green needle over a soft section just means the other section carried it.
Risk Factors
+0.02pp
Flat
Net-tone change vs last year's 10-K.
MD&A
+0.39pp
Lean +
Net-tone change vs last year's 10-K.
Per-snippet highlights
Sentence-level sentiment highlighting with category and subcategory filters is coming once the snippet-scoring pipeline lands. For now, dig into the actual section text on the Sections tab.
Language change vs prior 10-K
Risk Factors (Item 1A) - words with the biggest YoY frequency increase
Negative rising
corruption+6
laundering+5
bribery+4
conflicts+2
volatility+2
Positive rising
gain+2
advances+1
advantage+1
efficient+1
efficiencies+1
Risk Factors (Item 1A)
39,392 words
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our securities involves a number of significant risks. You should consider carefully the following information before making an investment in our securities. The risks below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or not presently deemed material by us may also impair our operations and performance. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
The following is a summary of the principal risks that you should carefully consider before investing in our securities.
We are subject to risks related to macroeconomic factors.
• Difficult market and geopolitical conditions could have a significant adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
• Capital markets disruption and economic uncertainty could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
• Future increases in inflation may adversely affect the business, results of operations and financial condition of our portfolio companies.
Language change vs prior 10-K
MD&A (Item 7) - words with the biggest YoY frequency increase
Negative rising
unfunded+2
volatility+2
critical+2
cut+2
terminate+1
Positive rising
opportunities+4
strong+3
leading+2
attractive+1
favorable+1
MD&A (Item 7)
30,205 words
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The information contained in this section should be read in conjunction with “ITEM 8. CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA.” This discussion contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or the future performance or financial condition of Blue Owl Capital Corporation and involves numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described in “ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.” This discussion also should be read in conjunction with the “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements” set forth on page 1 of this Annual Report. Actual results could differ materially from those implied or expressed in any forward-looking statements.
Overview
Blue Owl Capital Corporation (the “Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is a Maryland corporation formed on October 15, 2015. Our investment objective is to generate current income, and to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns. Our investment strategy focuses on primarily originating and making loans to, and making debt and equity investments in, U.S. middle market companies. Within this space, we predominantly focus on investing in institutionally-backed, upper middle market businesses, which we categorize as those generating greater than $50 million of EBITDA annually. We invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans, broadly syndicated loans and, to a lesser extent, equity and equity-related securities including warrants, preferred stock and similar forms of senior equity, which may or may not be convertible into a portfolio company’s common equity. We may hold our investments directly or through specialty financing portfolio companies and joint ventures. Except for our specialty financing company investments, our equity investments are typically not control-oriented investments and we may structure such equity investments to include provisions protecting our rights as a minority-interest holder.
• Fluctuations in interest rates could have a material adverse effect on our business and that of our portfolio companies.
We are subject to risks related to our business and operations.
• The lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our business.
• We borrow money, which magnifies the potential for gain or loss and may increase the risk of investing in us.
• Defaults and provisions under our current borrowings or any future borrowing facility or notes may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
• If we are unable to obtain additional debt financing, or if our borrowing capacity is materially reduced, our business could be materially adversely affected.
• Our ability to achieve our investment objective depends on our Adviser’s ability to manage and support our investment process. If our Adviser were to lose a significant number of its key professionals, or terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement, our ability to achieve our investment objective could be significantly harmed.
• Our ability to achieve our investment objective also depends to a significant extent upon Blue Owl’s relationships with corporations, financial institutions and investment firms, the inability of Blue Owl to maintain or develop these relationships, or the failure of these relationships to generate investment opportunities, could adversely affect our business.
• We may face increasing competition for investment opportunities, which could delay further deployment of our capital, reduce returns and result in losses.
• Our investment portfolio is recorded at fair value as determined in good faith by our Adviser in accordance with procedures approved by our Board and, as a result, there is and will be uncertainty as to the value of our portfolio investments.
• Our Board may change our operating policies and strategies without prior notice or shareholder approval, the effects of which may be adverse to our shareholders.
• Cybersecurity risks and cyber data security incidents could adversely affect our business by causing a disruption to our operations, a compromise or corruption of our confidential information and confidential information in our possession and damage to our business relationships.
• Use of AI technologies by us could lead to the exposure of our data or other adverse effects and increase competitive, operational, legal, and regulatory risks in ways that we cannot predict.
• We are subject to risks in using custodians, counterparties, administrators and other agents.
We are subject to risks related to our Adviser and its affiliates.
• Our Adviser and its affiliates, including our officers and some of our directors, may face conflicts of interest caused by compensation arrangements with us and our affiliates, which could result in increased risk-taking or speculative investments, or cause our Adviser to use substantial leverage.
• The time and resources that individuals associated with our Adviser devote to us may be diverted, and we may face additional competition due to, among other things, the fact that neither our Adviser nor its affiliates is prohibited from raising money for or managing another entity that makes the same types of investments that we target.
• Our Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts of interest with respect to services performed for their respective other accounts and clients or issuers in which we may invest.
• We may be obligated to pay our Adviser incentive fees even if we incur a net loss due to a decline in the value of our portfolio and even if our earned interest income is not payable in cash.
• Our ability to enter into transactions with our affiliates is restricted.
We are subject to risks related to business development companies.
• The requirement that we invest a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets could preclude us from investing in accordance with our current business strategy; conversely, the failure to invest a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets could result in our failure to maintain our status as a BDC.
• Regulations governing our operation as a BDC and RIC affect our ability to raise capital and the way in which we raise additional capital or borrow for investment purposes, which may have a negative effect on our growth. As a BDC, the necessity of raising additional capital may expose us to risks, including risks associated with leverage.
We are subject to risks related to our investments.
• Our investments in portfolio companies may be risky, and we could lose all or part of our investments.
• We have invested and may continue to invest through joint ventures, partnerships and other special purpose vehicles and our investments through these vehicles may entail greater risks, or risks that we otherwise would not incur, if we otherwise made such investments directly.
• Defaults by our portfolio companies could jeopardize a portfolio company’s ability to meet its obligations under the debt or equity investments that we hold which could harm our operating results.
• Subordinated liens on collateral securing debt investments that we may make to portfolio companies may be subject to control by senior creditors with first priority liens. If there is a default, the value of the collateral may not be sufficient to repay in full both the first priority creditors and us.
• We generally will not control the business operations of our portfolio companies and, due to the illiquid nature of our holdings in our portfolio companies, we may not be able to dispose of our interests in our portfolio companies.
• We and our portfolio companies are, and will continue to be, exposed to risks associated with changes in interest rates.
• International investments create additional risks.
• Our portfolio may be focused on a limited number of portfolio companies or industries, which will subject us to a risk of significant loss if any of these companies defaults on its obligations under any of its debt instruments or if there is a downturn in a particular industry.
We are subject to risks related to an investment in our common stock.
• The market value of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.
• The amount of any distributions we may make on our common stock is uncertain. We may not be able to pay distributions to shareholders, or be able to sustain distributions at any particular level, and our distributions per share, if any, may not grow over time, and our distributions per share may be reduced. We have not established any limits on the extent to which we may use borrowings, if any, and we may use sources other than from cash flows from operations to fund distributions (which may reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest in portfolio companies).
We are subject to risks related to an investment in our unsecured notes.
• Our unsecured notes are effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness we have currently incurred or may incur in the future.
• Our unsecured notes are structurally subordinated to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries.
• A downgrade, suspension or withdrawal of the credit rating assigned by a rating agency to us or our unsecured notes, if any, or change in the debt markets, could cause the liquidity or market value of our unsecured notes to decline significantly.
We are subject to risks related to U.S. federal income tax.
• We cannot predict how new tax legislation will affect us, our investments, or our stockholders, and any such legislation could adversely affect our business.
• We will be subject to U.S. federal income tax imposed at corporate rates if we are unable to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code.
• We may have difficulty paying our required distributions if we recognize income before or without receiving cash representing such income.
We are subject to general risks.
• Changes in laws or regulations governing our operations may adversely affect our business or cause us to alter our business strategy.
• Heightened scrutiny of the financial services industry by regulators may materially and adversely affect our business.
Macroeconomic Factors
Difficult market and geopolitical conditions could have a significant adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business, financial conditions and results of operations may be affected by conditions and trends in the global financial markets and the global economic and political climate relating to, among other things, fluctuations in interest rates, the availability and cost of credit, future increases in inflation, economic uncertainty, changes in laws (including laws and regulations relating to our taxation, taxation of our clients and applicable to alternative asset managers), trade policies, commodity prices, tariffs (including retaliatory tariffs), currency exchange rates and controls, political elections and administration transitions, and national and international political events (including contract terminations or funding pauses, government agency closures, prolonged government shutdowns, wars and other forms of conflict, terrorist acts, and security operations), work stoppages, labor shortages and labor disputes, supply chain disruptions and catastrophic events such as fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and global health pandemics.
Changes in trade policies, including the imposition of new tariffs or increases in existing tariffs between the United States, Mexico, Canada, China or other countries, or reactionary measures in response thereto including retaliatory tariffs, legal challenges, or currency manipulation, could adversely affect the market conditions in which we operate. These factors are outside of our control and may negatively impact the businesses in which we invest directly or indirectly and, in turn, could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. We monitor developments and seek to manage our investments in a manner consistent with achieving our investment objective, but there can be no assurance that we will be successful in doing so.
Global financial markets have experienced heightened volatility in recent periods, including as a result of economic and political events in or affecting the world’s major economies, such as the ongoing wars and conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, as well as continued political and social unrest in Venezuela, the Middle East and regions of North Africa. Concerns over economic recession, future increases in inflation, interest rate volatility, fluctuations in oil and gas prices resulting from global production and demand levels and geopolitical tension, have exacerbated market volatility. Market volatility has been further exacerbated by social unrest, changes regarding immigration and work permit policies and other political and security concerns both in the United States and across various international regions. Due to interrelationships within the global financial markets, our business may be adversely affected by such issues both within and outside of the directly affected regions.
During periods of difficult market conditions or slowdowns, which may be across one or more industries, sectors or geographies, the companies in which we invest may experience decreased revenues, financial losses, credit rating downgrades, difficulty in obtaining access to financing and increased funding costs. During such periods, those companies may also have difficulty in pursuing growth strategies, expanding their businesses and operations and be unable to meet their debt service obligations or other expenses as they become due, including obligations and expenses payable us. Negative financial results in our portfolio companies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations and could cause the market value of our common shares and/or debt securities to decline.
Capital markets disruption and economic uncertainty could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
In recent years, the U.S. corporate debt markets have been impacted by inflation. Uncertain market conditions caused by increased inflation or other conditions may make it difficult to extend the maturity of or refinance our existing indebtedness or obtain
new indebtedness with similar terms and any failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business. The debt capital that will be available to us in the future, if at all, may be at a higher cost and on less favorable terms and conditions than what we currently experience, including being in an elevated interest rate environment. If we are unable to raise or refinance debt, then our equity investors may not benefit from the potential for increased returns on equity resulting from leverage and we may be limited in our ability to make new commitments or to fund existing commitments to our portfolio companies. An inability to extend the maturity of, or refinance, our existing indebtedness or obtain new indebtedness could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Significant disruption or volatility in the capital markets may also have a negative effect on the valuations of our investments. While most of our investments are not publicly traded, applicable accounting standards require us to assume as part of our valuation process that our investments are sold in a principal market to market participants (even if we plan on holding an investment through its maturity). Significant disruption or volatility in the capital markets may also affect the pace of our investment activity and the potential for liquidity events involving our investments. Thus, the illiquidity of our investments may make it difficult for us to sell such investments to access capital if required, and as a result, we could realize significantly less than the value at which we have recorded our investments if we were required to sell them for liquidity purposes. An inability to raise or access capital could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations and cause our net asset value to decline. In addition, adverse or volatile market conditions may make equity capital difficult to raise because, subject to some limited exceptions, as a BDC, we are generally not able to issue additional shares of our common stock at a price less than net asset value without first obtaining approval for such issuance from our shareholders and independent directors. In addition, unfavorable economic conditions may require us to modify the payment terms of our investments, including changes in “payment in kind” or “PIK” interest provisions and/or cash interest rates, and also could increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us on terms we deem acceptable.
Future increases in inflation may adversely affect the business, results of operations and financial condition of our portfolio companies.
Certain of our portfolio companies operate in industries that have been, or may be, impacted by inflation. Ongoing inflationary pressures have increased the costs of labor, energy and raw materials and have adversely affected consumer spending, economic growth and our portfolio companies’ operations. If such portfolio companies are unable to pass any increases in the costs of their operations along to their customers, it could adversely affect their operating results. Such conditions would increase the risk of default on their obligations as a borrower. In addition, any projected future decreases in our portfolio companies’ operating results due to inflation could adversely impact the fair value of those investments. Any decreases in the fair value of our investments could result in future unrealized losses and therefore reduce our net assets resulting from operations. Any decreases in the fair value of our investments could result in future realized or unrealized losses.
Fluctuations in interest rates could have a material adverse effect on our business and that of our portfolio companies.
Fluctuations in interest rates could have a dampening effect on overall economic activity, the financial condition of our portfolio companies and the financial condition of the end customers who ultimately create demand for the capital we supply, all of which could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, lower interest rates may increase prepayment risk for our portfolio company investments with higher interest rates. The Federal Reserve decreased the federal funds rate three times in 2025. Although the Federal Reserve has signaled the potential for additional federal funds rate cuts, there remains uncertainty around the rate and timing of decreases. Uncertainty surrounding future Federal Reserve actions may have a material effect on our business making it particularly difficult for us to obtain financing at attractive rates, impacting our ability to execute on our growth strategies or future acquisitions.
Risks Related to Our Business
The lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our business.
We may acquire a significant percentage of our investments from privately held companies in directly negotiated transactions. Substantially all of these investments are subject to legal and other restrictions on resale or are otherwise less liquid than exchange-listed securities or other securities for which there is an active trading market. We typically would be unable to exit these investments unless and until the portfolio company has a liquidity event such as a sale, refinancing, or initial public offering.
The illiquidity of our investments may make it difficult or impossible for us to sell such investments if the need arises. In addition, if we are required to liquidate all or a portion of our portfolio quickly, we may realize significantly less than the value at which we have previously recorded our investments, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Moreover, investments purchased by us that are liquid at the time of purchase may subsequently become illiquid due to events relating to the issuer, market events, economic conditions or investor perceptions.
We borrow money, which magnifies the potential for gain or loss and may increase the risk of investing in us.
The use of borrowings, also known as leverage, increases the volatility of investments by magnifying the potential for gain or loss on invested equity capital. We currently borrow under our credit facilities and have issued or assumed other senior securities, and in the future may borrow from, or issue additional senior securities to, banks, insurance companies, funds, institutional investors and other lenders and investors. Holders of these senior securities have fixed-dollar claims on our assets that are superior to the claims of our shareholders. If the value of our assets decreases, leverage would cause our net asset value to decline more sharply than it otherwise would have if we did not employ leverage. Similarly, any decrease in our income would cause net income to decline more sharply than it would have had we not borrowed. Such a decline could negatively affect our ability to service our debt or make distributions to our shareholders. In addition, our shareholders will bear the burden of any increase in our expenses as a result of our use of leverage, including interest expenses and any increase in the base management or incentive fees payable to our Adviser attributable to the increase in assets purchased using leverage. There can be no assurance that a leveraging strategy will be successful.
Our ability to service any borrowings that we incur will depend largely on our financial performance and will be subject to prevailing economic conditions and competitive pressures. Moreover, the management fee will be payable based on our average gross assets excluding cash and cash equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts, which may give our Adviser an incentive to use leverage to make additional investments. See “— Our Adviser and its affiliates, including our officers and some of our directors, may face conflicts of interest caused by compensation arrangements with us and our affiliates, which could result in increased risk-taking or speculative investments, or cause our Adviser to use substantial leverage .” The amount of leverage that we employ will depend on our Adviser’s and our Board’s assessment of market and other factors at the time of any proposed borrowing. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain credit at all or on terms acceptable to us, which could affect our return on capital. However, to the extent that we use leverage to finance our assets, our financing costs will reduce cash available for distributions to shareholders. Moreover, we may not be able to meet our financing obligations and, to the extent that we cannot, we risk the loss of some or all of our assets to liquidation or sale to satisfy the obligations. In such an event, we may be forced to sell assets at significantly depressed prices due to market conditions or otherwise, which may result in losses.
In addition to having fixed-dollar claims on our assets that are superior to the claims of our common shareholders, obligations to lenders may be secured by a first priority security interest in our portfolio of investments and cash. As a BDC, generally, the ratio of our total assets (less total liabilities other than indebtedness represented by senior securities) to our total indebtedness represented by senior securities plus any preferred stock, if any, must be at least 200%. On June 8, 2020, our shareholders, approved the application of the modified asset coverage requirements set forth in Section 61(a)(2) of the 1940 Act, as amended by the Small Business Credit Availability Act. As a result, effective June 9, 2020, our asset coverage ratio applicable to senior securities was reduced from 200% to 150%, and the risks associated with an investment in us may increase. If this ratio declines below 150%, we cannot incur additional debt and could be required to sell a portion of our investments to repay some indebtedness when it may be disadvantageous to do so. This could have a material adverse effect on our operations, and we may not be able to service our debt or make distributions.
The following table illustrates the effect of leverage on returns from an investment in our common stock assuming various annual returns on our portfolio, net of expenses. Leverage generally magnifies the return of shareholders when the portfolio return is positive and magnifies their losses when the portfolio return is negative. The calculations in the table below are hypothetical, and actual returns may be higher or lower than those appearing in the table below.
Assumed Return on Our Portfolio (Net of Expenses)
Corresponding return to common shareholder (1)
(1) Assumes, as of December 31, 2025, (i) $17.19 billion in total assets, (ii) $9.39 billion in outstanding indebtedness, (iii) $7.40 billion in net assets and (iv) weighted average interest rate, excluding amortization of financing costs and marking to market value on fair value of interest rate swaps, of 5.63%.
S ee “ ITEM 7 — MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS — Financial Condition, Liquidity and Capital Resources ” for more information regarding our borrowings.
Defaults and provisions under our current borrowings or any future borrowing facility or notes may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Our borrowings may include customary covenants, including certain limitations on our incurrence of additional indebtedness and on our ability to make distributions to our shareholders, or redeem, repurchase or retire shares of stock, upon the occurrence of certain events and certain financial covenants related to asset coverage and liquidity and other maintenance covenants, as well as customary events of default. In the event we default under the terms of our current or future borrowings, our business could be adversely affected as we may be forced to sell a portion of our investments quickly and prematurely at what may be disadvantageous prices to us in order to meet our outstanding payment obligations and/or support working capital requirements under the terms of our current or future borrowings, any of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash
flows. An event of default under the terms of our current or any future borrowings could result in an accelerated maturity date for all amounts outstanding thereunder, and in some instances, lead to a cross-default under other borrowings. This could reduce our liquidity and cash flow and impair our ability to grow our business. Collectively, substantially all of our assets are currently pledged as collateral under our credit facilities. If we were to default on our obligations under the terms of our credit facilities or any future secured debt instrument the agent for the applicable creditors would be able to assume control of the disposition of any or all of our assets securing such debt, including the selection of such assets to be disposed and the timing of such disposition, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Any security interests and/or negative covenants required by a credit facility we enter into or notes we issue may limit our ability to create liens on assets to secure additional debt and may make it difficult for us to restructure or refinance indebtedness at or prior to maturity or obtain additional debt or equity financing.
A credit facility may be backed by all or a portion of our loans and securities on which the lenders will have a security interest. We may pledge up to 100% of our assets and may grant a security interest in all of our assets under the terms of any debt instrument we enter into with lenders. If we were to default under the terms of any debt instrument, the agent for the applicable lenders would be able to assume control of the timing of disposition of any or all of our assets securing such debt, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In addition, if our borrowing base under a credit facility were to decrease, we may be required to secure additional assets in an amount sufficient to cure any borrowing base deficiency. In the event that all of our assets are secured at the time of such a borrowing base deficiency, we could be required to repay advances under a credit facility or make deposits to a collection account, either of which could have a material adverse impact on our ability to fund future investments and to make distributions.
In addition, we may be subject to limitations as to how borrowed funds may be used, which may include restrictions on geographic and industry concentrations, loan size, payment frequency and status, average life, collateral interests and investment ratings, as well as regulatory restrictions on leverage which may affect the amount of funding that may be obtained. There may also be certain requirements relating to portfolio performance, including required minimum portfolio yield and limitations on delinquencies and charge-offs, a violation of which could limit further advances and, in some cases, result in an event of default.
Under the terms of the Revolving Credit Facility, we have agreed not to incur any additional secured indebtedness other than in certain limited circumstances in which the incurrence is permitted under the Revolving Credit Facility. In addition, if our borrowing base under the Revolving Credit Facility were to decrease, we would be required to secure additional assets or repay advances under the Revolving Credit Facility which could have a material adverse impact on our ability to fund future investments and to make distributions.
In addition, under the terms of our credit facilities, we are subject to limitations as to how borrowed funds may be used, as well as regulatory restrictions on leverage which may affect the amount of funding that we may obtain. There may also be certain requirements relating to portfolio performance, a violation of which could limit further advances and, in some cases, result in an event of default. This could reduce our liquidity and cash flow and impair our ability to grow our business.
If we are unable to obtain additional debt financing, or if our borrowing capacity is materially reduced, our business could be materially adversely affected.
We may want to obtain additional debt financing, or need to do so upon maturity of our credit facilities, in order to obtain funds which may be made available for investments. Our credit facilities, notes and CLOs currently expire between July 2026 and April 2038. If we are unable to increase, renew or replace any such facilities and enter into new debt financing facilities or other debt financing on commercially reasonable terms, our liquidity may be reduced significantly. In addition, if we are unable to repay amounts outstanding under any such facilities and are declared in default or are unable to renew or refinance these facilities, we may not be able to make new investments or operate our business in the normal course. These situations may arise due to circumstances that we may be unable to control, such as lack of access to the credit markets, a severedecline in the value of the U.S. dollar, an economic downturn or an operational problem that affects us or third parties, and could materially damage our business operations, results of operations and financial condition. See “— Capital markets disruption and economic uncertainty could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations .”
Our ability to achieve our investment objective depends on our Adviser’s ability to manage and support our investment process. If our Adviser were to lose a significant number of its key professionals, or terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement, our ability to achieve our investment objective could be significantly harmed.
We do not have any employees. Additionally, we have no internal management capacity other than our appointed executive officers and will be dependent upon the investment expertise, skill and network of business contacts of our Adviser to achieve our investment objective. Our Adviser evaluates, negotiates, executes, monitors, and services our investments. Our success depends to a significant extent on the continued service and coordination of our Adviser, including its key professionals. The departure of a significant number of key professionals from our Adviser could have a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve our investment objective.
Our ability to achieve our investment objective also depends on the ability of our Adviser to identify, analyze, invest in, finance, and monitor companies that meet our investment criteria. Our Adviser’s capabilities in structuring the investment process, and providing competent, attentive and efficient services to us depend on the involvement of investment professionals of adequate number and sophistication to match the corresponding flow of transactions. Any failure to find, hire, train, supervise and manage new investment professionals could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, the Investment Advisory Agreement has a termination provision that allows the agreement to be terminated by us on 60 days' notice without penalty by the vote of a Majority of the Outstanding Shares of our common stock or by the vote of our independent directors and generally may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by our Adviser upon 60 days' notice to us. Furthermore, the Investment Advisory Agreement automatically terminates in the event of its assignment, as defined in the 1940 Act, by the Adviser. If the Adviser resigns or is terminated, or if we do not obtain the requisite approvals of shareholders and our Board to approve an agreement with the Adviser after an assignment, we may not be able to find a new investment adviser or hire internal management with similar expertise and ability to provide the same or equivalent services on acceptable terms prior to the termination of the Investment Advisory Agreement, or at all. If we are unable to do so quickly, our operations are likely to experience a disruption and costs under any new agreements that we enter into could increase. Our financial condition, business and results of operations, as well as our ability to meet our payment obligations under our indebtedness and pay distributions, are likely to be adversely affected, and the value of our common stock may decline.
Our ability to achieve our investment objective also depends to a significant extent upon Blue Owl’s relationships with corporations, financial institutions and investment firms, the inability of Blue Owl to maintain or develop these relationships, or the failure of these relationships to generate investment opportunities, could adversely affect our business.
Blue Owl depends on its relationships with corporations, financial institutions and investment firms, and we rely to a significant extent upon these relationships to provide us with potential investment opportunities. The investment management business is intensely competitive, with competition based on a variety of factors, including investment performance, business relationships, quality of service provided to clients, fund investor liquidity, fund terms (including fees and economic sharing arrangements), brand recognition and business reputation. If Blue Owl fails to maintain its reputation it may not be able to maintain its existing relationships or develop new relationships or sources of investment opportunities, and we may not be able to grow our investment portfolio. In addition, there is no assurance that such relationships will generate investment opportunities for us.
Our cash and cash equivalents could be adversely affected if the financial institutions in which we hold our cash and cash equivalents fail.
We regularly maintain cash balances at third-party financial institutions in excess of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance limits. If a depository institution fails to return these deposits or is otherwise subject to adverse conditions in the financial or credit markets, our access to invested cash or cash equivalents could be limited which adversely impact our results of operations or financial condition.
We may face increasing competition for investment opportunities, which could delay further deployment of our capital, reduce returns and result in losses.
We may compete for investments with other BDCs and investment funds (including registered investment companies, private equity funds and mezzanine funds), including the other Blue Owl Clients or other funds managed by our Adviser or its affiliates comprising Blue Owl’s Credit platform (including Blue Owl's alternative credit products), the private funds managed by Blue Owl’s GP Strategic Capital platform, the funds and accounts managed by Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform, as well as traditional financial services companies such as commercial banks and other sources of funding. Moreover, alternative investment vehicles, such as hedge funds, continue to increase their investment focus in our target market of privately owned U.S. companies. We may experience increased competition from banks and investment vehicles who may continue to lend to the middle market. Additionally, the U.S. Federal Reserve and other bank regulators may periodically provide incentives to U.S. commercial banks to originate more loans to U.S. middle-market private companies. As a result of these market participants and regulatory incentives, competition for investment opportunities in privately owned U.S. companies is strong and may intensify. Many of our competitors are substantially larger and have considerably greater financial, technical, and marketing resources than we do. For example, some competitors may have a lower cost of capital and access to funding sources that are not available to us. In addition, some competitors may have higher risk tolerances
or different risk assessments than us. These characteristics could allow our competitors to consider a wider variety of investments, establish more relationships and offer better pricing and more flexible structuring than we are able to do.
Numerous factors increase our competitive risks, including, but not limited to:
• Some of our competitors may have or are perceived to have more expertise or financial, technical, marketing and other resources and more personnel than we do;
• We may not perform as well as competitors’ funds or other available investment products;
• Some of our competitors have raised significant amounts of capital, and many of them have similar investment objectives to ours, which may create additional competition for investment opportunities;
• Some of our competitors may have lower fees or alternative fee arrangements;
• Some of our competitors may have a lower cost of capital and access to funding sources that are not available to us, which may create competitive disadvantages for us;
• Some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances, different risk assessments or lower return thresholds than us, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and to bid more aggressively than us or to agree to less restrictive legal terms and protections for investments that we want to make; and
• Some of our competitors may be subject to less regulation or fewer conflicts of interest and, accordingly, may have more flexibility to undertake and execute certain businesses or investments than we do, bear less compliance expense than we do or be viewed differently in the marketplace.
We may lose investment opportunities if we do not match our competitors’ pricing, terms, and investment structure criteria. If we are forced to match these competitors’ investment terms criteria, we may not be able to achieve acceptable returns on our investments or may bear substantial risk of capital loss. A significant increase in the number and/or the size of our competitors in our target market could force us to accept less attractive investment terms. Furthermore, many competitors are not subject to the regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act imposes on us as a BDC or the source of income, asset diversification and distribution requirements we must satisfy to maintain our RIC tax treatment. The competitive pressures we face, and the manner in which we react or adjust to competitive pressures, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, effective yield on investments, investment returns, leverage ratio, and cash flows. As a result of this competition, we may not be able to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities from time to time. Also, we may not be able to identify and make investments that are consistent with our investment objective.
Our investment portfolio is recorded at fair value as determined in good faith by our Adviser in accordance with procedures approved by our Board and, as a result, there is and will be uncertainty as to the value of our portfolio investments.
Under the 1940 Act, we are required to carry our portfolio investments at market value or, if there is no readily available market value, at fair value as determined in accordance with procedures established by our Adviser and approved by our Board. There is not a public market or active secondary market for many of the types of investments in privately held companies that we hold and intend to make. Our investments may not be publicly traded or actively traded on a secondary market but, instead, may be traded on a privately negotiated over-the-counter secondary market for institutional investors, if at all. As a result, we will value these investments quarterly at fair value as determined in good faith in accordance with valuation policy and procedures approved by our Board.
The determination of fair value, and thus the amount of unrealized appreciation or depreciation we may recognize in any reporting period, is to a degree subjective, and our Adviser has a conflict of interest in determining fair value. We will value our investments quarterly at fair value as determined in good faith by our Adviser, based on, among other things, input of our Audit Committee and independent third-party valuation firm(s) engaged at the direction of our Adviser. The types of factors that may be considered in determining the fair values of our investments include the nature and realizable value of any collateral, the portfolio company’s ability to make payments and its earnings, the markets in which the portfolio company does business, comparison to publicly traded companies, discounted cash flow, current market interest rates and other relevant factors. Because such valuations, and particularly valuations of private securities and private companies, are inherently uncertain, the valuations may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time due to changes in current market conditions. The determinations of fair value in accordance with procedures approved by our Board may differ materially from the values that would have been used if an active market and market quotations existed for such investments. Our net asset value could be adversely affected if the determinations regarding the fair value of the investments were materially higher than the values that we ultimately realize upon the disposal of such investments.
Our Board may change our operating policies and strategies without prior notice or shareholder approval, the effects of which may be adverse to our shareholders.
Our Board has the authority to modify or waive current operating policies, investment criteria and strategies without prior notice and without shareholder approval. We cannot predict the effect any changes to current operating policies, investment criteria and strategies would have on our business, net asset value, operating results and the value of our securities. However, the effects might be adverse, which could negatively impact our ability to pay you distributions and cause you to lose all or part of your investment.
Any unrealized depreciation we experience on our portfolio may be an indication of future realized losses, which could reduce our income available for distribution.
As a BDC, we are required to carry our investments at market value or, if no market value is ascertainable, at the fair value as determined in good faith in accordance with procedures approved by our Board. Decreases in the market values or fair values of our investments relative to amortized cost will be recorded as unrealized depreciation. Any unrealized losses in our portfolio could be an indication of a portfolio company’s inability to meet its repayment obligations to us with respect to the affected loans. This could result in realized losses in the future and ultimately in reductions of our income available for distribution in future periods. In addition, decreases in the market value or fair value of our investments will reduce our net asset value. See “ ITEM 7 — MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS — Critical Accounting Policies — Investments at Fair Value .”
Cybersecurity risks and cyber data security incidents could adversely affect our business by causing a disruption to our operations, a compromise or corruption of our confidential information and confidential information in our possession and damage to our business relationships.
There has been an increase in the frequency and sophistication of the cyber and security threats we face, with attacks ranging from those common to businesses generally to those that are more advanced and persistent, which may target us because, as an alternative asset management firm, we hold confidential and other price sensitive information about existing and potential investments. Malicious cyber activity involving ransomware, extortion, business email compromise, social engineering and other security threats could originate from a wide variety of sources, including cyber criminals, nation state hackers, hacktivists and other outside parties. Additionally, cyber-attacks and other security threats have become increasingly complex as a result of the emergence of new AI technologies, which are able to identify and target new vulnerabilities in information technology systems. As a result, we may face a heightened risk of a security breach or disruption with respect to confidential information resulting from an attack by computer hackers, foreign governments or cyber terrorists.
The efficient operation of our business is dependent on computer hardware and software systems, as well as data processing systems and the secure processing, storage and transmission of information, which, despite implementation of a variety of security measures, are vulnerable to security breaches and cyber-attacks. A cyber-attack is considered to be an intentional attack or an unintentional event or series of events and involves gainingunauthorized access to our information systems for purposes of misappropriating assets, stealing confidential information, corrupting data or causing operational disruption or otherwise compromising the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our systems or infrastructure. Some factors that could create a heightened risk of a cyber incident include the use of remote work tools and/or third-party service providers, including cloud-based service providers. In addition, we may be the target of social engineering, fraudulent emails or other targeted attempts to gainunauthorized access to proprietary or sensitive information. In addition to cyber-related threats, our and our affiliates’ information systems and those of our third-party service providers may be subject to failures or interruptions arising from other causes beyond our control, including sudden electrical or telecommunications outages, natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes or hurricanes, disease pandemics, social unrest and geopolitical events including wars and acts of terrorism. Any such events could materially disrupt our operations and adversely affect our business and financial results. The result of any cyber-attack may include disrupted operations, including in our, our affiliates’, our investors’, our counterparties’, or third parties’ operations, misstated or unreliable financial data, fraudulent transfers or requests for transfers of money, liability for stolen or improperly accessed assets or information (including personal information), increased cybersecurity protection and insurance costs, litigation or damage to our business relationships and reputation, in each case causing our business and results of operations to suffer.
The rapid evolution and increased availability of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies (collectively, “AI technologies”) may also intensify cybersecurity risks by making such attacks and other cybersecurity incidents more difficult to detect, contain, and mitigate. For example, threat actors could impersonate Blue Owl or its employees, including through the use of AI technologies. Such technologies make such impersonation more likely to occur or appear more credible.
As our reliance on technology has increased, so have the risks posed to our information systems, both internal and those provided by third-party service providers, including increased risks resulting from remote work. We cannot guarantee that third parties and infrastructure in our networks or our partners’ networks have not been compromised or that they do not contain exploitable defects or bugs that could result in a breach of or disruption to our information technology systems or the third-party information technology systems that support our services. Our ability to monitor these third parties’ information security practices is limited, and they may not have adequate information security measures in place. Outages of and interruptions to third-party software vendors’ services, including as a result of the termination of an agreement with a third-party service provider, have previously resulted in and could in the future result in temporary disruptions to our and our affiliates’ normal operations. We have implemented processes, procedures and internal controls designed to mitigate cybersecurity risks and cyber intrusions and rely on industry accepted security measures and technology to securely maintain confidential and proprietary information maintained on our information systems. However, these measures, as well as our increased awareness of the nature and extent of a risk of a cyber-attack, do not guarantee that a cyber-attack will not occur or that our financial results, operations or confidential information will not be negatively impacted by such an incident, especially because the cyber-attack techniques change frequently or are not recognized until launched and because cyber-attacks can originate from a wide variety of sources.
Cybersecurity risks are exacerbated by the rapidly increasing volume of highly sensitive data, including our proprietary business information and intellectual property, personally identifiable information of our clients and others and other sensitive information that we collect and store in our data centers, on our cloud environments and on our networks. Our products may also invest in strategic assets having a national or regional profile or in infrastructure assets, the nature of which could expose them to a greater risk of being subject to a terrorist attack or security breach than other assets or businesses. The secure processing, maintenance and transmission of this information are critical to our operations. A significant actual or potential theft, loss, corruption, exposure, fraudulent use or misuse of personally identifiable, proprietary business data or other sensitive information, by third parties, as a result of the negligence or malfeasance of third party service providers that have access to such confidential information or otherwise, non-compliance with our contractual or other legal obligations regarding such data or intellectual property or a violation of our privacy and security policies with respect to such data could result in significant remediation and other costs, fines, litigation or regulatory actions against us and significant reputational harm, any of which could harm our business and results of operations.
Use of AI technologies by us could lead to the exposure of our data or other adverse effects and increase competitive, operational, legal, and regulatory risks in ways that we cannot predict.
Recent technological advances in AI technologies, as well as the rapid growth and widespread use thereof, present risks to our business, products, portfolio companies and investments. AI technologies may result in significant and disruptive changes in companies, sectors or industries, including those in which we invest, and any such changes could render our Adviser’s underwriting models obsolete or create new and unpredictable operational, legal and/or regulatory risks. To the extent our competitors make more efficient or extensive use of AI technologies, there is a possibility that such competitors will gain a competitive advantage. Many jurisdictions have passed or are considering laws and regulations concerning AI technologies, which could adversely affect our business, products, portfolio companies and investments. Additionally, we and the companies in which we invest could be further exposed to the risks of AI technologies if third-party service providers or any counterparties, whether or not known to us, use AI technologies in their business activities. We will not be able to control the use of AI technologies in third-party products or services, including those provided by our and our affiliates’ service providers. Additionally, the Adviser expects to use AI technologies in connection with its business activities, including to support our due diligence and investment activities. AI technologies are generally highly reliant on the collection and analysis of large amounts of data, and it is not possible or practicable to review all data upon which AI technologies are trained or which are otherwise utilized. AI technologies are also highly reliant on the accuracy, adequacy, completeness and objectivity of their underlying data, and any inaccuracies, deficiencies, errors or biases in this data could lead to errors affecting our decision-making and investment processes, which could have adverse impacts on us and our portfolio companies.
We are subject to risks in using custodians, counterparties, administrators and other agents.
Our business is dependent on our and third parties’ communications and information systems. Any failure or interruption of those systems, including as a result of the termination of an agreement with any third-party service providers, could cause delays or other problems in our activities. Our financial, accounting, data processing, portfolio monitoring, backup or other operating systems and facilities may fail to operate properly or become disabled or damaged as a result of a number of factors including events that are wholly or partially beyond our control. There could be:
• sudden electrical or telecommunications outages;
• natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes;
• disease pandemics;
• events arising from local or larger scale political or social matters, including terrorist acts;
• outages due to idiosyncratic issues at specific service providers; and
• cyber-attacks.
These events, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and negatively affect the net asset value of our common stock and our ability to pay distributions to our shareholders.
Increased data protection regulation may result in increased complexities and risk in connection with the operation of our business.
Our business is highly dependent on information systems and technology. The costs related to cyber or other security threats or disruptions may not be fully insured or indemnified by other means. Cybersecurity has become a priority for regulators in the U.S. and around the world. The SEC has also particularly focused on cybersecurity, and we expect increased scrutiny of our policies and systems designed to manage our cybersecurity risks and our related disclosures as a result. In May 2024, the SEC adopted amendments to Regulation S-P that require covered institutions, such as investment companies, to develop, implement, and maintain written policies and procedures for an incident response program that is reasonably designed to detect, respond to, and recover from unauthorized access to or use of customer information. The amendments also require that the response program include procedures for, with certain limited exceptions, covered institutions to provide notice to individuals whose sensitive customer information was or is reasonably likely to have been accessed or used without authorization. The amendments took effect on August 2, 2024, and had a compliance deadline of December 3, 2025 for large entities. We also face and expect to continue to face increased costs to comply with the new SEC rules, including increased costs for cybersecurity training and management.
Many jurisdictions in which we operate have laws and regulations relating to data privacy, cybersecurity and/or information security to which we may be subject (collectively, “Privacy Laws”). Compliance with applicable Privacy Laws may require adhering to stringent legal and operational requirements, which could increase compliance costs for us and require the dedication of additional time and resources to compliance. A failure to comply with applicable Data Protection Legislation could result in fines, sanctions, enforcement actions or other penalties or reputational damage. In addition, the SEC has indicated in recent periods that one of its examination priorities for the Division of Examinations is to continue to examine cybersecurity procedures and controls, including testing the implementation of these procedures and controls.
There may be substantial financial penalties or fines for a failure to comply with applicable Privacy Laws (which may include insufficient security for our personal or other sensitive information). For example, failure to comply with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the “GDPR”).
Our operations will be impacted by a growing movement to adopt comprehensive privacy and data protection laws where such laws focus on privacy as an individual right in general. Further, the Company’s portfolio companies and/or each of their affiliates are subject to regulations related to privacy, data protection and information security in the jurisdictions in which they do business. Such laws and regulations vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, thus increasing costs, operational and legal burdens and the potential for significant liability on regulated entities.
Non-compliance with any applicable Privacy Laws represents a serious risk to our business. Some jurisdictions have also enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals of data security breaches involving certain types of personal information. For example, the SEC’s most recent amendments to Regulation S-P require notification of affected customers no later than 30 days after becoming aware of a security incident that compromises their sensitive customer information . Breaches in security could potentially jeopardize our, our employees’ or our product investors’ or counterparties’ confidential or other information processed and stored in, or transmitted through, our computer systems and networks (or those of our third party vendors), or otherwise cause interruptions or malfunctions in our, our employees’, our product investors’, our counterparties’ or third parties’ operations, which could result in significant losses, increased costs, disruption of our business, liability to our product investors and other counterparties, fines or penalties, litigation, regulatory intervention or reputational damage, which could also lead to loss of product investors or clients.
We and our portfolio companies are subject to increasing scrutiny from certain investors, third party assessors, regulators and our shareholders with respect to ESG-related topics.
We and our portfolio companies face increasing scrutiny from certain investors, third party assessors that measure companies’ ESG performance, regulators and our shareholders related to ESG-related topics, including in relation to diversity and inclusion, human rights, environmental stewardship, support for local communities, corporate governance and transparency. For example, we and the companies in which we invest risk damage to our brands and reputations if we or they do not act (or are perceived to not act) responsibly either with respect to responsible investing processes or ESG-related practices. Adverseincidents related to ESG practices could impact the value of our brand or the companies in which we invest, or the cost of our or their operations and relationships with investors, all of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. Further, there can be no assurance that any of our Adviser’s ESG initiatives or commitments will meet the standards or expectations of our shareholders or other stakeholders. There can be no assurance that our Adviser will be able to accomplish any goals related to responsible investing or ESG practices, as statements regarding its ESG and responsible investing commitments and priorities reflect its current estimates, plans and/or aspirations and are not guarantees that it will be able to achieve them within the timelines announced or at all. Additionally, the Adviser may determine in its discretion that it is not feasible or practical to implement or complete certain aspects of its responsible investing program or ESG initiatives based on cost, timing or other considerations.
In recent years, certain investors have placed increasing importance on policies and practices related to responsible investing and ESG for the products to which they commit capital, and investors may decide not to commit capital to future fundraises based on their assessment of the Adviser’s approach to and consideration of ESG-related issues or risks. Similarly, a variety of organizations measure the performance of companies on ESG topics, and the results of these assessments are widely publicized. If the Adviser’s responsible investing or ESG-related practices or ratings do not meet the standards set by such investors or organizations, or if the Adviser receives a negative rating or assessment from any such organization, or if the Adviser fails, or is perceived to fail, to demonstrate progress toward its ESG priorities and initiatives, they may choose not to invest in us, and we may face reputational damage. Similarly, it is expected that investor and/or shareholder demands will require the Adviser to spend additional resources on and place continued importance on business relevant ESG factors in its review of prospective investments and management of existing ones. Devoting additional resources to our responsible investing or ESG-related practices could increase the amount of expenses we or our investments are required to bear. For example, collecting, measuring, and reporting ESG information and metrics can be costly, difficult and time consuming, is subject to evolving reporting standards, and can present numerous operational, reputational, financial, legal and other risks. To the extent our access to capital from investors focused on ESG ratings or ESG-related matters is impaired, we may not be able to maintain or increase the size of our existing products or raise sufficient capital for new products, which may adversely affect our revenues. Further, interest on the part of investors and regulators in ESG-related topics and themes and increased demand for, and scrutiny of, ESG-related disclosure by asset managers, has also increased the risk that asset managers could be perceived as, or accused of, making inaccurate or misleading statements regarding the ESG-related investment strategies of their and
their funds’ responsible investing or ESG-related efforts or initiatives, or “greenwashing.” This risk may also materialize where ESG-related statements and/or disclosures made by our portfolio companies are materially inconsistent with our ESG-related statements or disclosures, including those made on a voluntary basis or pursuant to any applicable regulation, such as Regulation EU 2019/2088 on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector (the “SFDR”). Such perception or accusation could damage our reputation, result in litigation or regulatory actions and adversely impact our ability to raise capital.
At the same time, various stakeholders may have differing approaches to responsible investing activities or divergent views on the consideration of ESG topics, including in the countries in which our Adviser operates and invests, as well as in the states and localities where our Adviser serves public sector clients. These differing views increase the risk that any action or lack thereof with respect to our Adviser’s consideration of responsible investing or ESG-related practices will be perceived negatively. Several states, the executive branch, federal agencies and Congress have enacted, proposed or indicated an intent to pursue “anti-ESG” policies, legislation or initiatives, issued related legal opinions and engaged in related investigations and litigation. For example: (i) boycott bills target financial institutions that “boycott” or “discriminate against” companies in certain industries (e.g., energy and mining) and prohibit state entities from doing business with such institutions and/or investing the state’s assets (including pension plan assets) through such institutions and (ii) ESG investment prohibitions require that state entities or managers/administrators of state investments make investments based solely on pecuniary factors without consideration of ESG factors. If investors subject to such legislation view our responsible investing or ESG practices as being in contradiction of such “anti-ESG” policies, legislation or legal opinions, such investors may not invest in us and it could negatively affect the results of operations, cash flows, or the price of our common stock. Further, asset managers have been subject to scrutiny related to ESG-focused industry working groups, initiatives and associations, including organizations advancing action to address climate change or climate-related risk. In addition, state attorneys general, among others, have asserted that the Supreme Court’s decision striking down race-based affirmative action in higher education in June 2023 should be analogized to private employment matters and private contract matters. Cases alleging discrimination based on similar arguments have been filed since that decision, with scrutiny of certain corporate DEI practices increasing throughout 2025. Additionally, in January 2025, the current U.S. Presidential administration signed a number of executive orders focused on DEI (the “Executive Orders”), which include a broad mandate to eliminate federal DEI programs and a caution to the private sector to end what may be viewed as illegal DEI discrimination and preferences. The Executive Orders have resulted in compliance investigations of private entities, including publicly traded companies, and changes to federal contracting regulations. If the Adviser does not successfully manage expectations across these varied stakeholder interests, it could erode stakeholder trust, impact our reputation and/or constrain our investment and fundraising opportunities. Such scrutiny of both ESG and DEI related practices could expose the Adviser to additional compliance obligations, the risk of litigation, investigations or challenges by federal or state authorities, result in reputational harm and/or discourage certain investors from investing in us.
We are subject to increasing scrutiny from regulators with respect to ESG-related issues and the regulatory disclosure landscape surrounding related topics continues to evolve.
Responsible investing, ESG practices and ESG-related disclosures have been the subject of increased focus by certain regulators, and regulatory initiatives related to ESG-specific topics that are applicable to us, our products and our products’ portfolio companies could adversely affect our business. There has been a growing regulatory interest across jurisdictions in improvingtransparency regarding the definition, measurement and disclosure of ESG factors in order to allow investors to validate and better understand sustainability claims, including in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
For example, the SEC sometimes reviews compliance with ESG commitments in examinations, and it has taken enforcement actions against registered investment advisers for not establishing adequate or consistently implementing ESG policies and procedures to meet ESG commitments to investors.
In addition, in October 2023, California enacted legislation that will ultimately require certain companies that (i) do business in California to publicly disclose their Scopes 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, with third party assurance of such data, (Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, or “SB 253”), and issue public reports on their climate-related financial risk and related mitigation measures (Climate-Related Financial Risk Act, or “SB 261”) and (ii) operate in California and make certain climate-related claims to provide enhanced disclosures around the achievement of climate-related claims, including the use of voluntary carbon credits to achieve such claims. Pending litigationagainst SB 253 and SB 261 creates ongoing uncertainty around the enforceability of related disclosure obligations and may result in additional compliance burdens, increased legal and compliance costs, and enhanced disclosure obligations. From a European perspective, the European Union has in place regulation aimed at increasing transparency for investors of sustainability-related policies, processes, performance and commitments which apply to certain of our products, including, without limitation: (a) the SFDR, for which most rules took effect beginning on March 10, 2021 and (b) Regulation (EU) 2020/852 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment and amending the SFDR. In November 2025, the European Commission published a draft legislative proposal to revise SFDR to introduce, among others, new categories for sustainability-related financial products with related criteria that are required to be met for each category. Relatedly, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) has identified promoting transparency through effective sustainability disclosures and addressing greenwashing as one of its key priorities per ESMA’s sustainable finance roadmap and strategy. ESMA has also introduced guidelines on funds with ESG, impact, transition or sustainability-related terms in their names.
There are still some uncertainties regarding the operation of some of these requirements and how they might evolve, and an established market practice is still being developed in certain cases, which can lead to diverging implementation and/or operationalization, data gaps or methodological challenges which may affect our ability to collect relevant data. These regimes continue to evolve and there is still a lack of clarity and established practice around the approach to their supervision and enforcement, which may vary across national competent authorities. There is a risk that a development or reorientation in the regulatory requirements or market practice in this respect could be adverse to our investments if they are perceived to be less valuable as a consequence of, among other things, their carbon footprint or perceived “greenwashing.” Compliance with requirements of this nature may also increase risks relating to financial supervision and enforcement action. There is also a risk that market expectations in relation to the SFDR categorization of financial products, could adversely affect our ability to raise capital, especially from EEA investors.
In November 2023, the Sustainability Labelling and Disclosure of Sustainability-Related Financial Information Instrument 2023 (“SDR”) introduced sustainability disclosure requirements, voluntary investment product labels and an ‘anti-greenwashing’ rule. The anti-greenwashing rule applies to all UK-authorized firms in relation to sustainability-related claims made in their communications, and/or communications of financial promotions with, clients in the UK. The balance of the new regime is currently directed at UK investment funds and UK-regulated asset management firms as well as distributors of such funds.
In Asia, examples of ESG-related regulations including those by regulators in Singapore and Hong Kong, have released guidelines for asset managers to integrate climate risk considerations in investment and risk management processes, together with enhanced disclosure and reporting and have also issued enhanced rules for certain ESG funds on general ESG risk management and disclosure.
As a result of these and other legislative and regulatory initiatives, we or the Adviser may be required to provide additional disclosure to our investors with respect to ESG matters. This exposes us to increased disclosure risks, for example due to a lack of available or credible data, and the potential for conflicting disclosures may also expose us to an increased risk of misstatementlitigation or miss-selling allegations. Failure to manage these risks could result in a material adverse effect on our business in a number of ways. Compliance with frameworks of this nature may create an additional compliance burden and increased legal, compliance, governance, reporting and other costs to funds and/or fund managers because of the need to collect certain information to meet the disclosure requirements. In addition, where there are uncertainties regarding the operation of the framework, a lack of official, conflicting or inconsistent regulatory guidance, a lack of established market practice and/or data gaps or methodological challenges affecting the ability to collect relevant data, funds and/or fund managers may be required to engage third party advisers and/or service providers to fulfil the requirements, thereby exacerbating any increase in compliance burden and costs. To the extent that any applicable jurisdictions enact similar laws and/or frameworks, there is a risk that we may not be able to maintain alignment of a particular investment with such frameworks, and/or may be subject to additional compliance burdens and costs, which might adversely affect us.
We may be the target of litigation or similar proceedings in the future and we are subject to public perception risks.
We could generally be subject to litigation or similar proceedings in the future, including securities litigation and derivative actions by our stockholders. Any litigation or similar proceedings could result in substantial costs, divert management’s attention and resources from our business or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, in recent periods, there has been increased negative publicity with respect to the private credit industry, which could in the future harm our reputation.
Risks Related to Our Adviser and Its Affiliates
Our Adviser and its affiliates, including our officers and some of our directors, may face conflicts of interest caused by compensation arrangements with us and our affiliates, which could result in increased risk-taking or speculative investments, or cause our Adviser to use substantial leverage.
Our Adviser and its affiliates receive fees from us in return for their services. These fees may include certain incentive fees based on the amount of appreciation of our investments and arrangement, structuring or similar fees from portfolio companies in which we invest. These fees could influence the advice provided to us or create an incentive for our Adviser to make investments on our behalf that are risky or more speculative than would be the case in the absence of such incentive fees. Generally, the more equity we sell in public offerings and the greater the risk assumed by us with respect to our investments, including through the use of leverage, the greater the potential for growth in our assets and profits, and, correlatively, the fees payable by us to our Adviser. The way in which the incentive fee is determined may encourage our Adviser to use leverage to increase the leveraged return on our investment portfolio.
In addition, the fact that our base management fee is payable based upon our average gross assets (which includes any borrowings used for investment purposes) may encourage our Adviser to use leverage to make additional investments. Such a practice could make such investments more risky than would otherwise be the case, which could result in higher investment losses, particularly during cyclical economic downturns. Under certain circumstances, the use of substantial leverage (up to the limits prescribed by the 1940 Act) may increase the likelihood of our defaulting on our borrowings, which would be detrimental to holders of our securities.
These compensation arrangements could affect our Adviser’s or its affiliates’ judgment with respect to public offerings of equity, incurrence of debt, and investments made by us, which allow our Adviser to earn increased asset management fees.
The time and resources that individuals associated with our Adviser devote to us may be diverted, and we may face additional competition due to, among other things, the fact that neither our Adviser nor its affiliates is prohibited from raising money for or managing another entity that makes the same types of investments that we target.
Blue Owl is not prohibited from raising money for and managing future investment entities, in addition to the Blue Owl Clients, that make the same or similar types of investments as those we target. As a result, the time and resources that our Adviser devotes to us may be diverted, and during times of intense activity in other investment programs they may devote less time and resources to our business than is necessary or appropriate. In addition, we may compete with any such investment entity also managed by our Adviser or its affiliates for the same investors and investment opportunities. Furthermore, certain members of the Diversified Lending Investment Committee or our affiliates are officers of Blue Owl and will devote a portion of their time to the operations of Blue Owl, including with respect to public company compliance.
Our Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts of interest with respect to services performed for their respective other accounts and clients or issuers in which we may invest.
Our Adviser and its affiliates may provide a broad range of financial services to companies in which we may invest, including providing arrangement, syndication, origination structuring and other services to portfolio companies, and will generally be paid fees for such services, in compliance with applicable law, by the portfolio company. Any compensation received by our Adviser or its affiliates for providing these services will not be shared with us and may be received before we realize a return on our investment. In addition, we may invest in companies managed by entities in which funds managed by GP Strategic Capital have acquired a minority interest. Our Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts of interest with respect to services performed for these companies, on the one hand, and investments recommended to us, on the other hand and could, in certain instances, have an incentive not to pursue actions against a portfolio company that would be in our best interest
Additionally, because our Adviser and its affiliates manage assets for, or may in the future manage assets for, other investment companies, pooled investment vehicles and/or other accounts (including institutional clients, pension plans, insurance companies, co-invest vehicles and certain high net worth individuals), including the Blue Owl Clients, and we may compete for capital and investment opportunities with these entities, certain of which may have investment objectives that overlap with ours. As a result, conflicts may arise with respect to the allocation of investment opportunities among those products. For example, the Adviser is permitted to allocate an investment to a number of products across its platforms that it views as appropriate for the particular investment objectives, strategies and characteristics of such products. These conflicts include conflicts of interest relating to the allocation of investment opportunities by our Adviser and its affiliates; compensation to our Adviser; services that may be provided by our Adviser and its affiliates to issuers in which we may invest; investments by us and other clients of our Adviser, subject to the limitations of the 1940 Act; the formation of additional investment funds managed by our Adviser; differing recommendations given by our Adviser to us versus other clients; our Adviser’s use of information gained from issuers in our portfolio for investments by other clients, subject to applicable law; restrictions on our Adviser’s use of “inside information” with respect to potential investments by us; the allocation of certain expenses; and cross transactions.
For instance, our Adviser and its affiliates may receive asset management performance-based, or other fees from certain accounts that are higher than the fees received by our Adviser from us. In addition, certain members of Blue Owl’s Credit platform’s investment committees and other executives and employees of our Adviser or its affiliates will hold and receive interest in Blue Owl and its affiliates, in addition to cash and carried interest compensation. In these instances, a portfolio manager for our Adviser may have an incentive to favor the higher fee and/or performance-based fee accounts over us and/or to favor Blue Owl. In addition, a conflict of interest exists to the extent our Adviser, its affiliates, or any of their respective executives, portfolio managers or employees have proprietary or personal investments in other investment companies or accounts or when certain other investment companies or accounts are investment options in our Adviser’s or its affiliates’ employee benefit plans or employee offerings. In these circumstances, personnel of our Adviser may have incentive to favor these other investment companies or accounts over us. In addition, investments by more than one Blue Owl product in a portfolio company also have the potential to raise the risk of using assets of one Blue Owl product to support positions taken by another.
To mitigate these conflicts, the Blue Owl Credit Advisers will seek to execute such transactions for all of the participating investment accounts, including us, on a fair and equitable basis and in accordance with the Blue Owl Credit Advisers’ investment allocation policies, taking into account such factors as differences with respect to available capital; the current or anticipated size of a product; minimum investment amounts; the remaining life of a product; differences in investment objectives, guidelines or strategies; diversification; portfolio construction considerations; liquidity needs; legal, tax and regulatory requirements and other considerations deemed relevant to the Adviser and in accordance with its policies and procedures. We may be prohibited under the 1940 Act from participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our directors who are not interested persons and, in some cases, the prior approval of the SEC. We, our Adviser and certain affiliates have been granted exemptive relief by the SEC to permit us to co-invest with other funds managed by our Adviser or certain of its affiliates in a manner consistent with our positions,
policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. See “ —Our ability to enter into transactions with our affiliates is restricted. ”
Actions taken by our Adviser and its affiliates on behalf of the Blue Owl Clients as a result of any conflict of interest may be adverse to us, which could harm our performance. For example, we may invest in the same credit obligations as other Blue Owl Clients, although, to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act, our investments may include different obligations or levels of the capital structure of the same issuer. The interests of Blue Owl Clients invested in different levels of the capital structure of a portfolio company may not always be aligned and actions taken for one Blue Owl Client may be adverse to one or more other products, which may give rise to conflicts of interest. The interests of these different Blue Owl Clients may diverge significantly particularly in the case of financial distress of the portfolio company. For example, in a bankruptcy proceeding or out-of-court restructuring, the interests of a Blue Owl Client owning equity or subordinated debt securities may be subordinated or otherwise adversely affected by virtue of a different Blue Owl Client's actions in respect of its own interests as a senior debt holder. While the Blue Owl Credit Advisers and their affiliates have developed general guidelines regarding when two or more funds can invest in different parts of the same company’s capital structure and created a process that they employ to handle those conflicts when they arise, their decision to permit the investments to occur in the first instance or their judgment on how to mitigate the conflict could be challenged or deemed insufficient. If the Blue Owl Credit Advisers and their affiliates fail to appropriately address those conflicts, it could negatively impact their reputation and ability to raise additional funds and the willingness of counterparties to do business with them or result in potential litigationagainst them.
From time to time, fees and expenses generated in connection with potential portfolio investments that are not consummated and other investment related expenses may be allocable to us and one or more Blue Owl Clients. These expenses will be allocated in a manner that is fair and equitable over time and in accordance with policies adopted by the Blue Owl Credit Advisers and the Investment Advisory Agreement; however, the method for allocation expenses may vary depending on the nature of the expense and such determinations involve inherent discretion.
Our Adviser and its affiliates may give advice and recommend securities to other clients which may differ from advice given to, or securities recommended or bought for, us even though such other clients’ investment objectives may be similar to ours, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, from time to time, our Adviser could cause us to purchase a security or other investment from, or sell a security or other investment to, another Blue Owl Client. Such cross transaction would be in accordance with applicable regulations and our and our Adviser’s valuation and cross-trades policies; however, such cross transactions could give rise to additional conflicts of interest.
Our Board will seek to monitor these conflicts but there can be no assurances that such monitoring will fully mitigate any such conflicts.
Reductions, waivers or absorptions of fees and costs can temporarily result in higher returns to shareholders than they would otherwise receive if full fees and costs were charged.
The Adviser and its affiliates are permitted to reduce, waive or absorb some of the fees or costs otherwise due by us. While this activity can be seen as friendly to shareholders, reductions, waivers and absorptions of fees and costs result in higher returns to shareholders than such shareholders would receive if full fees and costs were charged. There is no guarantee that any reductions, waivers or absorptions will occur in the future, and any reductions, waivers and absorptions are entirely at the discretion of the Adviser.
Products within Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform may enter into sale lease-back transactions with our portfolio companies or with borrowers under our credit facilities.
From time to time, companies in which we have invested or may invest, may enter into sale-leaseback transactions with products within Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform. As a result of these arrangements we could be a creditor to, or equity owners of, a company at the same time that company is a tenant of a product within Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform. If such a company were to encounter financial difficulty or default on its obligations as a borrower, our Adviser could be required to take actions that may be adverse to those of Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform in enforcing our rights under the relevant facilities or agreements, or vice versa. This could lead to actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
Our access to confidential information may restrict our ability to take action with respect to some investments, which, in turn, may negatively affect our results of operations.
We, directly or through our Adviser, may obtain confidential information about the companies in which we have invested or may invest or be deemed to have such confidential information. Our Adviser may come into possession of material, non-public information through its members, officers, directors, employees, principals or affiliates. In addition, funds managed by GP Strategic Capital may invest in entities that manage our portfolio companies and, as a result, may obtain additional confidential information about our portfolio companies. The possession of such information may, to our detriment, limit the ability of us and our Adviser to buy or sell a security or otherwise to participate in an investment opportunity. In certain circumstances, employees of our Adviser may serve as board members or in other capacities for portfolio or potential portfolio companies, which could restrict our ability to trade in the securities of such companies. For example, if personnel of our Adviser come into possession of material non-public information with respect to our investments, such personnel will be restricted by our Adviser’s information-sharing policies and procedures or by law or contract from sharing such information with our management team, even where the disclosure of such information would be in our best interests or would otherwise influence decisions taken by the members of the management team with respect to that investment. This conflict and these procedures and practices may limit the freedom of our Adviser to enter into or exit from potentially profitable investments for us, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will be able to fully leverage the resources and industry expertise of our Adviser in the course of its duties. Additionally, there may be circumstances in which one or more individuals associated with our Adviser will be precluded from providing services to us because of certain confidential information available to those individuals or to other parts of our Adviser.
We may be obligated to pay our Adviser incentive fees even if we incur a net loss due to a decline in the value of our portfolio and even if our earned interest income is not payable in cash.
The Investment Advisory Agreement entitles our Adviser to receive an incentive fee based on our pre-incentive fee net investment income regardless of any capital losses. In such case, we may be required to pay our Adviser an incentive fee for a fiscal quarter even if there is a decline in the value of our portfolio or if we incur a net loss for that quarter.
Any incentive fee payable by us that relates to the pre-incentive fee net investment income may be computed and paid on income that may include interest that has been accrued but not yet received or interest in the form of securities received rather than cash (“payment-in-kind” or “PIK” income”). PIK income will be included in the pre-incentive fee net investment income used to calculate the incentive fee to our Adviser even though we do not receive the income in the form of cash. If a portfolio company defaults on a loan that is structured to provide accrued interest income, it is possible that accrued interest income previously included in the calculation of the incentive fee will become uncollectible. Our Adviser is not obligated to reimburse us for any part of the incentive fee it received that was based on accrued interest income that we never receive as a result of a subsequent default.
The quarterly incentive fee on income is recognized and paid without regard to: (i) the trend of pre-incentive fee net investment income as a percent of adjusted capital over multiple quarters in arrears which may in fact be consistently less than the quarterly preferred return, or (ii) the net income or net loss in the current calendar quarter, the current year or any combination of prior periods.
For U.S. federal income tax purposes, we may be required to recognize taxable income in some circumstances in which we do not receive a corresponding payment in cash and to make distributions with respect to such income to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC and/or minimize U.S. federal income or excise tax. Under such circumstances, we may have difficulty meeting the Annual Distribution Requirement necessary to maintain RIC tax treatment under the Code. This difficulty in making the required distribution may be amplified to the extent that we are required to pay the incentive fee on income with respect to such accrued income. As a result, we may have to sell some of our investments at times and/or at prices we would not consider advantageous, raise additional debt or equity capital, or forgo new investment opportunities for this purpose. If we are not able to obtain cash from other sources, we may fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment and thus become subject to U.S. federal income tax imposed at corporate rates.
Our ability to enter into transactions with our affiliates is restricted.
We are prohibited under the 1940 Act from participating in certain transactions with certain of our affiliates without the prior approval of a majority of our independent directors and, in some cases, the SEC. Any person that owns, directly or indirectly, 5% or more of our outstanding voting securities will be our affiliate for purposes of the 1940 Act, and we will generally be prohibited from buying or selling any securities from or to such affiliate on a principal basis, absent the prior approval of our Board and, in some cases, the SEC. The 1940 Act also prohibits certain “joint” transactions with certain of our affiliates, including other funds or clients advised
by our Adviser or its affiliates, which in certain circumstances could include investments in the same portfolio company (whether at the same or different times to the extent the transaction involves a joint investment), without prior approval of our Board and, in some cases, the SEC. If a person acquires more than 25% of our voting securities, we will be prohibited from buying or selling any security from or to such person or certain of that person’s affiliates, or entering into prohibited joint transactions with such persons, absent the prior approval of the SEC. Similar restrictions limit our ability to transact business with our officers or directors or their affiliates or anyone who is under common control with us. The SEC has interpreted the BDC regulations governing transactions with affiliates to prohibit certain joint transactions involving entities that share a common investment adviser. As a result of these restrictions, we may be prohibited from buying or selling any security from or to any portfolio company that is controlled by a fund managed by either of our Adviser or its affiliates without the prior approval of the SEC, which may limit the scope of investment or disposition opportunities that would otherwise be available to us.
We rely on an order for exemptive relief (the “Order”) from the SEC, to co-invest with other funds managed by our Adviser or its affiliates in a manner consistent with our positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. The Order requires that a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of the Board make certain findings (1) in most instances when we co-invest with our affiliates in an issuer where our affiliate has an existing investment in the issuer, and (2) if we dispose of an asset acquired in a transaction under the Order unless the disposition is done on a pro rata basis. Pursuant to the Order, the Board will oversee our participation in the co-investment program. As required by the Order, we have adopted, and the Board has approved, policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure compliance with the terms of the Order, and the Adviser and our Chief Compliance Officer will provide reporting to the Board.
We may make investments that could give rise to a conflict of interest.
We do not expect to invest in, or hold securities of, companies that are controlled by an affiliate’s other clients. However, our Adviser or an affiliate’s other clients may invest in, and gain control over, one of our portfolio companies. If our Adviser or an affiliate’s other client, or clients, gains control over one of our portfolio companies, it may create conflicts of interest and may subject us to certain restrictions under the 1940 Act. As a result of these conflicts and restrictions our Adviser may be unable to implement our investment strategies as effectively as they could have in the absence of such conflicts or restrictions. For example, as a result of a conflict or restriction, our Adviser may be unable to engage in certain transactions that it would otherwise pursue. In order to avoid these conflicts and restrictions, our Adviser may choose to exit such investments prematurely and, as a result, we may forego any positive returns associated with such investments. In addition, to the extent that an affiliate’s other client holds a different class of securities than us as a result of such transactions, our interests may not be aligned.
Our Adviser’s liability is limited under the Investment Advisory Agreement, and we are required to indemnify our Adviser against certain liabilities, which may lead our Adviser to act in a riskier manner on our behalf than it would when acting for its own account.
Our Adviser has not assumed any responsibility to us other than to render the services described in the Investment Advisory Agreement (and, separately, under the Administration Agreement), and it will not be responsible for any action of our Board in declining to follow our Adviser’s advice or recommendations. Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, our Adviser and its directors, officers, shareholders, members, agents, employees, controlling persons, and any other person or entity affiliated with, or acting on behalf of our Adviser will not be liable to us for their acts under the Investment Advisory Agreement, absent criminal conduct, willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of their duties. We have also agreed to indemnify, defend and protect our Adviser and its directors, officers, shareholders, members, agents, employees, controlling persons and any other person or entity affiliated with, or acting on behalf of our Adviser with respect to all damages, liabilities, costs and expenses resulting from acts of our Adviser not arising out of criminal conduct, willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of their duties. However, in accordance with Section 17(i) of the 1940 Act, neither our Adviser nor any of its affiliates, directors, officers, members, employees, agents, or representatives may be protected against any liability to us or our investors to which it would otherwise be subject by reason of criminal conduct, willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence or recklessdisregard of the duties involved in the conduct of its office. These protections may lead our Adviser to act in a riskier manner when acting on our behalf than it would when acting for its own account.
There are risks associated with any potential merger with or purchase of assets of another fund.
Our Adviser may in the future recommend to our Board that we merge with or acquire all or substantially all of the assets of one or more funds including a fund that could be managed by our Adviser or its affiliates (including another BDC). We do not expect that our Adviser would recommend any such merger or asset purchase unless it determines that it would be in our best interests, with such determination dependent on factors it deems relevant, which may include our historical and projected financial performance and that of any proposed merger partner, portfolio composition, potential synergies from the merger or asset sale, available alternative options and market conditions. In addition, no such merger or asset purchase would be consummated absent the meeting of various conditions required by applicable law or contract, at such time, which may include approval of the board of directors and common equity holders of both funds. If our Adviser is the investment adviser of both funds, various conflicts of interest would exist with respect to any such transaction. Such conflicts of interest may potentially arise from, among other things, differences between the compensation payable
to our Adviser by us and by the entity resulting from such a merger or asset purchase or efficiencies or other benefits to our Adviser as a result of managing a single, larger fund instead of two separate funds.
Our Adviser’s failure to comply with pay-to-play laws, regulations and policies could have an adverse effect on our Adviser, and thus, us.
A number of U.S. states and municipal pension plans have adopted so-called “pay-to-play” laws, regulations or policies which prohibit, restrict or require disclosure of payments to (and/or certain contacts with) state officials by individuals and entities seeking to do business with state entities, including those seeking investments by public retirement funds. The SEC has adopted a rule that, among other things, prohibits an investment adviser from providing advisory services for compensation to a government client for two years after the adviser or certain of its executives or employees makes a contribution to certain elected officials or candidates. If our Adviser, any of its employees or affiliates or any service provider acting on its behalf, fails to comply with such laws, regulations or policies, such non-compliance could have an adverse effect on our Adviser, and thus, us.
Risks Related to Business Development Companies
The requirement that we invest a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets could preclude us from investing in accordance with our current business strategy; conversely, the failure to invest a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets could result in our failure to maintain our status as a BDC.
As a BDC, the 1940 Act prohibits us from acquiring any assets other than certain qualifying assets unless, at the time of and after giving effect to such acquisition, at least 70% of our total assets are qualifying assets. Therefore, we may be precluded from investing in what we believe are attractive investments if such investments are not qualifying assets. Conversely, if we fail to invest a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets, we could lose our status as a BDC, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Similarly, these rules could prevent us from making additional investments in existing portfolio companies, which could result in the dilution of our position, or could require us to dispose of investments at an inopportune time to comply with the 1940 Act. If we were forced to sell non-qualifying investments in the portfolio for compliance purposes, the proceeds from such sale could be significantly less than the current value of such investments.
Failure to maintain our status as a BDC would reduce our operating flexibility.
If we do not remain a BDC, we might be regulated as a closed-end investment company under the 1940 Act, which would subject us to substantially more regulatory restrictions, including a greater required asset coverage ratio and additional restrictions on transactions with affiliates, and correspondingly decrease our operating flexibility.
Regulations governing our operation as a BDC and RIC affect our ability to raise capital and the way in which we raise additional capital or borrow for investment purposes, which may have a negative effect on our growth. As a BDC, the necessity of raising additional capital may expose us to risks, including risks associated with leverage.
As a result of the Annual Distribution Requirement to qualify for tax treatment as a RIC, we may need to access the capital markets periodically to raise cash to fund new investments in portfolio companies. Currently, we may issue “senior securities,” including borrowing money from banks or other financial institutions only in amounts such that the ratio of our total assets (less total liabilities other than indebtedness represented by senior securities) to our total indebtedness represented by senior securities plus preferred stock, if any, equals at least 150% after such incurrence or issuance. If we issue senior securities, we will be exposed to risks associated with leverage, including an increased risk of loss. Our ability to issue different types of securities is also limited. Compliance with RIC distribution requirements may unfavorably limit our investment opportunities and reduce our ability in comparison to other companies to profit from favorable spreads between the rates at which we can borrow and the rates at which we can lend. Therefore, we intend to seek to continuously issue equity securities, which may lead to shareholder dilution.
If the value of our assets declines, we may be unable to satisfy the asset coverage test under the 1940 Act, which would prohibit us from paying distributions and could prevent us from qualifying for tax treatment as a RIC, which would generally result in U.S. federal income tax imposed at corporate rates on any income and net gains. If we cannot satisfy the asset coverage test, we may be required to sell a portion of our investments and, depending on the nature of our debt financing, repay a portion of our indebtedness at a time when such sales may be disadvantageous. Also, any amounts that we use to service our indebtedness would not be available for distribution to our shareholders.
In addition, as market conditions permit, we have and may continue to securitize our loans to generate cash for funding new investments. To securitize loans, we have and may continue to create a wholly owned subsidiary, contribute a pool of loans to the subsidiary and have the subsidiary issue primarily investment grade debt securities to purchasers who would be expected to be willing to accept a substantially lower interest rate than the loans earn. We have and may continue to retain all or a portion of the equity in the securitized pool of loans. Our retained equity would be exposed to any losses on the portfolio of loans before any of the debt securities would be exposed to such losses. See “ —W e are subject to certain risks as a result of our interests in the CLO Preferred Shares ”; “ The subordination of the CLO Preferred Shares will affect our right to payment ”; and “ The CLO Indentures require mandatory redemption of the respective CLO Debt for failure to satisfy coverage tests, which would reduce the amounts available for distribution to us. ”
Risks Related to Our Investments
Our investments in portfolio companies may be risky, and we could lose all or part of our investments.
Our strategy focuses primarily on originating and making loans to, and making debt and equity investments in, U.S. middle market companies, with a focus on originated transactions sourced through the networks of our Adviser. Short transaction closing timeframes associated with originated transactions coupled with added tax or accounting structuring complexity and international transactions may result in higher risk in comparison to non-originated transactions.
Most debt securities in which we intend to invest will not be rated by any rating agency and, if they were rated, they would be rated as below investment grade quality and are commonly referred to as “high yield” or “junk.” Debt securities rated below investment grade quality are generally regarded as having predominantly speculative characteristics and may carry a greater risk with respect to a borrower’s capacity to pay interest and repay principal. In addition, some of the loans in which we may invest may be “covenant-lite” loans. We use the term “covenant-lite” loans to refer generally to loans that do not have a complete set of financial maintenance covenants. Generally, “covenant-lite” loans provide borrower companies more freedom to negatively impact lenders because their covenants are incurrence-based, which means they are only tested and can only be breached following an affirmative action of the borrower, rather than by a deterioration in the borrower’s financial condition. Accordingly, to the extent we invest in “covenant-lite” loans, we may have fewer rights against a borrower and may have a greater risk of loss on such investments as compared to investments in or exposure to loans with financial maintenance covenants.
First-Lien Debt. When we make a first-lien loan, we generally take a security interest in the available assets of the portfolio company, including the equity interests of its subsidiaries, which we expect to help mitigate the risk that we will not be repaid. However, there is a risk that the collateral securing our loans may decrease in value over time, may be difficult to sell in a timely manner, may be difficult to appraise, and may fluctuate in value based upon the success of the business and market conditions, including as a result of the inability of the portfolio company to raise additional capital. In some circumstances, our lien is, or could become, subordinated to claims of other creditors. Consequently, the fact that a loan is secured does not guarantee that we will receive principal and interest payments according to the loan’s terms, or at all, or that we will be able to collect on the loan should we need to enforce our remedies.
Unitranche Loans. In addition, in connection with any unitranche loans (including “last out” portions of such loans) in which we may invest, we would enter into agreements among lenders. Under these agreements, our interest in the collateral of the first-lien loans may rank junior to those of other lenders in the loan under certain circumstances. This may result in greater risk and loss of principal on these loans.
Second-Lien and Mezzanine Debt. Our investments in second-lien and mezzanine debt generally are subordinated to senior loans and will either have junior security interests or be unsecured. As such, other creditors may rank senior to us in the event of insolvency. This may result in greater risk and loss of principal.
Equity Investments. When we invest in first-lien debt, second-lien debt or mezzanine debt, we may acquire equity securities, such as warrants, options and convertible instruments, as well. In addition, we may invest directly in the equity securities of portfolio companies. We may structure such equity investments to include provisions protecting our rights as a minority-interest holder, as well as a “put,” or right to sell such securities back to the issuer, upon the occurrence of specified events. In many cases, we may also seek to obtain registration rights in connection with these equity interests, which may include demand and “piggyback” registration rights, which grants us the right to register our equity interest when either the portfolio company or another investor in the portfolio company files a registration statement with the SEC to issue securities. We seek to dispose of these equity interests and realize gains upon our disposition of these interests. However, the equity interests we receive may not appreciate in value and, in fact, may decline in value. Accordingly, we may not be able to realize gains from our equity interests, and any gains that we do realize on the disposition of any equity interests may not be sufficient to offset any other losses we experience.
We have invested and may continue to invest through joint ventures, partnerships and other special purpose vehicles and our investments through these vehicles may entail greater risks, or risks that we otherwise would not incur, if we otherwise made such investments directly.
We may make indirect investments in portfolio companies through joint ventures, partnerships or other special purpose vehicles (“Investment Vehicles”). In general, the risks associated with indirect investments in portfolio companies through a joint venture, partnership or other special purpose vehicle are similar to those associated with a direct investment in a portfolio company; however, if we are not the sole investor in such Investment Vehicle, the investment may involve risks not present in investments where a third party is not involved.
For any such investments, the optimization of the joint venture may be a complex, costly and time-consuming process and if we experience difficulties in this process, the anticipated benefits may not be realized fully or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected, which could have an adverse effect on us for an undetermined period after any such acquisition. There can be no assurances that we will realize any potential operating efficiencies, synergies and other benefits anticipated in connection with such joint ventures.
While we intend to analyze the credit and business of a potential portfolio company in determining whether to make an investment in an Investment Vehicle, we will nonetheless be exposed to the creditworthiness of the Investment Vehicle and any third party. In the event of a bankruptcy proceeding against the portfolio company, the assets of the portfolio company may be used to satisfy its obligations prior to the satisfaction of our investment in the Investment Vehicle (i.e., our investment in the Investment Vehicle could be structurally subordinated to the other obligations of the portfolio company). If a third party is involved, we are subject to the risk that such third-party could have financial difficulties resulting in a negative impact on the Investment Vehicle, could have economic or business interests or goals which are inconsistent with ours, or could be in a position to take (or block) action in a manner contrary to our investment objective or the increased possibility of default by, diminished liquidity or insolvency of, the third party, due to a sustained or general economic downturn. In addition, if we are not the sole investor in an Investment Vehicle, we may be required to rely on our partners in the Investment Vehicle when making decisions regarding such Investment Vehicle’s investments, accordingly, the value of the investment could be adversely affected if our interests diverge from those of our partners in the Investment Vehicle.
Any strategic investments that we pursue are subject to risks and uncertainties.
We have pursued and may continue to pursue growth through strategic investments in new businesses, including through investments in our specialty finance vehicles. Completion and timing of any such strategic investments may be subject to a number of contingencies, including the uncertainty in reaching a commercial agreement with our counterparty, our ability to obtain required board, shareholder and regulatory approvals, as well as any required financing (or the risk that these are obtained subject to terms and conditions that are not anticipated). We may not be required to announce an acquisition or strategic transaction until a definitive agreement is reached and the announcement or consummation of any such transaction may adversely impact our business relationships or engender competitive responses.
In addition, the proposal and negotiation of strategic investments, whether or not completed, as well as the integration of those businesses into our existing portfolio, could result in substantial expenses and the diversion of our Adviser’s time, attention and resources from our day-to-day operations.
Our ability to manage our growth through strategic investments will depend, in part, on our success in addressing these risks. Any failure to effectively implement our acquisition or strategic investment strategies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Broadly syndicated loans, including “covenant-lite” loans, may expose us to different risks, including with respect to liquidity, price volatility, ability to restructure loans, credit risks and less protective loan documentation, than is the case with loans that contain financial maintenance covenants.
Our investments may consist of broadly syndicated loans that were not originated by us. Under the documentation for such loans, a financial institution or other entity typically is designated as the administrative agent and/or collateral agent. This agent is granted a lien on any collateral on behalf of the other lenders and distributes payments on the indebtedness as they are received. The agent is the party responsible for administering and enforcing the loan and generally may take actions only in accordance with the instructions of a majority or two-thirds in commitments and/or principal amount of the associated indebtedness. Accordingly, we may be precluded from directing such actions unless we or our investment adviser is the designated administrative agent or collateral agent or we act together with other holders of the indebtedness. If we are unable to direct such actions, we cannot assure shareholders that the actions taken will be in our best interests.
There is also a risk that a loan agent may become bankrupt or insolvent. Such an event would delay, and possibly impair, any enforcement actions undertaken by holders of the associated indebtedness, including attempts to realize upon the collateral securing the associated indebtedness and/or direct the agent to take actions against the related obligor or the collateral securing the associated indebtedness and actions to realize on proceeds of payments made by obligors that are in the possession or control of any other financial institution. In addition, we may be unable to remove the agent in circumstances in which removal would be in our best interests. Moreover, agented loans typically allow for the agent to resign with certain advance notice.
In addition, a significant number of high yield loans in the market, in particular the broadly syndicated loan market, may consist of “covenant-lite” loans. Generally, “covenant-lite” loans provide borrower companies more freedom to negatively impact lenders because their covenants are incurrence-based, which means they are only tested and can only be breached following an affirmative action of the borrower, rather than by a deterioration in the borrower’s financial condition. Ownership of “covenant-lite” loans may expose us to different risks, including with respect to liquidity, price volatility, ability to restructure loans, credit risks and less protective loan documentation, than is the case with loans that contain financial maintenance covenants.
We may be subject to risks associated with our investments in bank loans.
We may invest in bank loans and participations. These obligations are subject to unique risks, including:
• the possible invalidation of an investment transaction as a fraudulent conveyance under relevant creditors’ rights laws,
• so-called lender-liability claims by the issuer of the obligations,
• environmental liabilities that may arise with respect to collateral securing the obligations, and
• limitations on our ability to directly enforce its rights with respect to participations.
In addition, the illiquidity of bank loans may make it difficult for us to sell such investments to access capital if required. As a result, we could realize significantly less than the value at which we have recorded our investments if we were required to sell them for liquidity purposes. Compared to securities and to certain other types of financial assets, purchases and sales of loans take relatively longer to settle. This extended settlement process can (i) increase the counterparty credit risk borne by us; (ii) leave us unable to timely vote, or otherwise act with respect to, loans it has agreed to purchase; (iii) delay us from realizing the proceeds of a sale of a loan; (iv) inhibit our ability to re-sell a loan that it has agreed to purchase if conditions change (leaving us more exposed to price fluctuations); (v) prevent us from timely collecting principal and interest payments; and (vi) expose us to adverse tax or regulatory consequences. To the extent the extended loan settlement process gives rise to short-term liquidity needs, we may hold cash, sell investments or temporarily borrow from banks or other lenders.
In purchasing participations, we generally will have no right to enforce compliance by the borrower with the terms of the loan agreement, nor any rights of set-off against the borrower, and we may not directly benefit from the collateral supporting the debt obligation in which we have purchased the participation. As a result, we will assume the credit risk of both the borrower and the institution selling the participation.
In analyzing each bank loan or participation, our Adviser compares the relative significance of the risks against the expected benefits of the investment. Successfulclaims by third parties arising from these and other risks will be borne by us.
If the assets securing the loans that we make decrease in value, then we may lack sufficient collateral to cover losses.
To attempt to mitigate credit risks, we intend to take a security interest in the available assets of our portfolio companies. There is no assurance that we will obtain sufficient collateral to cover losses or properly perfect our liens.
There is a risk that the collateral securing our loans may decrease in value over time, may be difficult to sell in a timely manner, may be difficult to appraise and may fluctuate in value based upon the success of the business and market conditions, including as a result of the inability of a portfolio company to raise additional capital. In some circumstances, our lien could be subordinated to claims of other creditors. Consequently, the fact that a loan is secured does not guarantee that we will receive principal and interest payments according to the loan’s terms, or that we will be able to collect on the loan should we be forced to enforce our remedies.
We may suffer a loss if a portfolio company defaults on a loan and the underlying collateral is not sufficient.
In the event of a default by a portfolio company on a secured loan, we will only have recourse to the assets collateralizing the loan. If the underlying collateral value is less than the loan amount, we will suffer a loss. In addition, we may make loans that are unsecured, which are subject to the risk that other lenders may be directly secured by the assets of the portfolio company. In the event of a default, those collateralized lenders would have priority over us with respect to the proceeds of a sale of the underlying assets. In cases described above, we may lack control over the underlying asset collateralizing our loan or the underlying assets of the portfolio company prior to a default, and as a result the value of the collateral may be reduced by acts or omissions by owners or managers of the assets.
In the event of bankruptcy of a portfolio company, we may not have full recourse to its assets in order to satisfy our loan, or our loan may be subject to “equitable subordination.” This means that depending on the facts and circumstances, including the extent to which we actually provided significant “managerial assistance,” if any, to that portfolio company, a bankruptcy court might re-characterize our debt holding and subordinate all or a portion of our claim to that of other creditors. In addition, certain of our loans are subordinate to other debt of the portfolio company. If a portfolio company defaults on our loan or on debt senior to our loan, or in the event of a portfolio company bankruptcy, our loan will be satisfied only after the senior debt receives payment. Where debt senior to our loan exists, the presence of intercreditor arrangements may limit our ability to amend our loan documents, assign our loans, accept prepayments, exercise our remedies (through “standstill” periods) and control decisions made in bankruptcy proceedings relating to the portfolio company. Bankruptcy and portfolio company litigation can significantly increase collection losses and the time needed for us to acquire the underlying collateral in the event of a default, during which time the collateral may decline in value, causing us to sufferlosses.
Borrowers of broadly syndicated loans may be permitted to designate unrestricted subsidiaries under the terms of their financing agreements, which would exclude such unrestricted subsidiaries from restrictive covenants under the financing agreement with the borrower. Without restriction under the financing agreement, the borrower could take various actions with respect to the unrestricted subsidiary including, among other things, incur debt, grant security on its assets, sell assets, pay dividends or distribute shares of the unrestricted subsidiary to the borrower’s shareholders. Any of these actions could increase the amount of leverage that the borrower is able to incur and increase the risk involved in our investments in broadly syndicated loans accordingly.
If the value of collateral underlying our loan declines or interest rates increase during the term of our loan, a portfolio company may not be able to obtain the necessary funds to repay our loan at maturity through refinancing.
Decreasing collateral value and/or increasing interest rates may hinder a portfolio company’s ability to refinance our loan because the underlying collateral cannot satisfy the debt service coverage requirements necessary to obtain new financing. In some instances a borrower may engage in liability management exercises with certain of its investors who agree to provide additional capital or capital on modified terms in exchange for a superior position in the portfolio company’s capital structure. In such instances, the collateral securing our investment may be reduced or our lien may be further subordinated. If a borrower is unable to repay our loan at maturity, we could suffer a loss which may adversely impact our financial performance.
We may not realize any income or gains from our equity investments.
We have invested in and may continue to invest in equity-related securities, including common equity, warrants, preferred stock and convertible preferred securities. These equity interests we acquire may not appreciate in value and, in fact, may decline in value if the company fails to perform financially or achieve its growth objectives. We will generally have little, if any, control over the timing of any gains we may realize from our equity investments since these securities may have restrictions on their transfer or may not have an active trading market.
Equity investments also have experienced significantly more volatility in their returns and may under-perform relative to fixed income securities during certain periods. An adverse event, such as an unfavorable earnings report, may depress the value. Also, prices of equity investments are sensitive to general movements in the stock market and a drop in the stock market may depress the price of common stock investments to which we have exposure. Equity prices fluctuate for several reasons including changes in investors' perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant stock market, or when political or economic events affecting the issuers occur. In addition, common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase.
Although we expect to receive current income in the form of dividend payments on any convertible preferred equity investments, a substantial portion of the gains we expect to receive from our investments in such securities will likely be from the capital gains generated from the sale of our equity investments upon conversion of our convertible securities, the timing of which we cannot predict and we cannot guarantee that such sale will happen at all. We do not expect to generate capital gains from the sale of our portfolio investments on a level or uniform basis from quarter to quarter. In addition, any convertible preferred stock instruments will generally provide for conversion upon the portfolio companies’ achievement of certain milestone events, including a qualified public offering and/or a senior exchange listing for their common stock. However, there can be no assurance that our portfolio companies will obtain either a junior or senior exchange listing or, even if a listing is obtained, that an active trading market will ever develop in the common stock of our publicly traded portfolio companies. In addition, even if our portfolio companies obtain an exchange listing, we may be subject to lock-up provisions that prohibit us from selling our investments into the public market for specified periods of time after such listing. As a result, the market price of securities that we hold may decline substantially before we are able to sell these securities following an exchange listing.
Accordingly, we may not be able to realize gains from our equity interests, and any gains that we do realize on the disposition of any equity interests may not be sufficient to offset any other losses we experience. Furthermore, due to the expected growth of our portfolio companies, we do not generally expect to receive dividend income from our common stock investments. In the case of cumulative preferred stock, there is no assurance that any dividends will ever be paid by a portfolio company. Dividends to any equity holders may be suspended or cancelled at any time.
Investments in equity securities can carry additional risks and may have other characteristics that require investments to be made indirectly through blocker entities or otherwise. In addition, if an issuer of equity securities in which we have invested sells additional shares of its equity securities, our interest in the issuer may be diluted and the value of our investment could decrease.
We may invest, to the extent permitted by law, in the equity securities of investment funds that are operating pursuant to certain exceptions to the 1940 Act and in advisers to similar investment funds and, to the extent we so invest, will bear our ratable share of any such company’s expenses, including management and performance fees. We will also remain obligated to pay the base management fee, income based fee and capital gains incentive fee to our investment adviser with respect to the assets invested in the securities and instruments of such companies. With respect to each of these investments, each of our common stockholders will bear his or her share of the base management fee, income based fee and capital gains incentive fee due to our investment adviser as well as indirectly bearing the management and performance fees and other expenses of any such investment funds or advisers. For the foregoing reasons, investments in equity securities can be highly speculative and carry a substantial risk of loss of investment.
An investment strategy focused primarily on privately held companies presents certain challenges, including the lack of available information about these companies.
We invest primarily in privately held companies. Investments in private companies pose certain incremental risks as compared to investments in public companies including that they generally:
• have reduced access to the capital markets, resulting in diminished capital resources and ability to withstand financial distress;
• may have limited financial resources and may be unable to meet their obligations under their debt obligations that we hold, which may be accompanied by a deterioration in the value of any collateral and a reduction in the likelihood of our realizing any guarantees we may have obtained in connection with our investment;
• may have shorter operating histories, narrower product lines and smaller market shares than larger businesses, which tend to render them more vulnerable to competitors’ actions and changing market conditions, as well as general economic downturns;
• are more likely to depend on the management talents and efforts of a small group of persons and, therefore, the death, disability, resignation or termination of one or more of these persons could have a material adverse impact on the company and, in turn, on us; and
• have less predictable operating results, may from time to time be parties to litigation, may be engaged in rapidly changing businesses with products subject to a substantial risk of obsolescence, and may require substantial additional capital to support their operations, finance expansion or maintain their competitive position.
In addition, investments in private companies tend to be less liquid. The securities of private companies are not publicly traded or actively traded on the secondary market and are, instead, traded on a privately negotiated over-the-counter secondary market for institutional investors. These over-the-counter secondary markets may be inactive during an economic downturn or a credit crisis and in any event often have lower volumes than publicly traded securities even in normal market conditions. In addition, the securities in these companies will be subject to legal and other restrictions on resale or will otherwise be less liquid than publicly traded securities.
If there is no readily available market for these investments, we are required to carry these investments at fair value as determined by our Board. As a result, if we are required to liquidate all or a portion of our portfolio quickly, we may realize significantly less than the value at which we had previously recorded these investments. We may also face other restrictions on our ability to liquidate an investment in a portfolio company to the extent that we, our Adviser or any of its affiliates have material nonpublic information regarding such portfolio company or where the sale would be an impermissible joint transaction under the 1940 Act. The reduced liquidity of our investments may make it difficult for us to dispose of them at a favorable price, and, as a result, we may sufferlosses.
Finally, little public information generally exists about private companies and these companies may not have third-party credit ratings or audited financial statements. We must therefore rely on the ability of our Adviser to obtain adequate information through due diligence to evaluate the creditworthiness and potential returns from investing in these companies, and to monitor the activities and performance of these investments. To the extent that we (or other clients of our Adviser) may hold a larger number of investments, greater demands will be placed on our Adviser’s time, resources and personnel in monitoring such investments, which may result in less attention being paid to any individual investment and greater risk that our investment decisions may not be fully informed.
Additionally, these companies and their financial information will not generally be subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and other rules that govern public companies. If we are unable to uncover all material information about these companies, we may not make a fully informed investment decision, and we may lose money on our investments.
To the extent we invest in publicly traded companies, we may be unable to obtain financial covenants and other contractual rights, which subjects us to additional risks.
We have invested and may continue to invest in instruments issued by publicly-held companies, we may be subject to risks that differ in type or degree from those involved with investments in privately-held companies. Such risks include, without limitation, greatervolatility in the valuation of such companies, increased obligations to disclose information regarding such companies, limitations on our ability to dispose of such instruments at certain times, increased likelihood of shareholder litigationagainst such companies’ board members and increased costs associated with each of the aforementioned risks. In addition, to the extent we invest in publicly traded debt instruments, we may not be able to obtain financial covenants or other contractual rights that we might otherwise be able to obtain when making privately-negotiated investments. We may not have the same access to information in connection with investments in public debt instruments that we would expect to have in connection with privately-negotiated investments. If we or our Adviser were deemed to have material, nonpublic information regarding the issuer of a publicly traded instrument in which we have invested, we may be limited in our ability to make new investments or sell existing investments in such issue.
The credit ratings of certain of our investments may not be indicative of the actual credit risk of such rated instruments.
Rating agencies rate debt securities based upon their assessment of the likelihood of the receipt of principal and interest payments. Rating agencies do not consider the risks of fluctuations in market value or other factors that may influence the value of debt securities. Therefore, the credit rating assigned to a particular instrument may not fully reflect the true risks of an investment in such instrument. Credit rating agencies may change their methods of evaluating credit risk and determining ratings. These changes may occur quickly and often. While we may give some consideration to ratings, ratings may not be indicative of the actual credit risk of our investments in rated instruments.
Prepayments of our debt investments by our portfolio companies could adversely impact our results of operations and reduce our return on equity.
We are subject to the risk that the investments we make in our portfolio companies may be repaid prior to maturity. When this occurs, we will generally reinvest these proceeds in temporary investments, pending their future investment in new portfolio companies. These temporary investments will typically have substantially lower yields than the debt being prepaid and we could experience significant delays in reinvesting these amounts.
Any future investment in a new portfolio company may also be at lower yields than the debt that was repaid. As a result, our results of operations could be materially adversely affected if one or more of our portfolio companies elect to prepay amounts owed to us. Additionally, prepayments, net of prepayment fees, could negatively impact our return on equity. This risk will be more acute when interest rates decrease, as we may be unable to reinvest at rates as favorable as when we made our initial investment.
A redemption of convertible securities held by us could have an adverse effect on our ability to achieve our investment objective.
A convertible security may be subject to redemption at the option of the issuer at a price established in the convertible security’s governing instrument. If a convertible security held by us is called for redemption, we will be required to permit the issuer to redeem the security, convert it into the underlying common stock or sell it to a third party. Any of these actions could have an adverse effect on our ability to achieve our investment objective.
To the extent original issue discount (“OID”) and payment-in-kind (“PIK”) interest income constitute a portion of our income, we will be exposed to risks associated with the deferred receipt of cash representing such income.
Our investments may include OID and PIK instruments. To the extent OID and PIK constitute a portion of our income, we will be exposed to risks associated with such income being required to be included in income for financial reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) and taxable income prior to receipt of cash, including the following:
• Original issue discount instruments may have unreliable valuations because the accruals require judgments about collectability or deferred payments and the value of any associated collateral;
• Original issue discount instruments may create heightened credit risks because the inducement to the borrower to accept higher interest rates in exchange for the deferral of cash payments typically represents, to some extent, speculation on the part of the borrower;
• For U.S. GAAP purposes, cash distributions to shareholders that include a component of OID income do not come from paid-in capital, although they may be paid from the offering proceeds. Thus, although a distribution of OID income may come from the cash invested by the shareholders, the 1940 Act does not require that shareholders be given notice of this fact;
• The presence of OID and PIK creates the risk of non-refundable cash payments to our Adviser in the form of incentive fees on income based on non-cash OID and PIK accruals that may never be realized; and
• In the case of PIK, “toggle” debt, which gives the issuer the option to defer an interest payment in exchange for an increased interest rate in the future, the PIK election has the simultaneous effect of increasing the investment income, thus increasing the potential for realizing incentive fees.
Our portfolio companies may incur debt that ranks equally with, or senior to, our investments in such companies.
Our strategy focuses on investing primarily in the debt of privately owned U.S. companies with a focus on originated transactions sourced through the networks of our Adviser. Our portfolio companies may have, or may be permitted to incur, other debt that ranks equally with, or senior to, the debt in which we invest. By their terms, such debt instruments may entitle the holders to receive payment of interest or principal on or before the dates on which we are entitled to receive payments with respect to the debt instruments in which we invest. Also, in the event of insolvency, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization or bankruptcy of a portfolio company, any holders of debt instruments ranking senior to our investment in that portfolio company would typically be entitled to receive payment in full before we receive any distribution. After repaying such senior creditors, such portfolio company may not have any remaining assets to use for repaying its obligation to us. In the case of debt ranking equally with debt instruments in which we invest, we would have to share on an equal basis any distributions with other creditors holding such debt in the event of an insolvency, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization or bankruptcy of the relevant portfolio company and our portfolio company may not have sufficient assets to pay all equally ranking credit even if we hold senior, first-lien debt.
Our portfolio companies may be highly leveraged.
Some of our portfolio companies may be highly leveraged, which may have adverse consequences to these companies and to us as an investor. These companies may be subject to restrictive financial and operating covenants and the leverage may impair these companies’ ability to finance their future operations and capital needs. As a result, these companies’ flexibility to respond to changing business and economic conditions and to take advantage of business opportunities may be limited. Further, a leveraged company’s income and net assets will tend to increase or decrease at a greater rate than if borrowed money were not used.
If we cannot obtain debt financing or equity capital on acceptable terms, our ability to acquire investments and to expand our operations will be adversely affected.
Any working capital reserves we maintain may not be sufficient for investment purposes, and we may require additional debt financing or equity capital to operate. We generally are required to distribute at least 90% of our net ordinary income and net short-term capital gains in excess of net long-term capital losses, if any, to our shareholders to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC. Accordingly, in the event that we need additional capital in the future for investments or for any other reason we may need to access the capital markets periodically to issue debt or equity securities or borrow from financial institutions in order to obtain such additional capital. These sources of funding may not be available to us due to unfavorable economic conditions, which could increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. Consequently, if we cannot obtain further debt or equity financing on acceptable terms, our ability to acquire additional investments and to expand our operations will be adversely affected. As a result, we would be less able to diversify our portfolio and achieve our investment objective, which may negatively impact our results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to our shareholders. See “— If we are unable to obtain additional debt financing, or if our borrowing capacity is materially reduced, our business could be materially adversely affected. ”
Defaults by our portfolio companies could jeopardize a portfolio company’s ability to meet its obligations under the debt or equity investments that we hold which could harm our operating results.
A portfolio company’s failure to satisfy financial or operating covenants imposed by us or other lenders could lead to defaults and, potentially, termination of its debt financing and foreclosure on its secured assets, which could trigger cross-defaults under other agreements and jeopardize a portfolio company’s ability to meet its obligations under the debt or equity investments that we hold. We may incur expenses to the extent necessary to seek recovery upon default or to negotiate new terms, which may include the waiver of certain financial covenants, with a defaulting portfolio company. In addition, some of the loans in which we may invest may be “covenant-lite” loans. We use the term “covenant-lite” loans to refer generally to loans that do not have a complete set of financial maintenance covenants. Generally, “covenant-lite” loans provide borrower companies more freedom to negatively impact lenders because their covenants are incurrence-based, which means they are only tested and can only be breached following an affirmative action of the borrower, rather than by a deterioration in the borrower’s financial condition. Accordingly, to the extent we invest in “covenant-lite” loans, we may have fewer rights against a borrower and may have a greater risk of loss on such investments as compared to investments in or exposure to loans with financial maintenance covenants.
As part of our lending activities, we may in certain opportunistic circumstances originate loans to companies that are experiencing significant financial or business difficulties, including companies involved in bankruptcy or other reorganization and liquidation proceedings. Any such investment would involve a substantial degree of risk. In any reorganization or liquidation proceeding relating to a company that we fund, we may lose all or part of the amounts advanced to the borrower or may be required to accept collateral with a value less than the amount of the loan advanced by us to the borrower.
Subordinated liens on collateral securing debt investments that we may make to portfolio companies may be subject to control by senior creditors with first priority liens. If there is a default, the value of the collateral may not be sufficient to repay in full both the first priority creditors and us.
Certain debt investments that we will make in portfolio companies will be secured on a second priority lien basis by the same collateral securing senior debt of such companies. We also make debt investments in portfolio companies secured on a first priority basis. The first priority liens on the collateral will secure the portfolio company’s obligations under any outstanding senior debt and may secure certain other future debt that may be permitted to be incurred by the portfolio company under the agreements governing the debt. In the event of a default, the holders of obligations secured by the first priority liens on the collateral will generally control the liquidation of and be entitled to receive proceeds from any realization of the collateral to repay their obligations in full before us.
In addition, the value of the collateral in the event of liquidation will depend on market and economic conditions, the availability of buyers and other factors. There can be no assurance that the proceeds, if any, from the sale or sales of all of the collateral would be sufficient to satisfy the debt obligations secured by the first priority or second priority liens after payment in full of all obligations secured by the first priority liens on the collateral. If such proceeds are not sufficient to repay amounts outstanding under the debt obligations secured by the first priority or second priority liens, then we, to the extent not repaid from the proceeds of the sale of the collateral, will only have an unsecured claim against the portfolio company’s remaining assets, if any.
We may also make unsecured debt investments in portfolio companies, meaning that such investments will not benefit from any interest in collateral of such companies. Liens on any such portfolio company’s collateral, if any, will secure the portfolio company’s obligations under its outstanding secured debt and may secure certain future debt that is permitted to be incurred by the portfolio company under its secured debt agreements. The holders of obligations secured by such liens will generally control the liquidation of, and be entitled to receive proceeds from, any realization of such collateral to repay their obligations in full before us. In addition, the value of such collateral in the event of liquidation will depend on market and economic conditions, the availability of buyers and other factors. There can be no assurance that the proceeds, if any, from sales of such collateral would be sufficient to satisfy our unsecured debt obligations after payment in full of all secured debt obligations. If such proceeds were not sufficient to repay the outstanding
secured debt obligations, then our unsecured claims would rank equally with the unpaid portion of such secured creditors’ claimsagainst the portfolio company’s remaining assets, if any.
The rights we may have with respect to the collateral securing the debt investments we make in our portfolio companies with senior debt outstanding may also be limited pursuant to the terms of one or more inter-creditor agreements that we enter into with the holders of senior debt. Under such an inter-creditor agreement, at any time obligations that have the benefit of the first priority liens are outstanding, any of the following actions that may be taken in respect of the collateral will be at the direction of the holders of the obligations secured by the first priority liens: the ability to cause the commencement of enforcement proceedings against the collateral; the ability to control the conduct of such proceedings; the approval of amendments to collateral documents; releases of liens on the collateral; and waivers of past defaults under collateral documents. We may not have the ability to control or direct such actions, even if our rights are adversely affected.
Certain of our investments may be adversely affected by laws relating to fraudulent conveyance or voidable preferences.
Certain of our investments could be subject to federal bankruptcy law and state fraudulent transfer laws, which vary from state to state, if the debt obligations relating to certain investments were issued with the intent of hindering, delaying or defrauding creditors or, in certain circumstances, if the issuer receives less than reasonably equivalent value or fair consideration in return for issuing such debt obligations. If the debt proceeds are used for a buyout of shareholders, this risk is greater than if the debt proceeds are used for day-to-day operations or organic growth. If a court were to find that the issuance of the debt obligations was a fraudulent transfer or conveyance, the court could void or otherwise refuse to recognize the payment obligations under the debt obligations or the collateral supporting such obligations, further subordinate the debt obligations or the liens supporting such obligations to other existing and future indebtedness of the issuer or require us to repay any amounts received by us with respect to the debt obligations or collateral. In the event of a finding that a fraudulent transfer or conveyance occurred, we may not receive any repayment on such debt obligations.
Under certain circumstances, payments to us and distributions by us to our shareholders may be reclaimed if any such payment or distribution is later determined to have been a fraudulent conveyance, preferential payment or similar transaction under applicable bankruptcy and insolvency laws. Furthermore, investments in restructurings may be adversely affected by statutes relating to, among other things, fraudulent conveyances, voidable preferences, lender liability and the court’s discretionary power to disallow, subordinate or disenfranchise particular claims or re-characterize investments made in the form of debt as equity contributions.
There may be circumstances where our debt investments could be subordinated to claims of other creditors or we could be subject to lender liability claims.
Although we intend to structure certain of our investments as senior debt, if one of our portfolio companies were to go bankrupt, depending on the facts and circumstances, including the extent to which we provided managerial assistance to that portfolio company or a representative of us or our Adviser sat on the board of directors of such portfolio company, a bankruptcy court might re-characterize our debt investment and subordinate all or a portion of our claim to that of other creditors. In situations where a bankruptcy carries a high degree of political significance, our legal rights may be subordinated to other creditors.
In addition, a number of U.S. judicial decisions have upheld judgments obtained by borrowers against lending institutions on the basis of various evolving legal theories, collectively termed “lender liability.” Generally, lender liability is founded on the premise that a lender has violated a duty (whether implied or contractual) of good faith, commercial reasonableness and fair dealing, or a similar duty owed to the borrower or has assumed an excessive degree of control over the borrower resulting in the creation of a fiduciary duty owed to the borrower or its other creditors or shareholders. Because of the nature of our investments in portfolio companies (including that, as a BDC, we may be required to provide managerial assistance to those portfolio companies if they so request upon our offer), we may be subject to allegations of lender liability.
We generally will not control the business operations of our portfolio companies and, due to the illiquid nature of our holdings in our portfolio companies, we may not be able to dispose of our interests in our portfolio companies.
We do not currently, and do not expect in the future to control most of our portfolio companies, although we may have board representation or board observation rights, and our debt agreements may impose certain restrictive covenants on our borrowers. As a result, we are subject to the risk that a portfolio company in which we invest may make business decisions with which we disagree and the management of such company, as representatives of the holders of their common equity, may take risks or otherwise act in ways that do not serve our interests as a debt investor. Due to the lack of liquidity for our investments in private companies, we may not be able to dispose of our interests in our portfolio companies as readily as we would like or at a favorable value. As a result, a portfolio company may make decisions that could decrease the value of our portfolio holdings.
We and our portfolio companies are, and will continue to be, exposed to risks associated with changes in interest rates.
General interest rate fluctuations and changes in credit spreads on floating rate loans may have a substantial negative impact on our portfolio company investments and our investment opportunities and, accordingly, may have a material adverse effect on our rate of return on invested capital, our net investment income and our net asset value. The majority of our debt investments have, and are expected to have, variable interest rates that reset periodically based on benchmarks such as the SOFR, the SONIA, the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, the Federal Funds rate or Prime rate. The Federal Reserve decreased the federal funds rate three times in 2025. A
reduction in the interest rates on new investments relative to interest rates on current investments could have an adverse impact on our net investment income. On the other hand, increases in interest rates have made and may continue to make it more difficult for our portfolio companies to service their obligations under the debt investments that we will hold and may increase defaults even where our investment income increases. Elevated interest rates could also cause borrowers to shift cash from other productive uses to the payment of interest, which may have a material adverse effect on their business and operations and could, over time, lead to increased defaults. Additionally, higher interest rate loans may be less liquid as fewer investors may be willing to purchase such loans in the secondary market in light of the increased risk of a default by the borrower and the heightened risk of a loss of an investment in such loans. All of these risks may be exacerbated when interest rates rise rapidly and/or significantly. Decreases in credit spreads on debt that pays a floating rate of return would have an impact on the income generation of our floating rate assets. Trading prices for debt that pays a fixed rate of return tend to fall as interest rates rise. Trading prices tend to fluctuate more for fixed rate securities that have longer maturities.
Conversely, when interest rates decline, borrowers may refinance their loans at lower interest rates, which could shorten the average life of the loans and reduce the associated returns on the investment, as well as require our Adviser and the Adviser’s personnel to incur management time and expense to re-deploy such proceeds, including on terms that may not be as favorable as our existing loans.
In addition, because we borrow money to make investments, our net investment income will depend, in part, upon the difference between the rate at which we borrow funds and the rate at which we invest those funds. In periods of declining interest rates, we may earn less interest income from investments and our cost of funds will also decrease, to a lesser extent, given certain of our currently outstanding indebtedness bears interest at fixed rates, resulting in lower net investment income. Conversely, in periods of rising interest rates, our interest income will increase as the majority of our portfolio bears interest at variable rates while our cost of funds will also increase, to a lesser extent, resulting in an increase to our net investment income. In addition, in periods of elevated interest rates, our cost of funds increases, which tends to reduce our net investment income. We can offer no assurance that a significant change in market interest rates will not have a material adverse effect on our net investment income.
We may hedge against interest rate fluctuations by using standard hedging instruments such as interest rate swap agreements, futures, options and forward contracts, subject to applicable legal requirements, including all necessary registrations (or exemptions from registration) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In addition, our interest expense may not decrease at the same rate as overall interest rates because of our fixed rate borrowings, which could lead to greaterdeclines in our net investment income. These activities may limit our ability to participate in the benefits of lower interest rates with respect to the hedged borrowings. Adverse developments resulting from changes in interest rates or hedging transactions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We do not have a policy governing the maturities of our investments. This means that we are subject to greater risk (other things being equal) than a fund invested solely in shorter-term securities. A decline in the prices of the debt we own could adversely affect our net asset value. Also, an increase in interest rates available to investors could make an investment in our common stock less attractive if we are not able to increase our dividend rate.
International investments create additional risks.
We may make investments in portfolio companies that are domiciled outside of the United States. Pursuant to our investment policies, we will not invest more than 20% of our total assets in companies whose principal place of business is outside the United States. Our investments in foreign portfolio companies are deemed “non-qualifying assets,” which means that, as required by the 1940 Act, such investments, along with other investments in non-qualifying assets, may not constitute more than 30% of our total assets at the time of our acquisition of any such asset, after giving effect to the acquisition. Notwithstanding the limitation on our ownership of foreign portfolio companies, such investments subject us to many of the same risks as our domestic investments, as well as certain additional risks, including the following:
• foreign governmental laws, rules and policies, including those relating to taxation and bankruptcy and restricting the ownership of assets in the foreign country or the repatriation of profits from the foreign country to the United States and any adverse changes in these laws;
• foreign currency devaluations that reduce the value of and returns on our foreign investments;
• adverse changes in the availability, cost and terms of investments due to the varying economic policies of a foreign country in which we invest;
• adverse changes in tax rates, the tax treatment of transaction structures and other changes in operating expenses of a particular foreign country in which we invest;
• the assessment of foreign-country taxes (including withholding taxes, transfer taxes and value added taxes, any or all of which could be significant) on income or gains from our investments in the foreign country;
• changes that adversely affect the social, political and/or economic stability of a foreign country in which we invest; high inflation in the foreign countries in which we invest, which could increase the costs to us of investing in those countries;
• deflationary periods in the foreign countries in which we invest, which could reduce demand for our assets in those countries and diminish the value of such investments and the related investment returns to us; and
• legal and logistical barriers in the foreign countries in which we invest that materially and adversely limit our ability to enforce our contractual rights with respect to those investments.
In addition, we may make investments in countries whose governments or economies may prove unstable. Certain of the countries in which we may invest may have political, economic and legal systems that are unpredictable, unreliable or otherwise inadequate with respect to the implementation, interpretation and enforcement of laws protecting asset ownership and economic interests. In some of the countries in which we may invest, there may be a risk of nationalization, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, which may have an adverse effect on our portfolio companies in those countries and the rates of return that we are able to achieve on such investments. We may also lose the total value of any investment which is nationalized, expropriated or confiscated. The financial results and investment opportunities available to us, particularly in developing countries and emerging markets, may be materially and adversely affected by any or all of these political, economic and legal risks.
We expose ourselves to risks when we engage in risk management activities.
We have entered, and may in the future enter, into hedging transactions, which may expose us to risks associated with such transactions. We may seek to utilize instruments such as forward contracts, currency options and interest rate swaps, caps, collars and floors to seek to hedge against fluctuations in the relative values of our portfolio positions from changes in currency exchange rates and market interest rates and the relative value of certain debt securities from changes in market interest rates. Use of these hedging instruments may include counter-party credit risk. The scope of risk management activities we undertake varies based on the level of interest rates, prevailing foreign currency exchange rates, the types of investments that are made and other changing market conditions. To the extent we have non-U.S. investments, particularly investments denominated in non-U.S. currencies, our hedging costs will increase.
Hedging against a decline in the values of our portfolio positions would not eliminate the possibility of fluctuations in the values of such positions or prevent losses if the values of such positions were to decline. However, such hedging can establish other positions designed to gain from those same developments, thereby offsetting the decline in the value of such portfolio positions. Such hedging transactions may also limit the opportunity for gain if the values of the underlying portfolio positions were to increase. It also may not be possible to hedge against an exchange rate or interest rate fluctuation that is so generally anticipated that we are not able to enter into a hedging transaction at an acceptable price.
The success of our hedging strategy will depend on our ability to correctly identify appropriate exposures for hedging. In connection with the 2027 Notes, the 2029 Notes and the 2030 Notes, which bear interest at fixed rates, we entered into interest rate swaps to continue to align the interest rates of our liabilities with our investment portfolio, which consists of predominately floating rate loans. However, unanticipated changes in currency exchange rates or other exposures that we might hedge may result in poorer overall investment performance than if we had not engaged in any such hedging transactions. In addition, the degree of correlation between price movements of the instruments used in a hedging strategy and price movements in the portfolio positions being hedged may vary, as may the time period in which the hedge is effective relative to the time period of the related exposure.
For a variety of reasons, we may not seek to (or be able to) establish a perfect correlation between such hedging instruments and the positions being hedged. Any such imperfect correlation may prevent us from achieving the intended hedge and expose us to risk of loss. In addition, it may not be possible to hedge fully or perfectlyagainst currency fluctuations affecting the value of securities denominated in non-U.S. currencies because the value of those securities is likely to fluctuate as a result of factors not related to currency fluctuations. Income derived from hedging transactions also is not eligible to be distributed to non-U.S. stockholders free from withholding taxes. Changes to the regulations applicable to the financial instruments we use to accomplish our hedging strategy could affect the effectiveness of that strategy. See “— The market structure applicable to derivatives imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the SEC may affect our ability to use over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives for hedging purposes ” and “ We are, and will continue to be, exposed to risks associated with changes in interest rates. ”
The market structure applicable to derivatives imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the SEC may affect our ability to use over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives for hedging purposes.
The CFTC and the SEC have issued final rules establishing that certain swap transactions are subject to CFTC regulation. Engaging in such swap or other commodity interest transactions such as futures contracts or options on futures contracts may cause us to fall within the definition of “commodity pool” under the Commodity Exchange Act and related CFTC regulations. Our Adviser has claimed relief from CFTC registration and regulation as a commodity pool operator with respect to our operations, with the result that we are limited in our ability to use futures contracts or options on futures contracts or engage in swap transactions. Specifically, we are subject to strict limitations on using such derivatives other than for hedging purposes, whereby the use of derivatives not used solely for hedging purposes is generally limited to situations where (i) the aggregate initial margin and premiums required to establish such positions does not exceed five percent of the liquidation value of our portfolio, after taking into account unrealized profits and
unrealized losses on any such contracts we have entered into; or (ii) the aggregate net notional value of such derivatives does not exceed 100% of the liquidation value of our portfolio.
The Dodd-Frank Act also imposed requirements relating to real-time public and regulatory reporting of OTC derivative transactions, enhanced documentation requirements, position limits on an expanded array of derivatives, and recordkeeping requirements. Taken as a whole, these changes could significantly increase the cost of using uncleared OTC derivatives to hedge risks, including interest rate and foreign exchange risk; reduce the level of exposure we are able to obtain for risk management purposes through OTC derivatives (including as the result of the CFTC imposing position limits on additional products); reduce the amounts available to us to make non-derivatives investments; impair liquidity in certain OTC derivatives; and adversely affect the quality of execution pricing obtained by us, all of which could adversely impact our investment returns.
In addition, as a result of rules adopted by U.S. and foreign regulators concerning certain financial contracts, including OTC derivatives, entered into with counterparties that have been designated as global systemically important banking organizations, we may be restricted in our ability to terminate such contracts following the occurrence of certain insolvency-related default events. Transactions with these counterparties, therefore, carry heightened risk in the event that the counterparty defaults on its obligations to us.
Our ability to enter into transactions involving derivatives and financial commitment transactions may be limited.
Rule 18f-4 requires a BDC (or a registered investment company) that uses derivatives to, among other things, comply with a value-at-risk leverage limit, adopt a derivatives risk management program and implement certain testing and board reporting requirements. Rule 18f-4 exempts BDCs that qualify as “limited derivatives users” from the aforementioned requirements, provided that these BDCs adopt written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to manage the BDC’s derivatives risks and comply with certain recordkeeping requirements. Under Rule 18f-4, a BDC may enter into an unfunded commitment agreement that is not a derivatives transaction, such as an agreement to provide financing to a portfolio company, if the BDC has, among other things, a reasonable belief, at the time it enters into such an agreement, that it will have sufficient cash and cash equivalents to meet its obligations with respect to all of its unfunded commitment agreements, in each case as it becomes due. Collectively, these requirements may limit our ability to use derivatives and/or enter into certain other financial contracts.
We may enter into total return swaps that would expose us to certain risks, including market risk, liquidity risk and other risks similar to those associated with the use of leverage.
A total return swap is a contract in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to another party based on the change in the market value of the assets underlying the total return swap, which may include a specified security or loan, basket of securities or loans or securities or loan indices during the specified period, in return for periodic payments based on a fixed or variable interest rate. A total return swap is typically used to obtain exposure to a security, loan or market without owning or taking physical custody of such security or loan or investing directly in such market. A total return swap may effectively add leverage to our portfolio because, in addition to our total net assets, we would be subject to investment exposure on the amount of securities or loans subject to the total return swap. A total return swap is also subject to the risk that a counterparty will default on its payment obligations thereunder or that we will not be able to meet our obligations to the counterparty. In addition, because a total return swap is a form of synthetic leverage, such arrangements are subject to risks similar to those associated with the use of leverage.
Our portfolio may be focused on a limited number of industries, which will subject us to a risk of significant loss if there is a downturn in a particular industry.
Beyond the asset diversification requirements associated with our qualification as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we do not have fixed guidelines for diversification. While we are not targeting any specific industries, our investments may be focused on relatively few industries. To the extent that we hold large positions in a small number of issuers, or within a particular industry, our net asset value may be subject to greater fluctuation. We may also be more susceptible to any single economic or regulatory occurrence or a downturn in particular industry. As a result, the aggregate returns we realize may be significantly adversely affected if a small number of investments perform poorly or if we need to write down the value of any one investment. Additionally, a downturn in any particular industry in which we are invested could significantly affect our aggregate returns. Further, any industry in which we are meaningfully concentrated at any given time could be subject to significant risks that could adversely impact our aggregate returns. For example, as of December 31, 2025, our investments in internet software and services represented 11.1% of our portfolio at fair value. Our investments in internet software and services are subject to substantial risks, including, but not limited to, intense competition, changing technology, shifting user needs, frequent introductions of new products and services, competitors in different industries and ranging from large established companies to emerging startups, decreasing average selling prices of products and services resulting from rapid technological changes, cybersecurity risks and cyber incidents and various legal and regulatory risks. In addition, as of December 31, 2025, our investments in healthcare providers and services represented 9.0% of our portfolio at fair value. The U.S. healthcare industry is heavily regulated and our investments in healthcare providers and services are subject to a variety of risks, including, but not limited to, additional or changing government regulations that could increase compliance and other costs of doing business, which may impact the business of such portfolio companies.
We cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain various required licenses in U.S. states or in any other jurisdiction where they may be required in the future.
We are required to have and may be required in the future to obtain various state licenses to, among other things, originate commercial loans, and may be required to obtain similar licenses from other authorities, including outside of the United States, in the future in connection with one or more investments. Applying for and obtaining required licenses can be costly and take several months. We cannot assure you that we will maintain or obtain all of the licenses that we need on a timely basis. We also are and will be subject to various information and other requirements to maintain and obtain these licenses, and we cannot assure you that we will satisfy those requirements. Our failure to maintain or obtain licenses that we require, now or in the future, might restrict investment options and have other adverse consequences.
Certain investment analyses and decisions by our Adviser may be required to be undertaken on an expedited basis.
Investment analyses and decisions by our Adviser may be required to be undertaken on an expedited basis to take advantage of certain investment opportunities. While we generally will not seek to make an investment until our Adviser has conducted sufficient due diligence to make a determination as to the acceptability of the credit quality of the investment and the underlying issuer, in such cases, the information available to our Adviser at the time of making an investment decision may be limited. Therefore, no assurance can be given that our Adviser will have knowledge of all circumstances that may adversely affect an investment. In addition, our Adviser may rely upon independent consultants and others in connection with its evaluation of proposed investments. No assurance can be given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by such independent consultants and we may incur liability as a result of such consultants’ actions, many of whom we will have limited recourse against in the event of any such inaccuracies.
We may not have the funds or ability to make additional investments in our portfolio companies.
After our initial investment in a portfolio company, we may be called upon from time to time to provide additional funds to such company or have the opportunity to increase our investment through the exercise of a warrant or other right to purchase common stock. There is no assurance that we will make, or will have sufficient funds to make, follow-on investments. Even if we do have sufficient capital to make a desired follow-on investment, we may elect not to make a follow-on investment because we may not want to increase our level of risk, we prefer other opportunities, we are limited in our ability to do so by compliance with BDC requirements, or in order to maintain our RIC status. Our ability to make follow-on investments may also be limited by our Adviser’s allocation policies. Any decision not to make a follow-on investment or any inability on our part to make such an investment may have a negative impact on a portfolio company in need of such an investment, may result in a missedopportunity for us to increase our participation in a successful investment or may reduce the expected return to us on the investment.
We are subject to certain risks as a result of our interests in the CLO Preferred Shares.
Under the terms of the loan sale agreements entered into in connection with our debt securitization transactions with respect to the CLOs (collectively, the “CLO Transactions”), we and certain financing subsidiaries sold and/or contributed to the respective issuers in connection with the particular CLO Transaction (the "CLO Issuers"), all of the ownership interest in the portfolio loans and participations held by the CLO Issuers on the closing date for the CLO Transaction for the purchase price and other consideration set forth in such loan sale agreements. As a result of the CLO Transactions, we hold all of the preferred shares issued by the CLO Issuers (collectively, the “CLO Preferred Shares”), which comprise 100% of the equity interests (other than, in the case of CLO Issuers domiciled in the Cayman Islands, certain nominal interests held by a charitable trust for purposes of limiting the ability of the CLO Issuers to file for bankruptcy) in the CLO Issuers and in the case of CLO Transactions which have a Delaware limited liability company as co-issuer (the “CLO Co-Issuers”), such CLO Issuer in turn owns 100% of the equity of such CLO Co-Issuer. In the case of CLO Issuers organized in Delaware, we own the equity interests of such CLO Issuer (i.e., the CLO Preferred Shares). As a result, we expect to consolidate the financial statements of the CLO Issuers in our consolidated financial statements. However, once sold or contributed to a CLO, the underlying loans and participation interests have been securitized and are no longer our direct investment, and the risk return profile has been altered. In general, rather than holding interests in the underlying loans and participation interests, the CLO Transactions resulted in us holding equity interests in the CLO Issuers, with the CLO Issuers holding the underlying loans. As a result, we are subject both to the risks and benefits associated with the Preferred Shares and, indirectly, the risks and benefits associated with the underlying loans and participation interests held by the CLO Issuers. In addition, our ability to sell, amend or otherwise modify an underlying loan held by a CLO Issuer is subject to certain conditions and restrictions under the applicable CLO Transactions, which may prevent us from taking actions that we would take if we held such underlying loan directly.
The subordination of the CLO Preferred Shares will affect our right to payment .
The respective CLO Preferred Shares are subordinated to the notes issued and amounts borrowed by the CLO Issuers and CLO Co-Issuers, as applicable (collectively, the “CLO Debt”), respectively, and certain fees and expenses. If an overcollateralization test or an interest coverage test is not satisfied as of a determination date, the proceeds from the underlying loans otherwise payable to a CLO Issuer (which such CLO Issuer could have distributed with respect to the CLO Preferred Shares of such CLO Issuer) will be diverted to the payment of principal on the CLO Debt of such CLO Issuer. See “—The CLO Indentures require mandatory redemption of the respective CLO Debt for failure to satisfy coverage tests, which would reduce the amounts available for distribution to us.”
On the scheduled maturity of the CLO Debt of a CLO Issuer or if such CLO Debt is accelerated after an event of default, proceeds available after the payment of certain administrative expenses will be applied to pay both principal of and interest on the such CLO Debt until such CLO Debt is paid in full before any further payment will be made on the CLO Preferred Shares of such CLO Issuer. As a result, such CLO Preferred Shares would not receive any payments until such CLO Debt is paid in full and under certain circumstances may not receive payments at any time.
In addition, if an event of default occurs and is continuing with respect to the CLO Debt of a CLO Issuer, the holders of such CLO Debt will be entitled to determine the remedies to be exercised under the indenture pursuant to which such CLO Debt was issued (each a “CLO Indenture” and collectively, the “CLO Indentures”). Remedies pursued by the holders of CLO Debt could be adverse to our interests as the holder of CLO Preferred Shares, and the holders of CLO Debt will have no obligation to consider any possible adverse effect on such our interest or the interest of any other person. See “ — The holders of certain CLO Debt will control many rights under the CLO Indentures and therefore, we will have limited rights in connection with an event of default or distributions thereunder. ”
The CLO Preferred Shares represent leveraged investments in the underlying loan portfolio of the applicable CLO Issuer, which is a speculative investment technique that increases the risk to us as the owner of the CLO Preferred Shares. As the junior interest in a leveraged capital structure, the CLO Preferred Shares will bear the primary risk of deterioration in the performance of the applicable CLO Issuer and its portfolio of underlying loans.
The holders of certain CLO Debt will control many rights under the CLO Indentures and therefore, we will have limited rights in connection with an event of default or distributions thereunder.
Under each CLO Indenture, as long as any CLO Debt of the applicable CLO Issuer is outstanding, the holders of the senior-most outstanding class of such CLO Debt will have the right to direct the trustee or the applicable CLO Issuer to take certain actions under the applicable CLO Indenture or any related credit agreement. For example, these holders will have the right, following an event of default, to direct certain actions and control certain decisions, including the right to accelerate the maturity of applicable CLO Debt and, under certain circumstances, the liquidation of the collateral. Remedies pursued by such holders upon an event of default could be adverse to our interests.
Although we, as the holder of the CLO Preferred Shares, will have the right, subject to the conditions set forth in the CLO Indentures, to purchase assets in any liquidation of assets by the collateral trustee, if an event of default has occurred and is continuing, we will not have any creditors’ rights against the applicable CLO Issuer and will not have the right to determine the remedies to be exercised under the applicable CLO Indenture. There is no guarantee that any funds will remain to make distributions to us as the holder of the CLO Preferred Shares following any liquidation of assets and the application of the proceeds from such assets to pay the applicable CLO Debt and the fees, expenses, and other liabilities payable by the applicable CLO Issuer.
The CLO Indentures require mandatory redemption of the respective CLO Debt for failure to satisfy coverage tests, which would reduce the amounts available for distribution to us.
Under the CLO Indentures governing the CLO Transactions, there are two coverage tests applicable to CLO Debt. These tests apply to each CLO Transaction separately.
If either coverage test with respect to a CLO Transaction is not satisfied on any determination date on which such test is applicable, the applicable CLO Issuer must apply available amounts to redeem its CLO Debt in an amount necessary to cause such test to be satisfied. This would reduce or eliminate the amounts otherwise available to make distributions to us as the holder of the CLO Preferred Shares of such CLO Issuer.
Climate change and climate-related effects may expose us to systemic, global, macroeconomic risks and could adversely affect our business and the businesses of our products’ portfolio companies.
Global climate change is widely considered to be a significant threat to the global economy. We and the companies in which we invest may face risks associated with climate change, including physical risks such as an increased frequency or severity of extreme weather events and rising sea levels and temperatures. In addition, climate change may also impact our profitability and costs, as well as pose systemic risks for our businesses and those of the companies in which we invest. For example, to the extent weather conditions are affected by climate change, energy use by us or the companies in which we invest could increase or decrease depending on the duration and magnitude of any changes. Increases in the cost of energy could adversely affect the cost of operations of us or the companies in which we invest. On the other hand, a decrease in energy use due to weather changes may affect the financial condition of some of the companies in which we invest through decreased revenues. Additionally, extreme weather conditions in general require more system backup, adding to costs, including costs of insurance (particularly for real estate in certain regions), and can contribute to increased system stresses, including service interruptions.
While the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, various other regulatory and voluntary initiatives launched by international, federal, state, and regional policymakers and regulatory authorities as well as private actors seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may expose our business operations, products and products’ portfolio companies to other types of transition risks, such as: (i) political and policy risks, (including changing regulatory incentives, and legal requirements, including with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, that could result in increased costs or changes in business operations), (ii) regulatory and litigation risks,
(including changing legal requirements that could result in increased permitting, tax and compliance costs, enhanced disclosure obligations, changes in business operations, or the discontinuance of certain operations, and litigation seeking monetary or injunctive relief related to impacts related to climate change), (iii) technology and market risks, (including declining market for investments in industries seen as greenhouse gas intensive or less effective than alternatives in reducing greenhouse gas emissions), (iv) business trend risks, (including requirements for certain portfolio companies related to capital expenditures, product or service redesigns, and changes to operations and supply chains to meet changing customer expectations, and the increased attention to ESG considerations by our investors, including in connection with their determination of whether to invest), and (v) potential harm to our reputation if our shareholders believe that we are not adequately or appropriately responding to climate change and/or climate risk management, including through the way in which we operate our business, the composition of portfolio, our new investments or the decisions we make to continue to conduct or change our activities in response to climate change considerations.
Risks Related to an Investment in Our Common Stock
The market value of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.
In the past, shares of BDCs, including at times shares of our common stock, have traded at prices per share below net asset value per share. We cannot predict whether our common stock will trade at a price per share above, at or below net asset value per share. The market value and liquidity, if any, of the market for shares of our common stock may be significantly affected by numerous factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be directly related to our operating performance. These factors include:
• changes in the value of our portfolio of investments and derivative instruments as a result of changes in market factors, such as interest rate shifts, and also portfolio specific performance, such as portfolio company defaults, among other reasons;
• changes in regulatory policies or tax guidelines, particularly with respect to RICs or BDCs;
• loss of RIC tax treatment or BDC status;
• distributions that exceed our net investment income and net income as reported according to U.S. GAAP;
• changes in earnings or variations in operating results;
• changes in accounting guidelines governing valuation of our investments;
• adverse publicity about the investment management industry generally or individual scandals specifically;
• a breach of our computer systems, software or networks, or misappropriation of our proprietary information;
• any shortfall in revenue or net income or any increase in losses from levels expected by investors;
• departure of our Adviser or certain of its key personnel;
• general economic trends and other external factors; and
• loss of a major funding source.
A shareholder’s interest in us will be diluted if we issue additional shares, which could reduce the overall value of an investment in us.
Our shareholders do not have preemptive rights to purchase any shares we issue in the future. Our charter authorizes us to issue up to 1 billion shares of common stock. Pursuant to our charter, a majority of our entire Board may amend our charter to increase the number of shares of common stock we may issue without shareholder approval. Our Board may elect to sell additional shares in the future or issue equity interests in private offerings. To the extent we issue additional equity interests at or below net asset value, your percentage ownership interest in us may be diluted. In addition, depending upon the terms and pricing of any additional offerings and the value of our investments, you may also experience dilution in the book value and fair value of your shares.
Under the 1940 Act, we generally are prohibited from issuing or selling our common stock at a price below net asset value per share, which may be a disadvantage as compared with certain public companies. We may, however, sell our common stock, or warrants, options, or rights to acquire our common stock, at a price below the current net asset value of our common stock if our Board and independent directors determine that such sale is in our best interests and the best interests of our shareholders, and our shareholders, including a majority of those shareholders that are not affiliated with us, approve such sale. In any such case, the price at which our securities are to be issued and sold may not be less than a price that, in the determination of our Board, closely approximates the fair value of such securities (less any distributing commission or discount). If we raise additional funds by issuing common stock or senior securities convertible into, or exchangeable for, our common stock, then the percentage ownership of our shareholders at that time will decrease and you will experience dilution.
Certain provisions of our charter and actions of our Board could deter takeover attempts and have an adverse impact on the value of shares of our common stock.
Our charter, as well as certain statutory and regulatory requirements, contain certain provisions that may have the effect of discouraging a third party from attempting to acquire us. Our Board is divided into three classes of directors serving staggered three-year terms, which could prevent shareholders from removing a majority of directors in any given election. Our Board may, without
shareholder action, authorize the issuance of shares in one or more classes or series, including shares of preferred stock; and our Board may, without shareholder action, amend our charter to increase the number of shares of our common stock, of any class or series, that we will have authority to issue. These anti-takeover provisions may inhibit a change of control in circumstances that could give the holders of shares of our common stock the opportunity to realize a premium over the value of shares of our common stock.
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk.
The investments we make in accordance with our investment objective may result in a higher amount of risk than alternative investment options, including volatility or loss of principal. Our investments in portfolio companies may be highly speculative and aggressive and, therefore, an investment in our common stock may not be suitable for someone with lower risk tolerance.
We may experience fluctuations in our quarterly results.
We could experience fluctuations in our quarterly operating results due to a number of factors, including our ability or inability to make investments in companies that meet our investment criteria, the interest rate payable on the loans or other debt securities we originate or acquire, the level of our expenses (including our borrowing costs), variations in and the timing of the recognition of realized and unrealized gains or losses, the degree to which we encounter competition in our markets and general economic conditions. As a result of these factors, results for any previous period should not be relied upon as being indicative of performance in future periods or the full fiscal year.
The amount of any distributions we may make on our common stock is uncertain. We may not be able to pay distributions to shareholders, or be able to sustain distributions at any particular level, and our distributions per share, if any, may not grow over time, and our distributions per share may be reduced. We have not established any limits on the extent to which we may use borrowings, if any, and we may use sources other than cash flows from operations to fund distributions (which may reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest in portfolio companies).
Subject to our Board’s discretion and applicable legal restrictions, we intend to authorize and declare cash distributions on a monthly or quarterly basis and pay such distributions on a monthly or quarterly basis. We expect to pay distributions out of assets legally available for distribution. However, we cannot assure you that we will achieve investment results that will allow us to make a consistent targeted level of cash distributions or year-to-year increases in cash distributions. Our ability to pay distributions might be adversely affected by the impact of the risks described herein. In addition, the inability to satisfy the asset coverage test applicable to us as a BDC under the 1940 Act can limit our ability to pay distributions. Distributions from offering proceeds also could reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest in debt or equity securities of portfolio companies. We cannot assure you that we will pay distributions to our shareholders in the future.
Distributions on our common stock may exceed our taxable earnings and profits. Therefore, portions of the distributions that we pay may represent a return of capital to you. A return of capital is a return of a portion of your original investment in shares of our common stock. As a result, a return of capital will (i) lower your adjusted tax basis in your shares and thereby increase the amount of capital gain (or decrease the amount of capital loss) realized upon a subsequent sale or redemption of such shares, and (ii) reduce the amount of funds we have for investment in portfolio companies. We have not established any limit on the extent to which we may use offering proceeds to fund distributions.
We may pay our distributions from offering proceeds in anticipation of future cash flow, which may constitute a return of your capital and will lower your adjusted tax basis in your shares, thereby increasing the amount of capital gain (or decreasing the amount of capital loss) realized upon a subsequent sale or redemption of such shares, even if such shares have not increased in value or have, in fact, lost value. Distributions from offering proceeds also could reduce the amount of capital we ultimately have available to invest in portfolio companies.
Our stockholders could receive shares of our common stock as dividends, which could result in adverse tax consequences to them.
Although we currently do not intend to do so, we are permitted to declare a large portion of a dividend in shares of common stock instead of cash at the election of each stockholder. Revenue procedures issued by the IRS allow a publicly offered RIC to distribute its own stock as a dividend for the purpose of fulfilling its distribution requirements, if certain conditions are satisfied. Among other things, the aggregate amount of cash available to be distributed to all stockholders is required to be at least 20% of the aggregate declared distribution. The Internal Revenue Service has also issued private letter rulings on cash/stock dividends paid by RICs and real estate investment trusts where the cash component is limited to 20% of the total distribution if certain requirements are satisfied. Stockholders receiving such dividends will be required to include the full amount of the dividend (including the portion payable in stock) as ordinary income (or, in certain circumstances, long-term capital gain) to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, stockholders could be required to pay income taxes with respect to such dividends in excess of the cash dividends received. It is unclear to what extent we will be able to pay taxable dividends in cash and common stock (whether pursuant to IRS Revenue Procedures, a private letter ruling or otherwise).
Shareholders will experience dilution in their ownership percentage if they do not participate in our distribution reinvestment plan and may experience dilution in the net asset value of their shares if they do not participate in our distribution reinvestment plan and if our shares are trading at a discount to net asset value.
All distributions declared in cash payable to shareholders that are participants in our distribution reinvestment plan will generally be automatically reinvested in shares of our common stock unless the investor opts out of the plan. As a result, shareholders that do not elect to participate in our distribution reinvestment plan will experience dilution over time. Shareholders who do not elect to participate in our distribution reinvestment plan may experience accretion to the net asset value of their shares if our shares are trading at a premium to net asset value and dilution if our shares are trading at a discount to net asset value. The level of accretion or discount would depend on various factors, including the proportion of our shareholders who participate in the plan, the level of premium or discount at which our shares are trading and the amount of the distribution payable to shareholders.
Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.
Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock or the perception that such sales could occur could adversely affect the prevailing market prices for our common stock. If this occurs, it could impair our ability to raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities should we desire to do so. We cannot predict what effect, if any, future sales of securities or the availability of securities for future sales will have on the market price of our common stock prevailing from time to time.
Our stock repurchase program could affect the price of our common stock and increase volatility and may be suspended or terminated at any time, which may result in a decrease in the trading price of our common stock.
Our Board has approved a share repurchase program for us to repurchase shares of our common stock and may approve additional share repurchase programs in the future. On November 4, 2025, our Board approved the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program under which we may repurchase up to $200 million of our outstanding common stock. Under the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program, purchases may be made at management’s discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, in accordance with all applicable securities laws and regulations. Unless extended by our Board, the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program will terminate on May 4, 2027.
The 2025 Stock Repurchase Program is discretionary and whether purchases will be made under the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program and how much will be purchased at any time is uncertain, dependent on prevailing market prices and trading volumes, all of which we cannot predict. These activities and activities under any future stock repurchase programs may have the effect of maintaining the market price of our common stock or retarding a decline in the market price of the common stock, and, as a result, the price of our common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. Repurchases pursuant to the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program could affect the price of our common stock and increase its volatility. The existence of the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program and any future stock repurchase programs could also cause the price of our common stock to be higher than it would be in the absence of such a plan and could potentially reduce the market liquidity for our common stock. There can be no assurance that any stock repurchases will enhance stockholder value because the market price of our common stock may decline below the levels at which we repurchased such shares. Any failure to repurchase shares after we have announced our intention to do so may negatively impact our reputation and investor confidence in us and may negatively impact our stock price. Although the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program is intended to enhance long-term stockholder value, short-term stock price fluctuations could reduce the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program’s effectiveness.
Preferred stock could be issued with rights and preferences that would adversely affect holders of our common stock.
Under the terms of our charter, our Board is authorized to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series without shareholder approval, which could potentially adversely affect the interests of existing shareholders. In particular, holders of preferred stock are required to have certain voting rights when there are unpaid dividends and priority over other classes of securities as to distribution of assets or payment of dividends.
If we issue preferred stock or convertible debt securities, the net asset value of our common stock may become more volatile.
We cannot assure you that the issuance of preferred stock and/or convertible debt securities would result in a higher yield or return to the holders of our common stock. The issuance of preferred stock or convertible debt would likely cause the net asset value of our common stock to become more volatile. If the dividend rate on the preferred stock, or the interest rate on the convertible debt securities, were to approach the net rate of return on our investment portfolio, the benefit of such leverage to the holders of our common stock would be reduced. If the dividend rate on the preferred stock, or the interest rate on the debt securities, were to exceed the net rate of return on our portfolio, the use of leverage would result in a lower rate of return to the holders of common stock than if we had not issued the preferred stock or convertible debt securities. Any decline in the net asset value of our investment would be borne entirely by the holders of our common stock. Therefore, if the market value of our portfolio were to decline, the leverage would result in a greater decrease in net asset value to the holders of our common stock than if we were not leveraged through the issuance of preferred stock or debt securities. This decline in net asset value would also tend to cause a greaterdecline in the market price, if any, for our common stock.
There is also a risk that, in the event of a sharp decline in the value of our net assets, we would be in danger of failing to maintain required asset coverage ratios, which may be required by the preferred stock or convertible debt, or our current investment income might not be sufficient to meet the dividend requirements on the preferred stock or the interest payments on the debt securities. In order to counteract such an event, we might need to liquidate investments in order to fund the redemption of some or all of the preferred stock or convertible debt. In addition, we would pay (and the holders of our common stock would bear) all costs and expenses relating to the issuance and ongoing maintenance of the preferred stock, convertible debt, or any combination of these securities. Holders of preferred stock or convertible debt may have different interests than holders of common stock and may at times have disproportionate influence over our affairs.
Holders of any preferred stock that we may issue will have the right to elect certain members of the Board and have class voting rights on certain matters.
The 1940 Act requires that holders of shares of preferred stock must be entitled as a class to elect two directors at all times and to elect a majority of the directors if dividends on such preferred stock are in arrears by two years or more, until such arrearage is eliminated. In addition, certain matters under the 1940 Act require the separate vote of the holders of any issued and outstanding preferred stock, including changes in fundamental investment restrictions and conversion to open end status and, accordingly, preferred shareholders could veto any such changes. Restrictions imposed on the declarations and payment of dividends or other distributions to the holders of our common stock and preferred stock, both by the 1940 Act and by requirements imposed by rating agencies, might impair our ability to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Risks Related to an Investment in our Unsecured Notes
Our unsecured notes are effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness we have currently incurred or may incur in the future.
We have issued notes that are unsecured by any of our assets or any of the assets of our subsidiaries. As a result, these notes are effectively subordinated, or junior, to any secured indebtedness or other obligations we or our subsidiaries have currently incurred and may incur in the future (or any indebtedness that is initially unsecured that we later secure) to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness. Substantially all of our subsidiaries’ assets are currently pledged as collateral under our credit facilities or in connection with our CLOs. In any liquidation, dissolution, bankruptcy or other similar proceeding, the holders of any of our existing or future secured indebtedness and the secured indebtedness of our subsidiaries may assert rights against the assets pledged to secure that indebtedness in order to receive full payment of their indebtedness before the assets may be used to pay other creditors, including the holders of the unsecured notes. Secured indebtedness is effectively senior to the notes to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness.
Our unsecured notes are structurally subordinated to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries.
The unsecured notes are exclusively our obligations and not of any of our subsidiaries. None of our subsidiaries are a guarantor of the unsecured notes and the unsecured notes are not required to be guaranteed by any subsidiaries we may acquire or create in the future. Except to the extent we are a creditor with recognized claimsagainst our subsidiaries, all claims of creditors (including trade creditors) and holders of preferred stock, if any, of our subsidiaries will have priority over our equity interests in such subsidiaries (and therefore the claims of our creditors, including holders of the unsecured notes) with respect to the assets of such subsidiaries. Even if we are recognized as a creditor of one or more of our subsidiaries, our claims would still be effectively subordinated to any security interests in the assets of any such subsidiary and to any indebtedness or other liabilities of any such subsidiary senior to our claims. Consequently, our unsecured notes will be structurally subordinated, or junior, to our SPV Asset Facilities, CLOs and all existing and future indebtedness and other obligations (including trade payables) incurred by any of our subsidiaries, financing vehicles or similar facilities and any subsidiaries, financing vehicles or similar facilities that we may in the future acquire or establish. Our subsidiaries may incur indebtedness in the future, all of which would be structurally senior to the unsecured notes.
A downgrade, suspension or withdrawal of the credit rating assigned by a rating agency to us or our notes, if any, or change in the debt markets, could cause the liquidity or market value of our notes to decline significantly.
Our credit ratings are an assessment by rating agencies of our ability to pay our debts when due. Consequently, real or anticipated changes in our credit ratings will generally affect the market value of our notes. These credit ratings may not reflect the potential impact of risks relating to the structure or marketing of our notes. Credit ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, and may be revised or withdrawn at any time by the issuing organization in its sole discretion.
An increase in market interest rates could result in a decrease in the market value of our unsecured notes.
The condition of the financial markets and prevailing interest rates have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future, which could have an adverse effect on the market prices of our unsecured notes. In general, as market interest rates rise, debt securities bearing interest at fixed rates of interest decline in value. We cannot predict the future level of market interest rates.
The indenture under which the unsecured notes were issued contains limited protection for holders of our unsecured notes.
The indenture offers limited protection to holders of our unsecured notes. The terms of the indenture and the unsecured notes do not restrict our or any of our subsidiaries’ ability to engage in, or otherwise be a party to, a variety of corporate transactions, circumstances or events that could have an adverse impact on your investment in the unsecured notes. In particular, the terms of the indenture and the unsecured notes will not place any restrictions on our or our subsidiaries’ ability to:
• issue securities or otherwise incur additional indebtedness or other obligations other than an incurrence of indebtedness or other obligations that would cause a violation of Section 18(a)(1)(A) as modified by Section 61(a) of the 1940 Act or any successor provisions of the 1940 Act, but giving effect, in either case, to any exemptive relief granted to us by the SEC. Currently, these provisions generally prohibit us from incurring additional borrowings, including through the issuance of additional debt securities, unless our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, equals at least 150% after such borrowings;
• pay dividends on, or purchase or redeem or make any payments in respect of, capital stock or other securities ranking junior in right of payment to the unsecured notes;
• sell assets (other than certain limited restrictions on our ability to consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of our assets);
• create liens (including liens on the shares of our subsidiaries) or enter into sale and leaseback transactions;
• enter into transactions with affiliates;
• make investments; or
• create restrictions on the payment of dividends or other amounts to us from our subsidiaries.
Furthermore, the terms of the indenture and the unsecured notes do not protect holders of the unsecured notes in the event that we experience changes (including significant adverse changes) in our financial condition, results of operations or credit ratings, as they do not require that we or our subsidiaries adhere to any financial tests or ratios or specified levels of net worth, revenues, income, cash flow or liquidity.
Our ability to recapitalize, incur additional debt and take a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of the unsecured notes may have important consequences for you as a holder of the unsecured notes, including making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to the unsecured notes or negatively affecting the trading value of the unsecured notes.
Certain of our current debt instruments include more protections for their holders than the indenture and the unsecured notes. In addition, other debt we issue or incur in the future could contain more protections for its holders than the indenture and the unsecured notes, including additional covenants and events of default. The issuance or incurrence of any such debt with incremental protections could affect the market for and trading levels and prices of the unsecured notes.
The optional redemption provision may materially adversely affect a noteholders return on the unsecured notes.
The unsecured notes are redeemable in whole or in part at any time or from time to time at our option. We may choose to redeem the unsecured notes at times when prevailing interest rates are lower than the interest rate paid on the unsecured notes. In this circumstance, a noteholder may not be able to reinvest the redemption proceeds in a comparable security at an effective interest rate as high as that of the unsecured notes being redeemed.
We may not be able to repurchase the unsecured notes upon a Change of Control Repurchase Event.
Upon the occurrence of a Change of Control Repurchase Event, as defined in the indenture that governs the unsecured notes, as supplemented, subject to certain conditions, we will be required to offer to repurchase all outstanding unsecured notes at 100% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest. The source of funds for that purchase of the unsecured notes will be our available cash or cash generated from our operations or other potential sources, including borrowings, investment repayments, sales of assets or sales of equity. We cannot assure you that sufficient funds from such sources will be available at the time of any Change of Control Repurchase Event to make required repurchases of the unsecured notes tendered. Our debt instruments may contain restrictions and provisions that we would have to comply with in connection with any repurchase of the unsecured notes. If the holders of the unsecured notes exercise their right to require us to repurchase all the unsecured notes upon a Change of Control Repurchase Event, the financial effect of this repurchase could cause a default under our existing or future debt instruments, even if the Change of Control Repurchase Event itself would not cause a default. It is possible that we will not have sufficient funds at the time of the Change of Control Repurchase Event to make the required repurchase of the unsecured notes or our other debt.
If an active trading market does not develop for the unsecured notes, noteholders may not be able to resell them.
We do not intend to apply for listing of the unsecured notes on any securities exchange or for quotation of the unsecured notes on any automated dealer quotation system. If no active trading market develops, noteholders may not be able to resell the unsecured notes at their fair market value or at all. If the unsecured notes are traded after their initial issuance, they may trade at a discount from their initial offering price depending on prevailing interest rates, the market for similar securities, our credit ratings, general economic conditions, our financial condition, performance and prospects and other factors. We cannot assure noteholders that a liquid trading
market will develop for the unsecured notes, that noteholders will be able to sell the unsecured notes at a particular time or that the price noteholders receive when they sell will be favorable. To the extent an active trading market does not develop for the unsecured notes, the liquidity and trading price for the unsecured notes may be harmed. Accordingly, noteholders may be required to bear the financial risk of an investment in the unsecured notes for an indefinite period of time.
Risks Related to U.S. Federal Income Tax
We cannot predict how new tax legislation will affect us, our investments, or our stockholders, and any such legislation could adversely affect our business.
Legislative or other actions relating to taxes could have a negative effect on us. The laws pertaining to U.S. federal income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department. The likelihood of any such legislation being enacted is uncertain. New legislation and any U.S. Treasury regulations, administrative interpretations or court decisions interpreting such legislation could have adverse tax consequences, such as significantly and negatively affecting our ability to qualify for tax treatment as a RIC or negatively affecting the U.S. federal income tax consequences applicable to us and our investors as a result of such qualification. For example, on July 4, 2025, the United States enacted “An Act to Provide for reconciliation Pursuant to Title II of H. Con. Res. 14” (the “Act”), also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which includes significant amendments to the Code. The Act did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. Shareholders are urged to consult with their tax advisor regarding tax legislative, regulatory, or administrative developments and proposals and their potential effect on an investment in our common stock.
We will be subject to U.S. federal income tax imposed at corporate rates if we are unable to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC under subchapter M of the Code.
To maintain RIC tax treatment under the Code, we must meet the following minimum annual distribution, income source and asset diversification requirements. See “ ITEM 1. BUSINESS — Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations .”
The Annual Distribution Requirement for a RIC generally will be satisfied if we distribute to our shareholders on an annual basis at least 90% of our “investment company taxable income,” which is generally our net ordinary income plus the excess, if any, of realized net short term capital gains over realized net long term capital losses. In addition, a RIC may, in certain cases, satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement by distributing dividends relating to a taxable year after the close of such taxable year under the “spillover dividend” provisions of Subchapter M. We would be subject to U.S. federal income tax imposed at regular corporate rates, on retained income and/or gains, including any short term capital gains or long term capital gains. We also must make distributions to satisfy the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement and avoid a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income. Because we may use debt financing, we are subject to (i) an asset coverage ratio requirement under the 1940 Act and may, in the future, be subject to (ii) certain financial covenants under loan and credit agreements that could, under certain circumstances, restrict us from making distributions necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements. If we are unable to obtain cash from other sources, or choose or are required to retain a portion of our taxable income or gains, we could (1) be required to pay excise taxes and (2) fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment.
The income source requirement will be satisfied if we obtain at least 90% of our annual income from dividends, interest, payments with respect to loans of certain securities, gains from the sale of stock or other securities or foreign currencies, net income from certain “qualified publicly traded partnerships,” (as that term is defined in the Code) or other income derived from the business of investing in stock or securities.
In addition, we are required to satisfy certain asset diversification requirements at the end of each quarter of our taxable year. Specifically, to satisfy these requirement (1) at least 50% of the value of our assets must consist of cash, cash items (including receivables), U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs, and other securities, if such other securities of any one issuer do not represent more than 5% of the value of our assets or more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of the issuer; and(2) no more than 25% of the value of our assets may be invested in (i) the securities, other than U.S. government securities or securities of other RICs, of one issuer, (ii) the securities, other than the securities of other RICs, of two or more issuers that are controlled by us and which are determined under applicable Treasury regulations, to be engaged in the same or similar or related trades or businesses, or (iii) the securities of certain “qualified publicly traded partnerships (as that term is defined in the Code).” Failure to meet these requirements may result in our having to dispose of certain investments quickly in order to prevent the loss of RIC status. Because most of our investments will be in private companies, and therefore will be relatively illiquid, any such dispositions could be made at disadvantageous prices and could result in substantial losses.
If we fail to qualify for or maintain RIC tax treatment for any reason, and certain cure provisions are not applicable, we would be subject to U.S. federal income tax imposed at corporate rates on all of our taxable income (including our net capital gains). We would not be able to deduct distributions to our shareholders, nor would they be required to be made. The resulting taxes could substantially reduce our net assets, the amount of income available for distribution, and the amount of our distributions.
We may invest in certain debt and equity investments through subsidiaries that are classified as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and the net taxable income of these subsidiaries will be subject to U.S. federal income and state and local taxes imposed at corporate rates. We may invest in certain foreign debt and equity investments, which could be subject to foreign taxes (such as income tax, withholding, and value added taxes).
We may have difficulty paying our required distributions if we recognize income before or without receiving cash representing such income.
For U.S. federal income tax purposes, we may be required to recognize taxable income in circumstances in which we do not receive a corresponding payment in cash. For example, since we will likely hold debt obligations that are treated under applicable tax rules as having OID (such as debt instruments with PIK, secondary market purchases of debt securities at a discount to par, interest or, in certain cases, increasing interest rates or debt instruments that were issued with warrants), we must include in income each year a portion of the OID that accrues over the life of the obligation, regardless of whether cash representing such income is received by us in the same taxable year. We may also have to include in income other amounts that we have not yet received in cash, such as unrealized appreciation for foreign currency forward contracts and deferred loan origination fees that are paid after origination of the loan or are paid in non-cash compensation such as warrants or stock. Furthermore, we may invest in non-U.S. corporations (or other non-U.S. entities treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes) that could be treated under the Code and U.S. Treasury regulations as “passive foreign investment companies” and/or “controlled foreign corporations.” The rules relating to investment in these types of non-U.S. entities are designed to limit deferral and generally require the current inclusion of income derived by the entity. In certain circumstances, this could require us to recognize income where we do not receive a corresponding payment in cash.
Unrealized appreciation on derivatives, such as foreign currency forward contracts, may be included in taxable income while the receipt of cash may occur in a subsequent period when the related contract expires. Any unrealized depreciation on investments that the foreign currency forward contracts are designed to hedge are not currently deductible for tax purposes. This can result in increased taxable income whereby we may not have sufficient cash to pay distributions or we may opt to retain such taxable income and pay U.S. federal income or excise tax. In such cases we could still rely upon the “spillover provisions” to maintain RIC tax treatment.
We anticipate that a portion of our income may constitute OID or other income required to be included in taxable income prior to receipt of cash. Further, we may elect to amortize market discounts with respect to debt securities acquired in the secondary market and include such amounts in our taxable income in the current year, instead of upon disposition, as an election not to do so would limit our ability to deduct interest expenses for tax purposes. Because any OID or other amounts accrued will be included in our investment company taxable income for the year of the accrual, we may be required to make a distribution to our shareholders in order to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement, even if we will not have received any corresponding cash amount. As a result, we may have difficulty meeting the Annual Distribution Requirement necessary to maintain RIC tax treatment under the Code. We may have to sell some of our investments at times and/or at prices we would not consider advantageous, raise additional debt or equity capital, make a partial share distribution, or forgo new investment opportunities for this purpose. If we are not able to obtain cash from other sources, and choose not to make a qualifying share distribution, we may fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment and thus become subject to U.S. federal income tax imposed at corporate rates.
General Risk Factors
Changes in laws or regulations governing our operations may adversely affect our business or cause us to alter our business strategy.
We and our portfolio companies are subject to regulation by laws at the local, state, and federal levels. These laws and regulations, as well as their interpretation, could change from time to time, including as the result of interpretive guidance or other directives from the current U.S. Presidential administration, and new laws, regulations and interpretations could also come into effect. Any new or changed laws or regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, and political uncertainty could increase regulatory uncertainty in the near term.
A single political party currently controls both the executive and legislative branches of government, which increases the likelihood that legislation may be adopted that could significantly affect the regulation of U.S. financial markets. Regulatory changes could result in greater competition from banks and other lenders with which we compete for lending and other investment opportunities. The United States may also potentially withdraw from or renegotiate various trade agreements and take other actions that would change current trade policies of the United States. In addition, in June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its longstanding approach under the Chevron doctrine, which provided for judicial deference to regulatory agencies. As a result of this decision, there may be increased challenges to existing agency regulations and it is unclear how lower courts will apply the decision in the context of other regulatory schemes without more specific guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court. For example, the decision could significantly impact consumer protection, advertising, privacy, AI technologies, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering practices and other regulatory regimes with which we are required to comply. Any such regulatory developments could result in uncertainty about and changes in the ways such regulations apply to us and our portfolio companies, and may require additional resources to ensure our continued compliance. We cannot predict which, if any, of these actions will be taken or, if taken, their effect on the financial stability of the United States. Such actions could have a significant adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Changes to the laws and regulations governing our permitted investments may require a change to our investment strategy. Such changes could differ materially from our strategies and plans as set forth in this report and may shift our investment focus from the areas of expertise of our Adviser. Thus, any such changes, if they occur, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment in us.
Economic sanction laws in the U.S. and other jurisdictions may prohibit us and our affiliates from transacting with certain countries, individuals and companies.
Economic sanction laws in the U.S. and other jurisdictions may restrict or prohibit us or our affiliates from transacting with certain countries, territories, individuals and entities. In the U.S., the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) administers and enforces laws, executive orders and regulations establishing U.S. economic and trade sanctions, which restrict or prohibit, among other things, direct and indirect transactions with, and the provision of services to, certain countries, territories, industry sectors, individuals and entities. These types of sanctions may significantly restrict or completely prohibit lending activities in certain jurisdictions, and violation of any such laws or regulations, may result in significant legal and monetary penalties, as well as reputational damage. OFAC sanctions programs change frequently, which may make it more difficult for us or our affiliates to ensure compliance. Moreover, OFAC enforcement is increasing, which may increase the risk that we become the subject of such actual or threatened enforcement. Sanctions laws and regulations enforced by other countries may conflict with U.S. law such that compliance with both becomes difficult or even impossible.
Additionally, Section 219 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (the “ITRA”) amended the Exchange Act to require companies subject to SEC reporting obligations under Section 13 of the Exchange Act to disclose in their periodic reports specified dealings or transactions involving Iran or other individuals and entities targeted by OFAC during the period covered by the relevant periodic report. In some cases, the ITRA requires companies to disclose these types of transactions even if they were permissible under U.S. law. Companies that currently may be or may have been at the time considered our affiliates, may have from time to time publicly filed and/or provided to us such disclosures. We do not independently verify or participate in the preparation of these disclosures. We are required, either periodically or annually to separately file with the SEC a notice when such activities have been disclosed, and the SEC is required to post such notice of disclosure on its website and send the report to the President and certain U.S. Congressional committees. Disclosure of such activity, even if such activity is not subject to sanctions under applicable law, and any sanctions actually imposed on us or our affiliates as a result of these activities, could harm our reputation and have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations, and any failure to disclose any such activities as required could additionally result in fines or penalties.
Failure to comply with anti-corruption laws or with regulations regarding the prevention of money laundering or terrorism or national security could adversely affect our business.
We and the Adviser are committed to complying with all applicable anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws. As a result, the Adviser may forgo investment opportunities because of our unwillingness to participate in transactions that may expose us to risks under applicable anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws. Law enforcement agencies in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere devote significant resources to enforcement of anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws and regulations. Any failure to comply with anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws and regulations could have serious legal, financial and reputational consequences, including operational disruptions and significant financial penalties.
As part of our responsibility for the prevention of money laundering under applicable laws, we may require detailed verification of a prospective investor’s identity and the source of such prospective investor’s funds. We may from time to time request additional information as may be required for us to satisfy our obligations under these and other laws that may be adopted in the future. Additionally, we may from time to time be obligated to file reports with regulatory authorities in various jurisdictions with regard to, among other things, the identity of our investors and suspicious activities involving investments in us. In the event it is determined that any investor, or any direct or indirect owner of any investor, is a person identified in any of these laws as a prohibited person, or is otherwise engaged in activities of the type prohibited under these laws, we may be obligated, among other actions to be taken, to withhold distributions of any funds otherwise owing to such investor or to cause such investor’s interests to be cancelled or otherwise redeemed (without the payment of any consideration in respect of those interests).
The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 and the USA PATRIOT Act require that financial institutions (a term that includes banks, broker-dealers and investment companies) establish and maintain compliance programs to guard against money laundering activities. These implementing regulations were amended to include registered investment advisers within scope of financial institutions that will be obliged to adopt stand-alone anti-money laundering programs, though the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has postponed the effective date of the amendment to January 1, 2028 and announced its intention to revisit the scope and applicability of the amendment to certain asset managers at a future date. Laws or regulations may presently or in the future require us, any of our affiliates or other service providers to establish additional anti-money laundering procedures, to collect information with respect to our products’ investors, to share information with governmental authorities with respect to our products’ investors or to implement additional restrictions on the transfer of the interests. These requirements can lead to increased expenses and exposure to enforcement actions.
Heightened scrutiny of the financial services industry by regulators may materially and adversely affect our business.
The financial services industry has been the subject of heightened scrutiny by regulators around the globe. In particular, the SEC and its staff have focused more narrowly on issues relevant to alternative asset management firms, including by forming specialized units devoted to examining such firms and, in certain cases, bringing enforcement actions against the firms, their principals and employees. In recent periods there have been a number of enforcement actions within the industry, and it is expected that the SEC will continue to pursue enforcement actions against asset managers. The current administration and the current leadership of the SEC have indicated that they intend to not adopt certain proposals or modify or repeal certain regulations perceived as burdensome to private fund advisers, particularly those related to sustainability investing and cybersecurity. This enforcement activity and the evolving regulatory landscape have caused, and could further cause us to reevaluate certain practices and adjust our compliance control function as necessary and appropriate.
The SEC’s recent lists of examination priorities include such items as assessments of investment advisers’ adherence to fiduciary standards of conduct and effectiveness of advisers’ compliance programs, as well as specific priority areas for advisers to private funds, including disclosure of conflicts of interests and risks, and adequacy of policies and procedures; and advisory of alternative investment strategies or complex investment products. The SEC also highlighted its focus on investment advisers that are dually registered as broker-dealers and compliance with newly adopted SEC rules, including Regulations S-ID and S-P. Many firms have received inquiries during examinations or directly from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement regarding various transparency-related topics, including the acceleration of monitoring fees, the allocation of broken-deal expenses, outside business activities of firm principals and employees, group purchasing arrangements, and general conflicts of interest disclosures. While we believe we have made appropriate and timely disclosures regarding the foregoing, the SEC staff may disagree.
Further, the SEC has previously highlighted BDC board oversight and valuation practices as one of its areas of focus in investment adviser examinations and has instituted enforcement actions against advisers for misleading investors about valuation.
If the SEC were to investigate our Adviser and find errors in its methodologies or procedures, our Adviser could be subject to penalties and fines, which could in turn harm our reputation and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Similarly, from time to time we or our Adviser could become the subject of litigation or other similar claims. Any investigations, litigation or similar claims could continue without resolution for long periods of time and could consume substantial amounts of our management’s time and attention, and that time and attention and the devotion of associated resources could, at times, be disproportionate to the amounts at stake. Investigations, litigations and other claims are subject to inherent uncertainties, and a material adverse impact on our financial statements could occur for the period in which the effect of an unfavorable final outcome in an investigation, litigation or other similar claims becomes probable and reasonably estimable. In addition, we could incur expenses associated with defending ourselves againstinvestigations, litigation and other similar claims, and these expenses could be material to our earnings in future periods.
Credit funds have been the subject of increasing regulatory focus at international and regional levels. To the extent that we are engaged in lending activity, we may be subject to restrictions on our activities and be obliged to comply with regulatory reporting and disclosure requirements. The International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) and the Financial Stability Board (“FSB”) have called on regulators to consider issues arising from the rapid growth in private finance, including in relation to systemic risk, transparency, leverage, liquidity, and conflicts of interest. It is likely that regulators will continue to focus on the credit funds sector and may introduce further regulatory requirements in the future.
Provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law and of our charter and bylaws could deter takeover attempts and have an adverse effect on the price of our common stock.
The Maryland General Corporation Law (the “MGCL”), our charter and our bylaws contain provisions that may discourage, delay or make more difficult a change in control of the Company or the removal of our directors. We are subject to the Maryland Business Combination Act (the “Business Combination Act”), subject to any applicable requirements of the 1940 Act. Our board of directors has adopted a resolution exempting from the Business Combination Act any business combination between us and any other person, subject to prior approval of such business combination by our board, including approval by a majority of our disinterested directors. If the resolution exempting business combinations is repealed or our board or disinterested directors do not approve a business combination, the Business Combination Act may discourage third parties from trying to acquire control of us and may increase the difficulty of consummating such an offer. Our bylaws exempt from the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act (the “Control Share Acquisition Act”) acquisitions of our stock by any person. If we amend our bylaws to repeal the exemption from the Control Share Acquisition Act, subject to any applicable requirements of the 1940 Act, the Control Share Acquisition Act also may make it more difficult for a third party to obtain control of us and may increase the difficulty of consummating such an offer.
Our Bylaws include an exclusive forum selection provision, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other agents.
Our Bylaws require that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City (or, if that court does not have jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division) shall be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf (ii) any action asserting a claim of
breach of any standard of conduct or legal duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other agents to us or to our shareholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the MGCL or the Charter or the Bylaws (as either may be amended from time to time), or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This exclusive forum selection provision in our Bylaws will not apply to claims arising under the federal securities laws, including the Securities Act and the Exchange Act. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a provision, and investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. In addition, this provision may increase costs for shareholders in bringing a claim against us or our directors, officers or other agents. Any investor purchasing or otherwise acquiring our shares is deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing provision. The exclusive forum selection provision in our Bylaws may limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other agents, which may discourage lawsuits against us and such persons. It is also possible that, notwithstanding such exclusive forum selection provision, a court could rule that such provision is inapplicable or unenforceable. If this occurred, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in another forum, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We expend significant financial and other resources to comply with the requirements of being a public entity.
As a public entity, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting, which are discussed below. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls, significant resources and management oversight are required. We have implemented procedures, processes, policies and practices for the purpose of addressing the standards and requirements applicable to public companies. These activities may divert management’s attention from other business concerns, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We are managed by Blue Owl Credit Advisors LLC (“the Adviser” or “our Adviser”). The Adviser is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”), an indirect affiliate of Blue Owl Capital Inc. (“Blue Owl”) (NYSE: OWL) and part of Blue Owl’s Credit platform. Subject to the overall supervision of our board of directors (“the Board” or “our Board”), the Adviser manages our day-to-day operations, and provides investment advisory and management services to us. The Adviser or its affiliates may engage in certain origination activities and receive attendant arrangement, structuring or similar fees. The Adviser is responsible for managing our business and activities, including sourcing investment opportunities, conducting research, performing diligence on potential investments, structuring our investments, and monitoring our portfolio companies on an ongoing basis through a team of investment professionals.
Since July 6, 2023, our common stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol “OBDC.”
The Adviser also serves as investment adviser to OBDC II and OCIC.
Blue Owl consists of three investment platforms: (1) Credit, which includes several strategies, including direct lending, alternative credit, investment grade credit, liquid credit and other adjacent investment strategies (2) GP Strategic Capital, which primarily focuses on acquiring equity stakes in, or providing debt financing to, large, multi-product private equity and private credit firms and (3) Real Assets, which primarily focuses on the strategies of net lease real estate, real estate credit and digital infrastructure, which focuses on acquiring, financing, developing and operating data centers and related digital infrastructure assets. The Adviser is part of the direct lending strategy of Blue Owl’s Credit platform which focuses on lending to primarily upper-middle-market companies, both private equity-sponsored and non-sponsored, and provides a range of customized financing solutions across debt and equity-related instruments. In addition to the Adviser, Blue Owl’s Credit platform’s direct lending strategy is comprised of Blue Owl Technology Credit Advisors LLC (“OTCA”), Blue Owl Technology Credit Advisors II LLC (“OTCA II”), Blue Owl Credit Private Fund Advisors LLC (“OPFA”) and Blue Owl Diversified Credit Advisors LLC (“ODCA” and together with the Adviser, OTCA, OTCA II, and OPFA, the “Blue Owl Credit Advisers”), which also are registered investment advisers. As of December 31, 2025, the Adviser and its affiliates had $157.76 billion of assets under management across Blue Owl’s Credit platform.
The management of our investment portfolio is the responsibility of the Adviser and the Diversified Lending Investment Committee. The Investment Team is led by Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz and Craig W. Packer and is supported by certain members of the Adviser's senior executive team and Blue Owl’s Credit platform’s direct lending investment committees. Blue Owl’s four direct lending investment committees focus on a specific investment strategy (Diversified Lending, Technology Lending, First Lien Lending and Opportunistic Lending). Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz, Craig W. Packer and Alexis Maged sit on each of Blue Owl’s direct lending investment committees. In addition to Messers. Ostrover, Lipschultz, Packer and Maged, the Diversified Lending Investment Committee is comprised of Matthias Ederer, Patrick Linnemann, Meenal Mehta and Logan Nicholson. We consider the individuals on the Diversified Lending Investment Committee to be our portfolio managers. The Investment Team, under the Diversified Lending Investment Committee's supervision, sources investment opportunities, conducts research, performs due diligence on potential investments, structures our investments and will monitor our portfolio companies on an ongoing basis.
The Diversified Lending Investment Committee meets regularly to consider our investments, direct our strategic initiatives and supervise the actions taken by the Adviser on our behalf. In addition, the Diversified Lending Investment Committee reviews and determines whether to make prospective investments (including approving parameters or guidelines pursuant to which certain investments may be made or sold consistent with our investment objective), structures financings and monitors the performance of the investment portfolio. Each investment opportunity requires the approval of a majority of the Diversified Lending Investment Committee. Follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies may require the Diversified Lending Investment Committee's approval beyond that obtained when the initial investment in the portfolio company was made. In addition, temporary investments, such as those in cash equivalents, U.S. government securities and other high quality debt investments that mature in one year or less, may require approval by the Diversified Lending Investment Committee. The compensation packages of Diversified Lending Investment Committee members from the Adviser include various combinations of discretionary bonuses and variable incentive compensation based primarily on performance for services provided and may include shares of Blue Owl.
We may be prohibited under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) from participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our directors who are not interested persons, and in some cases, the prior approval of the SEC. We rely on an order for exemptive relief (the “Order”) to co-invest with other funds managed by the Adviser or certain affiliates, in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. Pursuant to such Order, we are generally permitted to co-invest with certain of our affiliates if such co-investments are done on the same terms and at the same time, as further detailed in the Order. The Order requires that a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of the Board make certain findings (1) in most instances when we co-invests with our affiliates in an issuer where our affiliate has an existing investment in the issuer, and (2) if we dispose of an asset acquired in a transaction under the Order unless the disposition is done on a pro rata basis. Pursuant to the Order, the Board will oversee our participation in the co-investment program. As required by the Order, we have adopted, and the Board has approved, policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure compliance with the terms of the Order, and the Adviser and our Chief Compliance Officer will provide reporting to the Board.
The Blue Owl Credit Advisers’ investment allocation policies seek to ensure equitable allocation of investment opportunities over time between us and other funds managed by our Adviser or its affiliates. As a result of the Order, there could be significant overlap in our investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of the business development companies (“BDCs”), interval fund, private funds and separately managed accounts managed by the Blue Owl Credit Advisers (collectively, the “Blue Owl Credit Clients”) and/or other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates that avail themselves of the Order. In addition, the Adviser and its affiliates are permitted to allocate an investment to a number of products across platforms that it views as appropriate for the particular investment objectives, strategies and characteristics of such products.
On April 27, 2016, we formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, OR Lending LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, which holds a California finance lenders license. OR Lending LLC makes loans to borrowers headquartered in California. From time to time we may form wholly-owned subsidiaries to facilitate our normal course of business.
Certain consolidated subsidiaries of ours are subject to U.S. federal and state corporate-level income taxes.
We have elected to be regulated as a BDC under the 1940 Act and as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, we are required to comply with various statutory and regulatory requirements, such as:
• the requirement to invest at least 70% of our assets in “qualifying assets”, as such term is defined in the 1940 Act;
• source of income limitations;
• asset diversification requirements; and
• the requirement to distribute (or be treated as distributing) in each taxable year at least the sum of (i) 90% of our investment company taxable income and (ii) 90% of our tax-exempt interest for that taxable year.
On January 13, 2025, we consummated the transactions contemplated by the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), dated August 7, 2024, with Blue Owl Capital Corporation III, a Maryland corporation (“OBDE”), Cardinal Merger Sub, Inc., a Maryland corporation and our wholly-owned subsidiary (“Merger Sub”), and, solely for the limited purposes set forth therein, the Adviser, and ODCA, investment adviser to OBDE. In connection therewith, Merger Sub merged with and into OBDE, with OBDE continuing as the surviving company and our wholly-owned subsidiary (the “Initial Merger”) and, immediately thereafter, OBDE merged with and into us, and we continued as the surviving company (together with the Initial Merger, the “Mergers”).
Our Investment Framework
Our investment objective is to generate current income, and to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns. Our investment strategy focuses primarily on originating and making loans to, and making debt and equity investments in, U.S. middle-market companies. Since our Adviser and its affiliates began investment activities in April 2016 through December 31, 2025, our Adviser and its affiliates have originated $187.04 billion aggregate principal amount of investments, of which $182.92 billion of aggregate principal amount of investments prior to any subsequent exits or repayments, was retained by either us or a corporation or fund advised by our Adviser or its affiliates. We seek to participate in transactions sponsored by what we believe to be high-quality private equity and venture capital firms capable of providing both operational and financial resources. We seek to generate current income primarily in U.S. middle-market companies, both sponsored and non-sponsored, through direct originations of senior secured loans or originations of unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans, broadly syndicated loans and, to a lesser extent, investments in equity and equity-related securities including warrants, preferred stock and similar forms of senior equity. We may hold our investments directly or through specialty financing portfolio companies and joint ventures. Except for our specialty financing company investments, our equity investments are typically not control-oriented investments and we may structure such equity investments to include provisions protecting our rights as a minority-interest holder.
In general, we define “middle-market companies” to mean companies with earnings before interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization, or “EBITDA,” between $25 million and $500 million annually and/or annual revenue of $125 million to $5 billion. Within this space, we predominantly focus on investing in upper middle market businesses, where we can structure larger transactions, which we believe to be more resilient and of greater strategic significance. We categorize “upper middle market” companies as those generating $50 million or more of EBITDA annually. We may on occasion invest in smaller or larger companies if an attractiveopportunity presents itself, especially when there are dislocations in the capital markets, including the high yield and syndicated loan markets. We note that over time, the average EBITDA of companies in our portfolio has grown significantly as the scale of private market solutions has grown. Across our investments, we typically seek to be senior in the capital structure, targeting a loan-to-value ratio (the amount of outstanding debt as a percentage of the value of the company) of 50% or below on average, which may provide a level of downside protection and help preserve capital.
We expect that our portfolio composition will be comprised predominantly of directly originated debt and income producing securities, with a lesser allocation to equity or equity-linked opportunities which we may hold directly or through specialty purpose vehicles and joint ventures. In addition, we may invest a portion of our portfolio in opportunistic investments and publicly traded debt investments and we may evaluate and enter into strategic portfolio transactions that may result in additional portfolio companies that we are considered to control. These types of investments are intended to supplement our core strategy and further enhance returns to our shareholders. These investments may include high-yield bonds and broadly-syndicated loans, including “covenant light” loans (as defined below), and other publicly traded debt instruments, typically originated and structured by banks on behalf of large corporate borrowers with employee counts, revenues, EBITDAs and enterprise values larger than those of middle market companies, and equity investments in portfolio companies that make senior secured loans or invest in broadly syndicated loans, structured products, asset-based solutions or other forms of specialty finance, which may include, but is not limited to, investments such as life settlement, royalty interests and equipment finance.
In addition, we generally do not intend to invest more than 20% of our total assets in companies whose principal place of business is outside the United States, although we do not generally intend to invest in companies whose principal place of business is in an emerging market. Our portfolio composition may fluctuate from time to time based on market conditions and interest rates.
Covenants are contractual restrictions that lenders place on companies to limit the corporate actions a company may pursue. The loans in which we expect to invest may have financial maintenance covenants, which are used to proactively address materially adverse changes in a portfolio company’s financial performance or may take the form of “covenant-lite” loans which generally refer to loans that do not have a complete set of financial maintenance covenants. Generally, “covenant-lite” loans provide borrower companies more freedom to negatively impact lenders because their covenants are incurrence-based, which means they are only tested and can only be breached following an affirmative action of the borrower, rather than by a deterioration in the borrower’s financial condition. Accordingly, to the extent we invest in “covenant-lite” loans, we may have fewer rights against a borrower and may have a greater risk of loss on such investments as compared to investments in or exposure to loans with financial maintenance covenants.
As of December 31, 2025, our average debt investment size in each of our portfolio companies was approximately $64.7 million based on fair value. The investment size will vary with the size of our capital base and market conditions. As of December 31, 2025, excluding certain investments that fall outside of our typical borrower profile, our portfolio companies representing 92.9% of our total debt portfolio based on fair value, had weighted average annual revenue of $1.01 billion, weighted average annual EBITDA of $237 million, an average interest coverage of 1.9x and an average net loan-to value of 42%.
The companies in which we invest use our capital to support their growth, acquisitions, market or product expansion, refinancings and/or recapitalizations. The debt in which we invest typically is not rated by any rating agency, but if these instruments were rated, they would likely receive a rating of below investment grade (that is, below BBB- or Baa3), which is often referred to as “high yield” or “junk.”
Key Components of Our Results of Operations
Investments
We focus primarily on the direct origination of loans to institutionally-backed, upper middle market companies domiciled in the United States.
Our level of investment activity (both the number of investments and the size of each investment) can and will vary substantially from period to period depending on many factors, including the amount of debt and equity capital available to middle market companies, the level of merger and acquisition activity for such companies, the general economic environment and the competitive environment for the types of investments we make.
In addition, as part of our risk strategy on investments, we may reduce the levels of certain investments through partial sales or syndication to additional lenders.
Revenues
We generate revenues primarily in the form of interest income from the investments we hold. In addition, we generate income from dividends on either direct equity investments or equity interests obtained in connection with originating loans, such as options, warrants or conversion rights. Our debt investments typically have a term of three to ten years. As of December 31, 2025, 96.4% of our debt investments based on fair value bear interest at a floating rate, subject to interest rate floors, in certain cases. Interest on our debt investments is generally payable either monthly or quarterly.
Our investment portfolio consists primarily of floating rate loans, and our credit facilities bear interest at floating rates. Macro trends in base interest rates like the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) and any alternative reference rates may affect our net investment income over the long term. However, because we generally originate loans to a small number of portfolio companies each quarter, and those investments vary in size, our results in any given period, including the interest rate on investments that were sold or repaid in a period compared to the interest rate of new investments made during that period, often are idiosyncratic, and reflect the characteristics of the particular portfolio companies that we invested in or exited during the period and not necessarily any trends in our business or macro trends. Generally, because our portfolio consists primarily of floating rate loans, we expect our earnings to benefit from a prolonged higher rate environment.
Loan origination fees, original issue discount and market discount or premium are capitalized, and we accrete or amortize such amounts under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) as interest income using the effective yield method for term instruments and the straight-line method for revolving or delayed draw instruments. Repayments of our debt investments can reduce interest income from period to period. The frequency or volume of these repayments may fluctuate significantly. We record prepayment premiums on loans as interest income. We may also generate revenue in the form of commitment, loan origination, structuring, or due diligence fees, fees for providing managerial assistance to our portfolio companies and possibly consulting fees.
Dividend income on equity investments is recorded on the record date for private portfolio companies or on the ex-dividend date for publicly traded companies.
Our portfolio activity also reflects the proceeds from sales of investments. We recognize realized gains or losses on investments based on the difference between the net proceeds from the disposition and the amortized cost basis of the investment without regard to unrealized gains or losses previously recognized. We record current period changes in fair value of investments that are measured at fair value as a component of the net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments in the consolidated statement of operations.
Expenses
Our primary operating expenses include the payment of the management fee, the incentive fee, expenses reimbursable under the Administration Agreement and Investment Advisory Agreement, legal and professional fees, interest and other debt expenses and other operating expenses. The management fee and incentive fee compensate our Adviser for work in identifying, evaluating, negotiating, closing, monitoring and realizing our investments.
Except as specifically provided below, all investment professionals and staff of the Adviser, when and to the extent engaged in providing investment advisory and management services to us, the base compensation, bonus and benefits, and the routine overhead expenses of such personnel allocable to such services, are provided and paid for by the Adviser. We bear our allocable portion of the compensation paid by the Adviser (or its affiliates) to our Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer and their respective staffs (based on a percentage of time such individuals devote, on an estimated basis, to our business affairs). We bear all other costs and expenses of our operations, administration and transactions, including, but not limited to (i) investment advisory fees, including management fees and incentive fees, to the Adviser, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement; (ii) our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by the Adviser in performing its administrative obligations under the Administration Agreement; and (iii) all other costs and expenses of its operations and transactions including, without limitation, those relating to:
• the cost of our organization and offerings;
• the cost of calculating our net asset value, including the cost of any third-party valuation services;
• the cost of effecting any sales and repurchases of our common stock and other securities;
• fees and expenses payable under any dealer manager agreements, if any;
• debt service and other costs of borrowings or other financing arrangements;
• costs of hedging;
• expenses, including travel expense, incurred by the Adviser, or members of the investment team, or payable to third parties, performing due diligence on prospective portfolio companies and, if necessary, enforcing our rights;
• transfer agent and custodial fees;
• fees and expenses associated with marketing efforts;
• federal and state registration fees, any stock exchange listing fees and fees payable to rating agencies;
• U.S. federal, state and local taxes;
• independent directors’ fees and expenses including certain travel expenses;
• costs of preparing financial statements and maintaining books and records and filing reports or other documents with the SEC (or other regulatory bodies) and other reporting and compliance costs, including registration and listing fees, and the compensation of professionals responsible for the preparation of the foregoing;
• costs of any reports, proxy statements or other notices to our shareholders (including printing and mailing costs), the costs of any shareholder or director meetings and the compensation of investor relations personnel responsible for the preparation of the foregoing and related matters;
• commissions and other compensation payable to brokers or dealers;
• research and market data;
• fidelity bond, directors’ and officers’ errors and omissions liability insurance and other insurance premiums;
• direct costs and expenses of administration, including printing, mailing, long distance telephone and staff;
• fees and expenses associated with independent audits, outside legal and consulting costs;
• costs of winding up;
• costs incurred in connection with the formation or maintenance of entities or vehicles to hold our assets for tax or other purposes;
• extraordinary expenses (such as litigation or indemnification); and
• costs associated with reporting and compliance obligations under the 1940 Act and applicable federal and state securities laws.
We expect, but cannot assure, that our general and administrative expenses will increase in dollar terms during periods of asset growth, but will decline as a percentage of total assets during such periods.
Leverage
The amount of leverage we use in any period depends on a variety of factors, including cash available for investing, the cost of financing and general economic and market conditions. Generally, our total borrowings are limited so that we cannot incur additional borrowings, including through the issuance of additional debt securities, if such additional indebtedness would cause our asset coverage ratio to fall below 200% or 150%, if certain requirements are met. This means that generally, $1 for every $1 of investor equity (or, if certain conditions are met, we can borrow up to $2 for every $1 of investor equity). In any period, our interest expense will depend largely on the extent of our borrowing, and we expect interest expense will increase as we increase our debt outstanding. In addition, we may dedicate assets to financing facilities. On June 8, 2020, we received shareholder approval for the application of the modified asset coverage requirements set forth in Section 61(a)(2) of the 1940 Act, as amended by the Small Business Credit Availability Act. As a result, effective on June 9, 2020, our asset coverage requirement applicable to senior securities was reduced from 200% to 150%. Our current target leverage ratio is 0.90x-1.25x.
Market Trends
We believe the middle market lending environment provides opportunities for us to meet our goal of making investments that generate attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Limited Availability of Capital for Middle Market Companies. The middle market is a large addressable market. According to GE Capital’s National Center for the Middle Market Mid-Year 2025 Middle Market Indicator, there are approximately 200,000 U.S. middle market companies, which have approximately 48 million aggregate employees. Moreover, the U.S. middle market accounts for one-third of private sector gross domestic product (“GDP”). GE defines U.S. middle market companies as those between $10 million and $1 billion in annual revenue, which we believe has significant overlap with our definition of U.S. middle market companies. We believe U.S. middle market companies will continue to require access to debt capital to refinance existing debt, support growth and finance acquisitions. We believe that regulatory and structural factors, industry consolidation and general risk aversion, limit the amount of traditional financing available to U.S. middle market companies. We believe that many commercial and investment banks
have, in recent years, de-emphasized their service and product offerings to middle market businesses in favor of lending to large corporate clients and managing capital markets transactions. In addition, these lenders may be constrained in their ability to underwrite and hold bank loans and high yield securities for middle market issuers as they seek to meet existing and future regulatory capital requirements. We also believe that there is a lack of market participants that are willing to hold meaningful amounts of certain middle market loans. As a result, we believe our ability to minimize syndication risk for a company seeking financing by being able to hold its loans without having to syndicate them, coupled with reduced capacity of traditional lenders to serve the middle-market, present an attractiveopportunity to invest in middle market companies.
Capital Markets Have Been Unable to Fill the Void in U.S. Middle Market Finance Left by Banks . Access to underwritten bond and syndicated loan markets is challenging for middle market companies due to loan issue size and liquidity. For example, high yield bonds are generally purchased by institutional investors, such as mutual funds and exchange traded funds (“ETFs”) who, among other things, are focused on the liquidity characteristics of the bond being issued in order to fund investor redemptions and/or comply with regulatory requirements. Accordingly, the existence of an active secondary market for bonds is an important consideration in these entities’ initial investment decision. Syndicated loans arranged through a bank are done either on a “best efforts” basis or are underwritten with terms plus provisions that permit the underwriters to change certain terms, including pricing, structure, yield and tenor, otherwise known as “flex”, to successfully syndicate the loan, in the event the terms initially marketed are insufficientlyattractive to investors. Furthermore, banks are generally reluctant to underwrite middle market loans because the arrangement fees they may earn on the placement of the debt generally are not sufficient to meet the banks’ return hurdles. Loans provided by companies such as ours provide certainty to issuers in that we have a more stable capital base and have the ability to invest in illiquid assets, and we can commit to a given amount of debt on specific terms, at stated coupons and with agreed upon fees. As we are the ultimate holder of the loans, we do not require market “flex” or other arrangements that banks may require when acting on an agency basis. In addition, our Adviser has teams focused on both liquid credit and private credit and these teams are able to collaborate with respect to syndicated loans.
Secular Trends Supporting Growth for Private Credit. We believe that periods of market volatility, such as the current period of market volatility caused, in part, by uncertainty regarding inflation and interest rates, and current geopolitical conditions, have accentuated the advantages of private credit. The availability of capital in the liquid credit market is highly sensitive to market conditions whereas we believe private lending has proven to be a stable and reliable source of capital through periods of volatility. We believe the opportunity set for private credit will continue to expand even as the public markets remain open. Financial sponsors and companies today are familiar with direct lending and have seen firsthand the strong value proposition that a private solution can offer. Scale, certainty of execution and flexibility all provide borrowers with a compelling alternative to the syndicated loan and high yield markets. Based on our experience, larger, higher quality credits that have traditionally been issuers in the syndicated and high yield markets are increasingly seeking private solutions independent of credit market conditions. In our view, this is supported by financial sponsors wanting to work with collaborative financing partners that have scale and breadth of capabilities. This has driven substantial growth in direct lending portfolio companies over time. Given the dynamics mentioned above, we believe this trend is poised to continue and that the large amount of uninvested capital held by funds of private equity firms broadly, estimated by Preqin Ltd., an alternative assets industry data and research company, to be $2.7 trillion as of December 31, 2025, will continue to serve as a tailwind to the space
Attractive Investment Dynamics. An imbalance between the supply of, and demand for, middle market debt capital creates attractive pricing dynamics. We believe the directly negotiated nature of middle market financings also generally provides more favorable terms to the lender, including stronger covenant and reporting packages, better call protection, and lender-protective change of control provisions. Additionally, we believe BDC managers’ expertise in credit selection and ability to manage through credit cycles has generally resulted in BDCs experiencing lower loss rates than U.S. commercial banks through credit cycles. Further, we believe that historical middle market default rates have been lower, and recovery rates have been higher, as compared to the larger market capitalization, broadly distributed market, leading to lower cumulative losses. Lastly, we believe that in the current environment, lenders with available capital may be able to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities as the economy reopens and may be able to achieveimproved economic spreads and documentation terms.
Conservative Capital Structures. With more conservative capital structures, U.S. middle market companies have exhibited higher levels of cash flows available to service their debt. In addition, U.S. middle market companies often are characterized by simpler capital structures than larger borrowers, which facilitates a streamlined underwriting process and, when necessary, restructuring process.
AttractiveOpportunities in Investments in Loans. We invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans, broadly syndicated loans and, to a lesser extent, equity and equity-related securities. We believe that opportunities in senior secured loans are significant because of the floating rate structure of most senior secured debt issuances and because of the strongdefensive characteristics of these types of investments. We believe that debt issues with floating interest rates offer a superior return profile as compared with fixed-rate investments, since floating rate structures are generally less susceptible to declines in value experienced by fixed-rate securities in a rising interest rate environment. Senior secured debt also provides strongdefensive characteristics. Senior secured debt has priority in payment among an issuer’s security holders whereby holders are due to receive
payment before junior creditors and equity holders. Further, these investments are secured by the issuer’s assets, which may provide protection in the event of a default.
Portfolio and Investment Activity
Our business is impacted by conditions in the financial markets and economic conditions in the United States, and to a lesser extent, globally.
In spite of recent elevated volatility, during the fourth quarter of 2025, global equity and debt markets saw appreciation, with U.S. equity indices reaching new all-time highs while credit spreads remained relatively tight. The 10-year Treasury yield ended the quarter approximately flat quarter over quarter and down approximately 40 basis points from the beginning of the year, and the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate by an additional 50 basis points during the fourth quarter following a 25 basis point cut in September 2025.
Our platform continues to find attractive investment opportunities for deployment, predominantly in first lien originations to large borrowers; however, we have also used capital to intentionally reduce leverage and fund share repurchases and therefore have ample dry powder. Consistent with our last several quarters, a substantial portion of our financings are with existing borrowers, with approximately 60% coming from large, incumbent borrowers, reflecting the advantage of incumbency and scale and allowing us to support their continued growth and maintain the credit quality of our portfolio.
We continue to focus on investing in upper middle-market businesses in non-cyclical industries we view as recession resistant and that we are familiar with, including defensive service-oriented sectors that provide intangible mission-critical solutions and products such as healthcare, business services, technology and insurance brokerage. These companies have diversified revenue streams, strong recurring cash flow profiles and healthy liquidity.
Our technology portfolio is managed by 40 dedicated investment professionals who assess the risks and opportunities of our prospective and existing investments, which has included those related to AI, for many years. Our approach focuses on large-scale, market-leading companies that provide mission-critical solutions with high switching costs, which we believe makes our software portfolio defensible. In the quarter ended December 31, 2025, borrowers in our software portfolio saw revenue and EBITDA growth of 10% and 16% respectively. We also believe our healthcare investment portfolio is well-positioned, with an emphasis on large, market-leading businesses and low loan-to-values, and healthcare investments delivering 11% revenue growth and 10% EBITDA growth on average over the past year.
We have also leveraged Blue Owl’s expanded capabilities in alternative and asset-based credit, as well as digital infrastructure, to access attractive risk-adjusted opportunities and adding accretive, non-correlated returns.
Generally, we seek to invest not more than 20% of our portfolio in any single industry classification and target portfolio companies that comprise 1-2% of our portfolio and our current portfolio is highly diversified with an average investment size of less than 0.5% and our top ten investments representing less than 25% of the total portfolio.
Blue Owl serves as the lead, co-lead or administrative agent on many of our investments and the majority of our investments are supported by sophisticated financial sponsors who provide operational and financial resources. Our borrowers have a weighted average EBITDA of approximately $237 million (up from approximately $115 million in 2021) and average revenue of approximately $1.01 billion (up from approximately $500 million in 2021) and we believe this scale contributes to the durability of our borrowers and their ability to adapt to different economic environments. In addition, Blue Owl’s direct lending strategy continues to invest in, and is often the lead lender or administrative agent on, transactions in excess of $1 billion in size, which gives us the ability to structure the terms of such deals to maximize deal economics and credit protection and provide customized flexible solutions. The average hold size of Blue Owl’s direct lending strategy’s new investments is approximately $350 million (up from approximately $200 million in 2021) and average total new deal size is approximately $1.5 billion (up from approximately $600 million in 2021).
We believe that the construction of our current portfolio coupled with our experienced investment team and strong underwriting standards leave us well-positioned for the current economic environment. Many of the companies in which we invest are continuing to see modest growth in both revenues and EBITDA. However, in the event of further geopolitical, economic and financial market instability, in the U.S. and elsewhere, it is possible that the results of some of the middle-market companies similar to those in which we invest could be challenged.
Although we marked down some of the positions on our watch list, across the portfolio we are not seeing a meaningful increase in amendment activity, requests for increased revolver borrowings, missed payments or other signs of an overall, broad deterioration in our results or those of our portfolio companies at this time, there can be no assurance that the performance of certain of our portfolio companies will not be negatively impacted by economic conditions, such as lower base rates and tighter credit spreads, which could have a negative impact on our future results.
We also continue to leverage the expanding role that private lenders are being asked to play in the broader credit markets to evaluate cross-platform opportunities including strategic equity and accretive joint venture investments that have cash flow and credit profiles that provide consistent income. We continue to invest in Credit SLF, Blue Owl Leasing and specialty financing portfolio companies, including Wingspire, Fifth Season, LSI Financing DAC, LSI Financing LLC, Amergin AssetCo and BOCSO. See “ Specialty Financing Portfolio Companies and Joint Ventures.” These companies may use our capital to support acquisitions which could continue to lead to increased dividend income supported by well-diversified underlying portfolios. We view these companies as a complement to our lending strategy and expect them to help offset rate and spread volatility and support net asset value growth. These companies have strong underlying diversification and generate predictable income streams.
Subsequent to year-end, we entered into six separate loan sale agreements to sell a portion of our portfolio company investments having an aggregate fair value of $400.0 million. See “Recent Developments – Asset Sale.” This transaction will reduce our leverage by approximately 0.05x and position us to continue to deploy capital into new investments with favorable risk-adjusted returns.
As of December 31, 2025, based on fair value, our portfolio consisted of 73.1% first lien senior secured debt investments (of which 50% we consider to be unitranche debt investments (including “last out” portions of such loans)), 5.2% second lien senior secured debt investments, 2.4% unsecured debt investments, 1.0% specialty finance debt investments, 3.5% preferred equity investments, 3.9% common equity investments, 8.4% specialty finance equity investments and 2.5% joint ventures.
As of December 31, 2025, our weighted average total yield of the portfolio at fair value and amortized cost was 9.5% and 9.5%, respectively, and our weighted average yield of accruing debt and income producing securities at fair value and amortized cost was 10.0% and 10.1%, respectively. Refer to our weighted average yields and interest rates table for more information on our calculation of weighted average yields. As of December 31, 2025, the weighted average spread of total floating rate debt investments was 5.7%.
As of December 31, 2025, we had investments in 234 portfolio companies with an aggregate fair value of $16.47 billion. Our current target leverage ratio is 0.90x-1.25x. As of December 31, 2025, we had net leverage of 1.19x debt-to-equity.
The table below presents our investment activity for the following periods (information presented herein is at par value unless otherwise indicated):
For the Years Ended December 31,
($ in thousands)
New investment commitments:
Gross originations
Less: Sell downs
Total new investment commitments
Principal amount of new investments funded:
First-lien senior secured debt investments
Second-lien senior secured debt investments
Unsecured debt investments
Specialty finance debt investments
Preferred equity investments
Common equity investments
Specialty finance equity investments
Joint venture investments
Total principal amount of new investments funded
Drawdowns (repayments) on revolvers and delayed draw term loans, net
Principal amount of investments sold or repaid:
First-lien senior secured debt investments (1)
Second-lien senior secured debt investments
Unsecured debt investments
Specialty finance debt investments
Preferred equity investments
Common equity investments
Specialty finance equity investments
Joint venture investments
Total principal amount of investments sold or repaid
Number of new investment commitments in new portfolio companies (2)
Average new investment commitment amount in new portfolio companies
Weighted average term for new investment commitments (in years)
Percentage of new debt investment commitments at
floating rates
Percentage of new debt investment commitments at
fixed rates
Weighted average interest rate of new investment commitments (3)
Weighted average spread over applicable base rate of new debt investment commitments at floating rates
(1) Includes scheduled paydowns.
(2) Number of new investment commitments represents commitments to a particular portfolio company.
(3) Assumes each floating rate commitment is subject to the greater of the interest rate floor (if applicable) or 3-month SOFR, which was 3.65% and 4.31% as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
The table below presents our investments as of the following periods:
As of December 31, 2025
As of December 31, 2024
($ in thousands)
Amortized Cost
Fair Value
Amortized Cost
Fair Value
First-lien senior secured debt investments (1)
Second-lien senior secured debt investments
Unsecured debt investments
Specialty finance debt investments
Preferred equity investments
Common equity investments
Specialty finance equity investments
Joint ventures
Total Investments
(1) We consider 50% and 51% of first-lien senior secured debt investments to be unitranche loans as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
The table below presents investments by industry composition based on fair value as of the following periods:
As of December 31, 2025
As of December 31, 2024
Advertising and media
Aerospace and defense
Asset based lending and fund finance (1)
Automotive services
Buildings and real estate
Business services
Chemicals
Consumer products
Containers and packaging
Distribution
Education
Energy equipment and services
Financial services
Food and beverage
Healthcare equipment and services
Healthcare providers and services
Healthcare technology
Household products
Human resource support services
Infrastructure and environmental services
Insurance (3)
Internet software and services
Joint ventures (2)
Leisure and entertainment
Manufacturing
Pharmaceuticals (4)
Professional services
Specialty retail
Telecommunications
Transportation
Total
(1) Includes investments in Wingspire, BOCSO and Amergin AssetCo.
(2) Includes investment in Credit SLF and Blue Owl Leasing.
(3) Includes investment in Fifth Season.
(4) Includes investments in LSI Financing DAC and LSI Financing LLC.
The table below presents investments by geographic composition based on fair value as of the following periods:
As of December 31, 2025
As of December 31, 2024
United States:
Midwest
Northeast
South
West
International
Total
The table below presents the weighted average yields and interest rates of our investments at fair value as of the following periods:
As of December 31, 2025
As of December 31, 2024
Weighted average total yield of portfolio (1)
Weighted average total yield of debt and income producing securities (1)
Weighted average interest rate of debt securities
Weighted average spread over base rate of all floating rate debt investments
(1) For non-stated rate income producing investments, computed based on (a) the dividend or interest income earned for the respective trailing twelve months ended on the measurement date, divided by (b) the ending fair value. In instances where historical dividend or interest income data is not available or not representative for the trailing twelve months ended, the dividend or interest income is annualized.
The weighted average yield of our accruing debt and income producing securities is not the same as a return on investment for our shareholders but, rather, relates to our investment portfolio and is calculated before the payment of all of our and our subsidiaries’ fees and expenses. The weighted average yield was computed using the effective interest rates as of each respective date, including accretion of original issue discount and loan origination fees, but excluding investments on non-accrual status, if any. There can be no assurance that the weighted average yield will remain at its current level.
Our Adviser monitors our portfolio companies on an ongoing basis. It monitors the financial trends of each portfolio company to determine if they are meeting their respective business plans and to assess the appropriate course of action with respect to each portfolio company. Our Adviser has several methods of evaluating and monitoring the performance and fair value of our investments, which may include the following:
• assessment of success of the portfolio company in adhering to its business plan and compliance with covenants;
• periodic and regular contact with portfolio company management and, if appropriate, the financial or strategic sponsor, to discuss financial position, requirements and accomplishments;
• comparisons to other companies in the portfolio company’s industry; and
• review of monthly or quarterly financial statements and financial projections for portfolio companies.
An investment will be placed on the Adviser's credit watch list when select events occur and will only be removed from the watch list with oversight of the Diversified Lending Investment Committee and/or other agents of Blue Owl’s Credit platform. Once an investment is on the credit watch list, the Adviser works with the borrower to resolve any financial stress through amendments, waivers or other alternatives. If a borrower defaults on its payment obligations, the Adviser's focus shifts to capital recovery. If an investment needs to be restructured, the Adviser’s workout team partners with the investment team and all material amendments, waivers and restructurings require the approval of a majority of the Diversified Lending Investment Committee.
As part of the monitoring process, our Adviser employs an investment rating system to categorize our investments. In addition to various risk management and monitoring tools, our Adviser rates the credit risk of all investments on a scale of 1 to 5. This system is intended primarily to reflect the underlying risk of a portfolio investment relative to our initial cost basis in respect of such portfolio investment (i.e., at the time of origination or acquisition), although it may also take into account the performance of the portfolio company’s business, the collateral coverage of the investment and other relevant factors. The rating system is as follows:
Investment Rating
Description
Investments rated 1 involve the least amount of risk to our initial cost basis. The borrower is performing above expectations, and the trends and risk factors for this investment since origination or acquisition are generally favorable;
Investments rated 2 involve an acceptable level of risk that is similar to the risk at the time of origination or acquisition. The borrower is generally performing as expected and the risk factors are neutral to favorable. All investments or acquired investments in new portfolio companies are initially assessed a rating of 2;
Investments rated 3 involve a borrower performing below expectations and indicates that the loan’s risk has increased somewhat since origination or acquisition;
Investments rated 4 involve a borrower performing materially below expectations and indicates that the loan’s risk has increased materially since origination or acquisition. In addition to the borrower being generally out of compliance with debt covenants, loan payments may be past due (but generally not more than 120 days past due); and
Investments rated 5 involve a borrower performing substantially below expectations and indicates that the loan’s risk has increased substantially since origination or acquisition. Most or all of the debt covenants are out of compliance and payments are substantially delinquent. Loans rated 5 are not anticipated to be repaid in full and we will reduce the fair market value of the loan to the amount we anticipate will be recovered.
Our Adviser rates the investments in our portfolio at least quarterly and it is possible that the rating of a portfolio investment may be reduced or increased over time. For investments rated 3, 4 or 5, our Adviser enhances its level of scrutiny over the monitoring of such portfolio company.
The Adviser has built out its portfolio management team to include workout experts who closely monitor our portfolio companies and who, on at least a quarterly basis, assess each portfolio company’s operational and liquidity exposure and outlook to understand and mitigate risks; and, on at least a monthly basis, evaluates existing and newly identified situations where operating results are deviating from expectations. As part of its monitoring process, the Adviser focuses on projected liquidity needs and where warranted, re-underwriting credits and evaluating downside and liquidation scenarios.
The Adviser focuses on downside protection by leveraging existing rights available under our credit documents; however, for investments that are significantly underperforming or which may need to be restructured, the Adviser’s workout team partners with the Investment Team and all material amendments, waivers and restructurings require the approval of a majority of the Diversified Lending Investment Committee. As of December 31, 2025, only nine of our portfolio companies are on non-accrual, which represents 1.14% of our portfolio at fair value. Our annual net gain/loss ratio is approximately (0.29)%.
The table below presents the composition of our portfolio on the 1 to 5 rating scale as of the following periods:
As of December 31, 2025
As of December 31, 2024
Investment Rating
Investments at Fair Value
Percentage of Total Portfolio (1)
Investments at Fair Value
Percentage of Total Portfolio
($ in thousands)
Total
(1) Totals presented may not sum due to rounding.
The table below presents the amortized cost of our performing and non-accrual debt investments as of the following periods:
As of December 31, 2025
As of December 31, 2024
($ in thousands)
Amortized Cost
Percentage
Amortized Cost
Percentage
Performing
Non-accrual
Total
Loans are generally placed on non-accrual status when there is reasonable doubt that principal or interest will be collected in full. Accrued interest is generally reversed when a loan is placed on non-accrual status. Interest payments received on non-accrual loans
may be recognized as income or applied to principal depending upon management’s judgment regarding collectability. Non-accrual loans are restored to accrual status when past due principal and interest is paid current and, in management’s judgment, are likely to remain current. Management may make exceptions to this treatment and determine to not place a loan on non-accrual status if the loan has sufficient collateral value and is in the process of collection.
Portfolio Companies
The following table sets forth certain information regarding each of the portfolio companies in which we had a debt or equity investment as of December 31, 2025. We offer to make available significant managerial assistance to our portfolio companies. We may receive rights to observe the meetings of our portfolio companies’ board of directors. Other than these investments, our only relationships with our portfolio companies are the managerial assistance we may separately provide to our portfolio companies, which services would be ancillary to our investments. As of December 31, 2025, other than Credit SLF, Wingspire, Swipe Acquisition Corp. (dba PLI), PS Operating Company LLC (fka QC Supply, LLC), Eagle Infrastructure Super LLC, Walker Edison Furniture Company LLC, Fifth Season and Amergin AssetCo, we did not “control” any of our portfolio companies, and, other than BOCSO, Blue Owl Leasing LLC, LSI Financing DAC, LSI Financing LLC, Ideal Image Development, LLC and Pluralsight, LLC., we were not an “affiliate” of any of our portfolio companies, as defined in the 1940 Act. In general, under the 1940 Act, we would “control” a portfolio company if we owned 25.0% or more of its voting securities or has the power to exercise control over management or policies of such portfolio company (including through a management agreement) and would be an “affiliate” of a portfolio company if we owned five percent or more of its voting securities.
Interest
($ in thousands)
Company(7)
Industry
Type of Investment
Ref. Rate
Cash
PIK
Maturity / Dissolution Date
Percentage of Class Held on a Fully Diluted Basis
Principal Number of Shares / Number of Units
Amortized Cost
Fair Value
AAM Series 1.1 Rail and Domestic Intermodal Feeder, LLC—1100 Highland Drive, Boca Raton, Florida, 33487
Asset based lending and fund finance
Specialty finance equity investment
AAM Series 1.1 Rail and Domestic Intermodal Feeder, LLC(6)—1100 Highland Drive, Boca Raton, Florida, 33487
Advancion Holdings, LLC (fka Aruba Investments Holdings, LLC)(8)—1500 East Lake Cook Road, Buffalo Grove, IL, 60089
Chemicals
Second lien senior secured loan
Aerosmith Bidco 1 Limited (dba Audiotonix)(9)—No.5 The Distillery Silverglade Business Park Leatherhead Road, Chessington, Surrey KT9 2QL, United Kingdom
Leisure and entertainment
First lien senior secured loan
AI Titan Parent, Inc. (dba Prometheus Group)(8)—4601 Six Forks Road, Raleigh, NC, 27609
Internet software and services
First lien senior secured loan
Allied Benefit Systems Intermediate LLC(9)—200 West Adams Street, Chicago, IL, 60606
Healthcare providers and services
First lien senior secured loan
AlphaSense, Inc.(9)—24 Union Square East, New York, NY, 10003
Internet software and services
First lien senior secured loan
AlphaSense, LLC—24 Union Square East, New York, NY, 10003
Wrench Group LLC(12)—1819 Main Street, Sarasota, FL, 34236
Buildings and real estate
First lien senior secured revolving loan
Wrench Group LLC(9)—1819 Main Street, Sarasota, FL, 34236
Buildings and real estate
First lien senior secured loan
WU Holdco, Inc. (dba PurposeBuilt Brands)(9)—755 Tri State Parkway, Gurnee, IL, 60031
Consumer products
First lien senior secured loan
XOMA Corporation—2200 Powell Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608
Healthcare providers and services
Warrants
Zendesk, Inc.(9)—181 South Fremont Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105
Internet software and services
First lien senior secured loan
Zoro TopCo, Inc.(9)—181 South Fremont Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105
Internet software and services
Series A Preferred Equity
Zoro TopCo, L.P.—181 South Fremont Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105
Internet software and services
Class A Common Units
Total
(1) - (5) Reserved.
(6) Investment contains a fixed-rate structure.
(7) Unless otherwise indicated, loan contains a variable rate structure and may be subject to an interest rate floor. Variable rate loans bear interest at a rate that may be determined by reference to either the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR” or “S,” which can include one-, three-, six- or twelve-month SOFR), Euro Interbank Offered Rate (“EURIBOR” or “E”, which can include one-, three- or six-month EURIBOR), Canadian Overnight Repo Rate Average (“CORRA” or “C”) (which can include one- or three-month CORRA), SONIA (“SONIA” or “SA”), Australian Bank Bill Swap Bid Rate (“BBSY” or “BB”) (which can include one-, three-, or six-month BBSY) or an alternate base rate (which can include the Federal Funds Effective Rate or the Prime Rate), at the borrower’s option, and which reset periodically based on the terms of the loan agreement.
(8) The interest rate on these loans is subject to 1 month SOFR, which as of December 31, 2025 was 3.69%.
(9) The interest rate on these loans is subject to 3 month SOFR, which as of December 31, 2025 was 3.65%.
(10) The interest rate on these loans is subject to 6 month SOFR, which as of December 31, 2025 was 3.57%.
(11) The interest rate on these loans is subject to 12 month SOFR, which as of December 31, 2025 was 3.42%.
(12) The interest rate on these loans is subject to Prime, which as of December 31, 2025 was 6.75%.
(13) The interest rate on this loan is subject to 1 month EURIBOR, which as of December 31, 2025 was1.94%.
(14) The interest rate on this loan is subject to 3 month EURIBOR, which as of December 31, 2025 was 2.03%.
(15) Reserved.
(16) Reserved.
(17) The interest rate on this loan is subject to 3 month BBSY, which as of December 31, 2025 was 3.74%.
(18) Reserved.
(19) The interest rate on this loan is subject to SONIA, which as of December 31, 2025 was 3.73%.
Specialty Financing Portfolio Companies and Joint Ventures
We leverage the expanding role that private lenders are being asked to play in the broader credit markets to evaluate cross-platform opportunities including strategic equity and accretive joint venture investments that have cash flow and credit profiles that provide consistent income.
Specialty Financing Portfolio Companies
Wingspire is an independent diversified direct lender focused on providing asset-based commercial finance loans and related senior secured loans to U.S.-based middle-market borrowers. Wingspire offers a wide variety of asset-based financing solutions to businesses in an array of industries, including revolving credit facilities, machinery and equipment term loans, real estate term loans, first-in/last-out tranches, cash flow term loans, and opportunistic / bridge financings. We made our initial commitment to Wingspire on September 24, 2019, and subsequently made periodic additional commitments to increase our total commitment to $505 million.
Amergin was created to invest in a leasing platform focused on railcar, aviation and other long-lived transportation assets. Amergin acquires existing on-lease portfolios of new and end-of-life railcars and related equipment and selectively purchases off-lease assets and is building a commercial aircraft portfolio through aircraft financing and engine acquisition on a sale and lease back basis. Amergin consists of Amergin AssetCo and Amergin Asset Management LLC, which has entered into a Servicing Agreement with Amergin AssetCo. We made an initial equity commitment to Amergin AssetCo on July 1, 2022. As of December 31, 2025, our commitment to Amergin AssetCo was $267.9 million, of which $110.6 million was equity and $157.3 million was debt. As of December 31, 2025, the fair market value of our investment in Amergin Asset Management, LLC was $2.1 million. We do not consolidate our equity interest in Amergin AssetCo.
Fifth Season is a portfolio company created to invest in life insurance based assets, including secondary and tertiary life settlement and other life insurance exposures using detailed analytics, internal life expectancy review and sophisticated portfolio management techniques. On July 18, 2022, we made an initial equity investment in Fifth Season. As of December 31, 2025, our investment in Fifth Season was $403.2 million at fair value. We do not consolidate our equity interest in Fifth Season.
LSI Financing DAC is a portfolio company formed to acquire contractual rights to revenue pursuant to earnout agreements generally in the life sciences space. On December 14, 2022, we made an initial equity commitment to LSI Financing DAC. As of December 31, 2025, the fair value of our investment in LSI Financing DAC was $6.7 million and our total commitment was $6.8 million. We do not consolidate our equity interest in LSI Financing DAC.
LSI Financing LLC is a separately managed portfolio company formed to indirectly own royalty purchase agreements and loans in the life sciences space. The Adviser provides consulting services to a subsidiary of LSI Financing LLC in exchange for a fee. The Adviser has agreed to waive a portion of the management fee payable by us pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement equal to the pro rata amount of such consulting fee. On November 25, 2024, we redeemed a portion of its interest in LSI Financing DAC in exchange for common shares of LSI Financing LLC. As of December 31, 2025, our investment at fair value in LSI Financing LLC was $210.6 million and our total commitment was $274.2 million. We do not consolidate its equity interest in LSI Financing LLC.
BOCSO was formed to hold alternative credit assets, including ABF. ABF is a subsector of private credit focused on generating income from pools of financial, physical or other assets. As of December 31, 2025, the portfolio consists of three investments totaling $0.50 billion at cost and fair value, respectively, and ranging in cost from $24.8 million to $304.4 million and with fair value ranging from $24.8 million to $303.9 million. The largest investment is 62.0% of the total cost of BOCSO’s portfolio. As of December 31, 2025, the portfolio asset class composition was 62% ABF — Specialty finance, 33.0% ABF — Leasing, and 5.0% ABF — Commercial Real Estate. We do not consolidate our equity interest in BOCSO.
Joint Ventures
On May 6, 2024, Credit SLF, a Delaware limited liability company, was formed as a joint venture between the Credit SLF Members. The Credit SLF Members co-manage Credit SLF. Credit SLF’s principal purpose is to make investments in senior secured loans to middle-market companies, broadly syndicated loans and senior and subordinated notes issued by collateralized loan obligations. Credit SLF is managed by a board consisting of an equal number of representatives appointed by each Credit SLF Member and which acts unanimously. Investment decisions must be approved by Credit SLF’s board. Our investment in Credit SLF is a co-investment made with our affiliates in accordance with the terms of the exemptive relief that we received from the SEC. We do not consolidate our non-controlling interest in Credit SLF.
Refer to Exhibit 99 .2 for the Credit SLF Supplemental Financial Information.
On June 30, 2025, Blue Owl Leasing, a Delaware limited liability company, was formed as a joint venture between the Blue Owl Leasing Members. The Blue Owl Leasing Members co-manage Blue Owl Leasing. Blue Owl Leasing’s principal purpose is to make investments in leases and loans. Investment decisions must be approved by Blue Owl Leasing. Our investment in Blue Owl Leasing is a co-investment made with our affiliates in accordance with the terms of the exemptive relief that we received from the SEC. We do not consolidate our non-controlling interest in Blue Owl Leasing.
Refer to Exhibit 99.3 for the Blue Owl Leasing Supplemental Financial Information.
Results of Operations
For a discussion of our results for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the year ended December 31, 2023, please refer to “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our a nnual r eport on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 19, 2025, which are incorporated herein by reference.
The table below presents our operating results for the following periods:
For the Year Ended December 31,
($ in millions)
$ Change
Total Investment Income
Less: Total Operating Expenses
Net Investment Income (Loss) Before Taxes
Less: Income tax expense (benefit), including excise tax expense (benefit)
Net Investment Income (Loss) After Taxes
Net change in unrealized gain (loss)
Net realized gain (loss)
Net Increase (Decrease) in Net Assets Resulting from Operations
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations can vary from period to period as a result of various factors, including the level of investment origination and exit activity, expenses, the recognition of realized gains and losses and changes in unrealized appreciation and depreciation on the investment portfolio. For the year ended December 31, 2025, our net asset value per share decreased, primarily driven by decreases in the fair value of certain investments, partially offset by accretive share repurchases.
On January 13, 2025, we completed the transactions contemplated by the OBDE Merger Agreement and OBDE was merged with and into us. The OBDE Mergers were accounted for as an asset acquisition in accordance with ASC 805-50, Business Combinations — Related Issues. The consideration paid to OBDE’s shareholders was less than the aggregate fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, which resulted in a purchase discount (the “purchase discount”). The purchase discount was allocated to the cost of OBDE investments acquired by us on a pro-rata basis based on their relative fair values as of the closing date. Immediately following the OBDE Mergers, we marked the investments to their respective fair values and, as a result, the purchase discount allocated to the cost basis of the investments acquired was immediately recognized as unrealized appreciation on our Consolidated Statement of Operations. The purchase discount allocated to the loan investments acquired amortizes over the life of each respective loan through interest income with a corresponding adjustment recorded as unrealized depreciation on such loans acquired through their ultimate disposition. The purchase discount allocated to equity investments acquired does not amortize over the life of such investments through interest income and, assuming no subsequent change to the fair value of the equity investments acquired and disposition of such equity investments at fair value, we will recognize a realized gain with a corresponding reversal of the unrealized appreciation on disposition of such equity investments acquired. Refer to “Note 13 — Merger with Blue Owl Capital Corporation III” for additional details.
As a supplement to our financial results reported in accordance with GAAP, we have provided, as detailed below, certain non-GAAP financial measures to our operating results that exclude the aforementioned purchase discount and the ongoing amortization thereof, as determined in accordance with GAAP. The non — GAAP financial measures include (i) adjusted net investment income after taxes; (ii) adjusted net realized and unrealized gains (losses); and (iii) adjusted net increase in net assets from operations. We believe that the adjustment to exclude the full effect of the purchase discount is meaningful because it is a measure that we and investors use to assess our financial condition and results of operations. Although these non — GAAP financial measures are intended to enhance investors’ understanding of our business and performance, these non — GAAP financial measures should not be considered an alternative to GAAP. The aforementioned non — GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similar non — GAAP financial measures used by other companies.
For the Year Ended
($ in millions)
December 31, 2025
Net investment income after taxes:
Less: Purchase discount amortization
Adjusted, Non—GAAP, Net Investment Income after Taxes
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses):
Net change in unrealized (appreciation) depreciation due to the purchase discount
Realized (gain) loss due to the purchase discount
Adjusted, Non — GAAP, Net Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses)
Net increase in net assets from operations:
Less: Purchase discount amortization
Net change in unrealized (appreciation) depreciation due to the purchase discount
Realized (gain) loss due to the purchase discount
Adjusted, Non — GAAP, Net Increase in Net Assets from Operations
Investment Income
The table below presents investment income for the following periods:
For the Year Ended December 31,
($ in millions)
$ Change
Interest income from investments
Payment-in-kind interest income from investments
Dividend income from investments
Other income
Total Investment Income
Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2024
Investment income increased to $1.85 billion for the year ended December 31, 2025, from $1.60 billion for the year ended December 31, 2024, primarily due to higher interest income, as a result of an increase in the par value of our debt investments from our acquisition of OBDE, partially offset by a decrease in the weighted average yield of our debt portfolio from 10.4% to 9.5% year-over-year due to lower average interest rates. Included in the interest income are other fees, such as prepayment fees and accelerated amortization of upfront fees from unscheduled paydowns, which are non-recurring in nature. Fees received from unscheduled paydowns increased to $67.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, from $44.7 million in the prior year period, due to an increase in repayment activity. For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, as a percentage of total income, PIK income decreased to 9.9% from 13.3%, as a result of several investments converting to cash pay and lower levels of PIK investments acquired from OBDE. Dividend income increased to $231.1 million from $198.0 million in the prior year period, primarily due to an increase in dividends earned from our equity investments, as well as $775 million growth within our equity investment portfolio period over period. Other income decreased period-over-period due to a decrease in incremental fee income, which are fees that are generally available to us as a result of closing investments and normally paid at the time of closing. We expect that investment income will vary based on a variety of factors including the pace of our originations and repayments.
Expenses
The table below presents our expenses for the following periods:
For the Year Ended December 31,
($ in millions)
$ Change
Interest expense
Management fee, net (1)
Performance based incentive fees
Professional fees
Directors’ fees
Other general and administrative
Total Operating Expenses
(1) Refer to “ Note 3 – Agreements and Related Party Transactions” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report for additional details on management fee waiver.
Under the terms of the Administration Agreement, we reimburse the Adviser for services performed for us. In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Administration Agreement, the Adviser may delegate its obligations under the Administration Agreement to an affiliate or to a third party and we reimburse the Adviser for any services performed for us by such affiliate or third party.
Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2024
Total operating expenses increased for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to the prior year period, primarily driven by increases in interest expense, management fees and incentive fees resulting from the OBDE Mergers. Interest expense increased due to an increase in daily average borrowings from $7.58 billion to $9.89 billion, primarily due to the assumption of OBDE’s debt facilities, and an increase in amortization of debt issuance costs, while the average interest rate remained flat period-over-period. Management fees increased due to an increase in average adjusted gross assets as a result of our acquisition of OBDE. Incentive fees increased due to an increase in net investment income, driven by an increase in the size of the income producing portfolio as a result of our acquisition of OBDE. As a percentage of total assets, professional fees, directors’ fees and other general and administrative expenses remained relatively consistent period-over-perio d.
Income Taxes, Including Excise Taxes
We have elected to be treated as a RIC under subchapter M of the Code, and we intend to operate in a manner so as to continue to qualify for the tax treatment applicable to RICs. To qualify for tax treatment as a RIC, we must, among other things, distribute to our shareholders in each taxable year generally at least the sum of (i) 90% of our investment company taxable income, as defined by the Code, and (ii) 90% of our net tax-exempt income for that taxable year. In addition, a RIC may, in certain cases, satisfy this distribution requirement by distributing dividends relating to a taxable year after the close of such taxable year under the “spillover dividend” provisions of subchapter M. As of December 31, 2025, we have generated undistributed taxable earnings “spillover” of approximately $0.36 per share. The undistributed taxable earnings spillover will be carried forward toward distributions to be paid in accordance with RIC requirements. To maintain our tax treatment as a RIC, we, among other things, intend to make the requisite distributions to our shareholders, which generally relieves us from U.S. federal income taxes at corporate rates.
Depending on the level of taxable income earned in a tax year, we can be expected to carry forward taxable income (including net capital gains, if any) in excess of current year dividend distributions from the current tax year into the next tax year and pay a nondeductible 4% U.S. federal excise tax on such taxable income, as required. To the extent that we determine that our estimated current year annual taxable income will be in excess of estimated current year dividend distributions from such income, we will accrue excise tax on estimated excess taxable income.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, we recorded U.S. federal and state income tax expense (benefit) of $12.0 million and $11.6 million, respectively, including U.S. federal excise tax expense (benefit) of $6.6 million and $7.4 million, respectively.
Certain of our consolidated subsidiaries are subject to U.S. federal and state income taxes. For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, we recorded a current tax expense of approximately $(1.3) million and $2.5 million for taxable subsidiaries, respectively. The income tax expense for our taxable consolidated subsidiaries will vary depending on the level of investment income earnings and realized gains from the exits of investments held by such taxable subsidiaries during the respective periods.
Net Unrealized Gains (Losses)
We fair value our portfolio investments quarterly and any changes in fair value are recorded as unrealized gains or losses. During the following periods, net unrealized gains (losses) were as follows:
For the Year Ended December 31,
($ in millions)
$ Change
Net change in unrealized gain (loss) on investments
Income tax (provision) benefit
Net change in translation of assets and liabilities in foreign currencies and other transactions
Net Change in Unrealized Gain (Loss)
Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2024
For the year ended December 31, 2025, the net unrealized gain included $46.8 million of net unrealized gain due to purchase discount from the OBDE Mergers across 189 portfolio companies that were acquired, an increase in the fair value of certain debt and equity investments, as well as reversals of prior period unrealized losses that were realized during the period related to exited investments. This was partially offset by a decrease in the fair value of certain debt investments and reversals of prior period unrealized gains that were realized from investments exits.
For the year ended December 31, 2024, the net unrealized loss was primarily driven by a decrease in the fair value of certain debt investments, partially offset by an increase in the fair value of certain equity investments, credit spreads tightening across broader markets, and the reversal of a prior period unrealized loss that was realized during the period in connection with the restructuring of a debt investment. The ten largest contributors to the change in net unrealized gain (loss) on investments during the periods consisted of the following:
For the Year Ended December 31, 2025
For the Year Ended December 31, 2024
Portfolio Company
Net Change in Unrealized
Gain (Loss)
Portfolio Company
Net Change in Unrealized
Gain (Loss)
($ in millions)
($ in millions)
H-Food Holdings, LLC
KPCI Holdings, L.P.
Remaining Portfolio Companies
Fifth Season Investments LLC (1)
Eagle Infrastructure Services, LLC (1)
The Better Being Co., LLC (fka Nutraceutical International Corporation)
Wingspire Capital Holdings LLC (1)
PHM Netherlands Midco B.V. (dba Loparex)
CIBT Global, Inc.
Remaining Portfolio Companies
Pluralsight, LLC (2)
Tall Tree Foods, Inc.
PCF Midco II, LLC (dba PCF Insurance Services)
PS Operating Company LLC (fka QC Supply, LLC) (1)
Ideal Image Development, LLC (2)
Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc.
Packaging Coordinators Midco, Inc.
National Dentex Labs LLC (fka Barracuda Dental LLC)
National Dentex Labs LLC (fka Barracuda Dental LLC)
Walker Edison Furniture Company LLC (1)
Conair Holdings LLC
H-Food Holdings, LLC
Total
Total
(1) Portfolio company is a controlled, affiliated investment.
(2) Portfolio company is a non-controlled, affiliated investment.
Net Realized Gains (Losses)
The table below presents the realized gains and losses on fully exited and partially exited portfolio companies during the following periods:
For the Year Ended December 31,
($ in millions)
$ Change
Net realized gain (loss) on investments
Net realized gain (loss) on foreign currency transactions
Net Realized Gain (Loss)
For the year ended December 31, 2025, we recognized net realized losses on investments of $172.2 million, primarily driven by the full or partial sales of investments and the restructuring of certain debt investments. We incurred additional losses of $7.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, on foreign currency transactions, primarily as a result of fluctuations in the GBP and EUR exchange rates vs. USD.
Realized Gross Internal Rate of Return
Since we began investing in 2016 through December 31, 2025, our exited investments have resulted in an aggregate cash flow realized gross internal rate of return to us of approximately 10% (based on total capital invested of $21.86 billion and total proceeds from these exited investments of $26.79 billion).
IRR, is a measure of our discounted cash flows (inflows and outflows). Specifically, IRR is the discount rate at which the net present value of all cash flows is equal to zero. That is, IRR is the discount rate at which the present value of total capital invested in each of our investments is equal to the present value of all realized returns from that investment. Our IRR calculations are unaudited.
Capital invested, with respect to an investment, represents the aggregate cost basis allocable to the realized or unrealized portion of the investment, net of any upfront fees paid at closing for the term loan portion of the investment.
Realized returns, with respect to an investment, represents the total cash received with respect to each investment, including all amortization payments, interest, dividends, prepayment fees, upfront fees (except upfront fees paid at closing for the term loan portion of an investment), administrative fees, agent fees, amendment fees, accrued interest, and other fees and proceeds.
Gross IRR, with respect to an investment, is calculated based on the dates that we invested capital and dates we received distributions, regardless of when we made distributions to our shareholders. Initial investments are assumed to occur at time zero.
Gross IRR reflects historical results relating to our past performance and is not necessarily indicative of our future results. In addition, gross IRR does not reflect the effect of management fees, expenses, incentive fees or taxes borne, or to be borne, by us or our shareholders, and would be lower if it did.
Aggregate cash flow realized gross IRR on our exited investments reflects only invested and realized cash amounts as described above, and does not reflect any unrealized gains or losses in our portfolio.
Financial Condition, Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our liquidity and capital resources are generated primarily from cash flows from interest, dividends and fees earned from our investments and principal repayments, our credit facilities, debt securitization transactions, and other secured and unsecured debt. We may also generate cash flow from operations, future borrowings and future offerings of securities including public and/or private issuances of debt and/or equity securities through both registered offerings off of our shelf registration statement and private offerings. The primary uses of our cash are (i) investments in portfolio companies and other investments and to comply with certain portfolio diversification requirements, (ii) the cost of operations (including paying or reimbursing our Adviser), (iii) debt service, repayment and other financing costs of any borrowings and (iv) cash distributions to the holders of our shares.
We may from time to time enter into additional credit facilities, increase the size of our existing credit facilities, enter into additional debt securitization transactions, or issue additional debt securities. Any such incurrence or issuance would be subject to prevailing market conditions, our liquidity requirements, contractual and regulatory restrictions and other factors. In accordance with the 1940 Act, with certain limited exceptions, we are only allowed to incur borrowings, issue debt securities or issue preferred stock, if immediately after the borrowing or issuance, the ratio of total assets (less total liabilities other than indebtedness) to total indebtedness plus preferred stock, is at least 150%. Our current target ratio is 0.90x-1.25x. As of December 31, 2025, our weighted average total cost of debt was 6.0%. In addition, from time to time, we may seek to retire, repurchase, or exchange debt securities in open market purchases or by other means, including privately negotiated transactions, in each case dependent on market conditions, liquidity, contractual obligations, and other matters. The amounts involved in any such transactions, individually or in the aggregate, may be material.
As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, our asset coverage ratio was 178% and 178%, respectively. We seek to carefully consider our unfunded commitments for the purpose of planning our ongoing financial leverage. Further, we maintain sufficient borrowing capacity within the 150% asset coverage limitation to cover any outstanding unfunded commitments we are required to fund.
Cash and restricted cash as of December 31, 2025, taken together with our available debt, is expected to be sufficient for our investing activities and to conduct our operations in the near term. As of December 31, 2025, we had $3.26 billion available under our credit facilities.
Our long-term cash needs will include principal payments on outstanding indebtedness and funding of additional portfolio investments. Funding for long-term cash needs will come from unused net proceeds from financing activities. We believe that our liquidity and sources of capital are adequate to satisfy our short and long-term cash requirements. We cannot, however, be certain that these sources of funds will be available at a time and upon terms acceptable to us in sufficient amounts in the future.
As of December 31, 2025, we had $568.5 million in cash and restricted cash, including foreign cash. During the year ended December 31, 2025, $1.74 billion in cash was provided by operating activities, primarily as a result of sell downs and repayments of $4.44 billion and other operating activity of $718.9 million partially offset by funding portfolio investments of $3.42 billion. Cash used in financing activities was $1.69 billion during the period, which was primarily the result of net repayments of $768.6 million, distributions paid of $752.5 million, debt issuance costs of $20.9 million and share repurchases of $148.2 million, partially offset by equity issuances of $3.1 million.
Equity
Equity Issuances
We have the authority to issue 1,000,000,000 common shares at $0.01 per share par value.
On January 13, 2025, as a result of the OBDE Mergers, we issued an aggregate of approximately 120,630,330 shares of our common stock.
“At the Market” Offerings
We are party to an equity distribution agreement with several banks (the “Equity Distribution Agreement”). The Equity Distribution Agreement provides that we may from time to time issue and sell, by means of “at the market” offerings, up to $750.0 million of our common stock. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Equity Distribution Agreement, sales of common shares, if any, may be made in transactions that are deemed to be “at the market” offerings as defined in Rule 415(a)(4) under the Securities Act. Under the Equity Distribution Agreement, common shares with an aggregate offering amount of $746.9 million remained available for issuance as of December 31, 2025.
We may from time to time issue and sell shares of our common stock through public or “at the market” offerings. There were no sales of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2024. We issued and sold the following shares of common stock during the year ended December 31, 2025:
Issuances of Common Stock
Number of Shares Issued
Gross Proceeds
Underwriting Fees/Offering Expenses
Net Proceeds
Average Offering Price Per Share (1)
($ in thousands, except share and per share data)
“At the market” offerings
(1) Represents the gross offering price per share before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses .
Distributions
The following tables present the distributions declared on shares of our common stock for the following periods:
For the Year Ended December 31, 2025
Date Declared
Record Date
Payment Date
Distribution per Share
November 4, 2025
December 31, 2025
January 15, 2026
August 5, 2025
September 30, 2025
October 15, 2025
August 5, 2025 (supplemental dividend)
August 29, 2025
September 15, 2025
May 6, 2025
June 30, 2025
July 15, 2025
May 6, 2025 (supplemental dividend)
May 30, 2025
June 13, 2025
February 18, 2025
March 31, 2025
April 15, 2025
February 18, 2025 (supplemental dividend)
February 28, 2025
March 17, 2025
For the Year Ended December 31, 2024
Date Declared
Record Date
Payment Date
Distribution per Share
November 5, 2024
December 31, 2024
January 15, 2025
November 5, 2024 (supplemental dividend)
November 29, 2024
December 13, 2024
August 6, 2024
September 30, 2024
October 15, 2024
August 6, 2024 (supplemental dividend)
August 30, 2024
September 13, 2024
May 7, 2024
June 28, 2024
July 15, 2024
May 7, 2024 (supplemental dividend)
May 31, 2024
June 14, 2024
February 21, 2024
March 29, 2024
April 15, 2024
February 21, 2024 (supplemental dividend)
March 1, 2024
March 15, 2024
During certain periods, our distributions may exceed our earnings. As a result, it is possible that a portion of the distributions we make may represent a return of capital. A return of capital generally is a return of a shareholder’s investment rather than a return of earnings or gains derived from our investment activities. Each year, a statement on Form 1099-DIV identifying the tax character of the distributions will be mailed to our shareholders. The tax character of the distributions are not determined until our taxable year end.
Dividend Reinvestment
Pursuant to our second amended and restated dividend reinvestment plan, we will reinvest all cash distributions declared by the Board on behalf of our shareholders who do not elect to receive their distribution in cash as provided below. As a result, if the Board authorizes, and we declare, a cash dividend or other distribution, then our shareholders who have not opted out of our dividend reinvestment plan will have their cash distributions automatically reinvested in additional shares of our common stock as described below, rather than receiving the cash dividend or other distribution. Any fractional share otherwise issuable to a participant in the dividend reinvestment plan will instead be paid in cash.
If newly issued shares are used to implement the dividend reinvestment plan, the number of shares to be issued to a shareholder will be determined by dividing the total dollar amount of the cash dividend or distribution payable to a shareholder by the market price per share of our common stock at the close of regular trading on the NYSE on the payment date of a distribution, or if no sale is reported for such day, the average of the reported bid and ask prices. However, if the market price per share on the payment date of a cash dividend or distribution exceeds the most recently computed net asset value per share, we will issue shares at the greater of (i) the most recently computed net asset value per share and (ii) 95% of the current market price per share (or such lesser discount to the current market price per share that still exceeded the most recently computed net asset value per share). For example, if the most recently computed net asset value per share is $15.00 and the market price on the payment date of a cash dividend is $16.00 per share, we will issue shares at $15.20 per share (95% of the current market price). If the most recently computed net asset value per share is $15.00 and the market price on the payment date of a cash dividend is $15.50 per share, we will issue shares at $15.00 per share, as net asset value is greater than 95% ($14.73 per share) of the current market price. Pursuant to our second amended and restated dividend reinvestment plan, if shares are purchased in the open market to implement the dividend reinvestment plan, the number of shares to be issued to a shareholder shall be determined by dividing the dollar amount of the cash dividend payable to such shareholder by the weighted average price per share for all shares purchased by the plan administrator in the open market in connection with the dividend. Shareholders who receive distributions in the form of shares of common stock will be subject to the same U.S. federal, state and local tax consequences as if they received cash distributions.
The tables below present the shares distributed pursuant to the dividend reinvestment plan for the following periods:
For the Year Ended December 31, 2025
Date Declared
Record Date
Payment Date
Shares
August 5, 2025
September 30, 2025
October 15, 2025
August 5, 2025 (supplemental dividend)
August 29, 2025
September 15, 2025
May 6, 2025
June 30, 2025
July 15, 2025
May 6, 2025 (supplemental dividend)
May 30, 2025
June 13, 2025
February 18, 2025
March 31, 2025
April 15, 2025
February 18, 2025 (supplemental dividend)
February 28, 2025
March 17, 2025
November 5, 2024
December 31, 2024
January 15, 2025
(1) Shares purchased in the open market in order to satisfy dividends reinvested under our dividend reinvestment program.
For the Year Ended December 31, 2024
Date Declared
Record Date
Payment Date
Shares
November 5, 2024 (supplemental dividend)
November 29, 2024
December 13, 2024
August 6, 2024
September 30, 2024
October 15, 2024
August 6, 2024 (supplemental dividend)
August 30, 2024
September 13, 2024
May 7, 2024
June 28, 2024
July 15, 2024
May 7, 2024 (supplemental dividend)
May 31, 2024
June 14, 2024
February 21, 2024
March 29, 2024
April 15, 2024
February 21, 2024 (supplemental dividend)
March 1, 2024
March 15, 2024
November 7, 2023
December 29, 2023
January 12, 2024
(1) Shares purchased in the open market in order to satisfy dividends reinvested under our dividend reinvestment program.
Stock Repurchase Programs
2022 Stock Repurchase Program
On November 1, 2022, our Board approved a repurchase program (the “2022 Stock Repurchase Program”) under which we were authorized to repurchase up to $150 million of our outstanding common stock. Under the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program, purchases were made at management’s discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, in accordance with all applicable securities laws and regulations. On May 2, 2024, the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program ended in accordance with its terms. While the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program was in effect, the agent has repurchased 4,090,138 shares of common stock pursuant to the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program for approximately $50.0 million. There were no repurchases under the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program during the period ended December 31, 2024.
2024 Stock Repurchase Program
On May 6, 2024, our Board approved a repurchase program (the “2024 Stock Repurchase Program”) under which we may repurchase up to $150 million of our common stock. Under the 2024 Stock Repurchase Program, purchases may be made at management's discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations. On November 6, 2025, the 2024 Stock Repurchase Program ended in accordance with its terms. There were no repurchases under the 2024 Stock Repurchase Program.
2025 Stock Repurchase Program
On November 4, 2025, the Board approved a repurchase program (the “2025 Stock Repurchase Program”) under which we may repurchase up to $200.0 million of our common stock. Under the 2025 Repurchase Program, purchases may be made at management’s discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, including pursuant to trading plans with investment banks pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act, in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations. Unless extended by the Board, the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program will terminate 18-months from the date it was approved.
In the year ended December 31, 2025, we had the following repurchase activity:
Period
($ in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
Total Number of Shares Repurchased
Average Price Paid per Share
Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that have been Purchased Under the Plans
Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plan
November 1, 2025 to November 30, 2025
December 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025
Debt
Aggregate Borrowings
The tables below present debt obligations as of the following periods (4) :
As of December 31, 2025
($ in thousands)
Aggregate Principal
Committed
Outstanding Principal
Amount
Available (3)
Unamortized Debt Issuance Costs
Net Carrying
Value
Revolving Credit Facility (1)
SPV Asset Facility II
SPV Asset Facility V
SPV Asset Facility VI
SPV Asset Facility VII
CLO I
CLO III
CLO IV
CLO V
CLO VII
CLO X
CLO XIV
2026 Notes
July 2026 Notes
2027 Notes (2)
April 2027 Notes
July 2027 Notes
2028 Notes
June 2028 Notes
2029 Notes (2)
2030 Notes (2)
Total Debt
(1) The amount available is reduced by $42.2 million of outstanding letters of credit.
(2) Net carrying value is inclusive of change in fair market value of effective hedge.
(3) The amount available reflects any limitations related to each credit facility’s borrowing base.
(4) Refer to “Note 5 — Debt” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report for more information on our present debt obligations.
As of December 31, 2024
($ in thousands)
Aggregate Principal Committed
Outstanding Principal
Amount Available (1)
Unamortized Debt Issuance Costs
Net Carrying Value
Revolving Credit Facility (2)(4)
SPV Asset Facility II
CLO I
CLO II
CLO III
CLO IV
CLO V
CLO VII
CLO X
2025 Notes
July 2025 Notes
2026 Notes
July 2026 Notes
2027 Notes (3)
2028 Notes
2029 Notes (3)
Total Debt
(1) The amount available reflects any limitations related to each credit facility’s borrowing base.
(2) Includes the unrealized translation gain (loss) on borrowings denominated in foreign currencies.
(3) Net carrying value is inclusive of change in fair market value of effective hedge.
(4) The amount available is reduced by $43.2 million of outstanding letters of credit.
The table below presents the components of interest expense for the following periods:
For the Year Ended December 31,
($ in thousands)
Interest expense
Amortization of debt issuance costs
Net change in unrealized (gain) loss on effective interest rate swaps and hedged items included in interest expense (1)
Net realized (gain) loss on interest rate swaps
Total Interest Expense
Average interest rate
Average daily borrowings
(1) Refer to “Note 5 — Debt” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report for details on each facility’s interest rate swap.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
Portfolio Company Commitments
From time to time, we may enter into commitments to fund investments in the form of revolving credit, delayed draw, or equity commitments, which require us to provide funding when requested by portfolio companies in accordance with underlying loan agreements. We had the following outstanding commitments as of the following periods:
($ in thousands)
As of December 31, 2025
As of December 31, 2024
Total unfunded revolving loan commitments
Total unfundeddelayed draw loan commitments
Total unfunded debt commitments
Total unfunded specialty finance equity commitments
Total unfunded common equity commitments
Total unfunded equity commitments
Total Unfunded Commitments
We seek to carefully consider our unfunded portfolio company commitments for the purpose of planning our ongoing financial leverage. Further, we consider any outstanding unfunded portfolio company commitments we are required to fund within the 150% asset coverage limitation. As of December 31, 2025, we believed we had adequate financial resources to satisfy the unfunded portfolio company commitments.
Other Commitments and Contingencies
On November 1, 2022, our Board approved a repurchase program (the “2022 Stock Repurchase Program”) under which we were authorized to repurchase up to $150 million of our outstanding common stock. Under the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program, purchases were made at management’s discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, in accordance with all applicable securities laws and regulations. On May 2, 2024, the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program ended in accordance with its terms. While the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program was in effect, the agent has repurchased 4,090,138 shares of common stock pursuant to the 2022 Stock Repurchase Program for approximately $50.0 million.
On May 6, 2024, our Board approved a repurchase program (the “2024 Stock Repurchase Program”) under which we may repurchase up to $150 million of our common stock. Under the 2024 Stock Repurchase Program, purchases may be made at management's discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations. On November 6, 2025, the 2024 Stock Repurchase Program ended in accordance with its terms. There were no repurchases under the 2024 Stock Repurchase Program.
On November 4, 2025, the Board approved a repurchase program (the “2025 Stock Repurchase Program”) under which we may repurchase up to $200.0 million of our common stock. Under the 2025 Repurchase Program, purchases may be made at management’s discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, including pursuant to trading plans with investment banks pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act, in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations. Unless extended by the Board, the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program will terminate 18-months from the date it was approved. Refer to “ Note 9 — Net Assets ” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report for further details on repurchases made during 2025.
From time to time, we may become a party to certain legal proceedings incidental to the normal course of its business. At December 31, 2025, we were not aware of any material pending or threatenedlitigation that would require accounting recognition or financial statement disclosure.
Contractual Obligations
The table below presents a summary of our contractual payment obligations under our credit facilities as of December 31, 2025:
Payments Due by Period
($ in thousands)
Total
Less than 1 year
1-3 years
3-5 years
After 5 years
Revolving Credit Facility
SPV Asset Facility II
SPV Asset Facility V
SPV Asset Facility VI
SPV Asset Facility VII
CLO I
CLO III
CLO IV
CLO V
CLO VII
CLO X
CLO XIV
2026 Notes
July 2026 Notes
2027 Notes
April 2027 Notes
July 2027 Notes
2028 Notes
June 2028 Notes
2029 Notes
2030 Notes
Total Contractual Obligations
Related-Party Transactions
We have entered into a number of business relationships with affiliated or related parties, including the following:
• the Investment Advisory Agreement;
• the Administration Agreement; and
• the License Agreement.
In addition to the aforementioned agreements, we, our Adviser and certain of our Adviser’s affiliates have been granted exemptive relief by the SEC to co-invest with other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates, in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors.
Additionally, we invest in Wingspire, Amergin AssetCo, Fifth Season, Credit SLF, Blue Owl Leasing and LSI Financing LLC, controlled affiliated investments, as defined in the 1940 Act and in LSI Financing DAC and BOCSO, non-controlled affiliated investments, as defined in the 1940 Act. Refer to “ Note 3 — Agreements and Related Party Transactions” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report for further details.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Changes in the economic environment, financial markets, and any other parameters used in determining such estimates could cause actual results to differ. Our critical accounting policies should be read in connection with our risk factors as described in “ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.”
Investments at Fair Value
Investment transactions are recorded on the trade date. Realized gains or losses are measured by the difference between the net proceeds received (excluding prepayment fees, if any) and the amortized cost basis of the investment using the specific identification method without regard to unrealized gains or losses previously recognized, and include investments charged off during the period, net of recoveries. The net change in unrealized gains or losses primarily reflects the change in investment values, including the reversal of previously recorded unrealized gains or losses with respect to investments realized during the period.
Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act establishes requirements for determining fair value in good faith for purposes of the 1940 Act. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5, the Board designated the Adviser as our valuation designee to perform fair value determinations relating to the value of assets held by us for which market quotations are not readily available.
Investments for which market quotations are readily available are typically valued at the average bid price of those market quotations. To validate market quotations, we utilize a number of factors to determine if the quotations are representative of fair value, including the source and number of the quotations. Debt and equity securities that are not publicly traded or whose market prices are not readily available, as is the case for substantially all of our investments, are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by our Adviser, as the valuation designee, based on, among other things, the input of the independent third-party valuation firm(s) engaged at the direction of our Adviser.
As part of the valuation process, our Adviser, as the valuation designee takes into account relevant factors in determining the fair value of our investments, including: the estimated enterprise value of a portfolio company (i.e., the total fair value of the portfolio company’s debt and equity), the nature and realizable value of any collateral, the portfolio company’s ability to make payments based on its earnings and cash flow, the markets in which the portfolio company does business, a comparison of the portfolio company’s securities to any similar publicly traded securities, and overall changes in the interest rate environment and the credit markets that may affect the price at which similar investments may be made in the future. When an external event such as a purchase transaction, public offering or subsequent equity sale occurs, the Board considers whether the pricing indicated by the external event corroborates its valuation.
Our Adviser, as the valuation designee, undertakes a multi-step valuation process, which includes, among other procedures, the following:
• With respect to investments for which market quotations are readily available, those investments will typically be valued at the average bid price of those market quotations;
• With respect to investments for which market quotations are not readily available, the valuation process begins with the independent valuation firm(s) providing a preliminary valuation of each investment to the Adviser’s valuation committee;
• Preliminary valuation conclusions are documented and discussed with the Adviser’s valuation committee;
• Our Adviser, as the valuation designee, reviews the recommended valuations and determines the fair value of each investment;
• Each quarter, our Adviser, as the valuation designee, provides the Audit Committee a summary or description of material fair value matters that occurred in the prior quarter and on an annual basis, our Adviser, as the valuation designee, will provide the Audit Committee with a written assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of its fair value process; and
• The Audit Committee oversees the valuation designee and will report to the Board on any valuation matters requiring the Board’s attention.
We conduct this valuation process on a quarterly basis.
We apply ASC 820, which establishes a framework for measuring fair value in accordance with U.S. GAAP and required disclosures of fair value measurements. ASC 820 determines fair value to be the price that would be received for an investment in a current sale, which assumes an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Market participants are defined as buyers and sellers in the principal or most advantageous market (which may be a hypothetical market) that are independent, knowledgeable, and willing and able to transact. In accordance with ASC 820, we consider its principal market to be the market that has the greatest volume and level of activity. ASC 820 specifies a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes and ranks the level of observability of inputs used in determination of fair value. In accordance with ASC 820, these levels are summarized below:
• Level 1 – Valuations based on quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that we have the ability to access.
• Level 2 – Valuations based on quoted prices in markets that are not active or for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly.
• Level 3 – Valuations based on inputs that are unobservable and significant to the overall fair value measurement.
Transfers between levels, if any, are recognized at the beginning of the period in which the transfer occurred. In addition to using the above inputs in investment valuations, we apply the valuation policy approved by our Board that is consistent with ASC 820. Consistent with the valuation policy, our Adviser, as the valuation designee, evaluates the source of the inputs, including any markets in which our investments are trading (or any markets in which securities with similar attributes are trading), in determining fair value. When an investment is valued based on prices provided by reputable dealers or pricing services (that is, broker quotes), our Adviser, as the valuation designee, subjects those prices to various criteria in making the determination as to whether a particular investment would qualify for treatment as a Level 2 or Level 3 investment. For example, our Adviser, as the valuation designee, or the
independent valuation firm(s), review pricing support provided by dealers or pricing services in order to determine if observable market information is being used, versus unobservable inputs.
The Company applies the practical expedient provided by the ASC Topic 820 relating to investments in certain entities that calculate net asset value per share (or its equivalent). ASC Topic 820 permits an entity holding investments in certain entities that either are investment companies, or have attributes similar to an investment company, and calculate NAV per share or its equivalent for which the fair value is not readily determinable, to measure the fair value of such investments on the basis of that NAV per share, or its equivalent, without adjustment. Investments which are valued using NAV per share as a practical expedient are not categorized within the fair value hierarchy as per ASC Topic 820.
Due to the inherent uncertainty of determining the fair value of investments that do not have a readily available market value, the fair value of our investments may fluctuate from period to period. Additionally, the fair value of such investments may differ significantly from the values that would have been used had a ready market existed for such investments and may differ materially from the values that may ultimately be realized. Further, such investments are generally less liquid than publicly traded securities and may be subject to contractual and other restrictions on resale. If we were required to liquidate a portfolio investment in a forced or liquidation sale, we could realize amounts that are different from the amounts presented and such differences could be material.
In addition, changes in the market environment and other events that may occur over the life of the investments may cause the gains or losses ultimately realized on these investments to be different than the unrealized gains or losses reflected herein.
Financial and Derivative Instruments
Rule 18f-4 requires BDCs that use derivatives to, among other things, comply with a value-at-risk leverage limit, adopt a derivatives risk management program, and implement certain testing and board reporting procedures. Rule 18f-4 exempts BDCs that qualify as “limited derivatives users” from the aforementioned requirements, provided that these BDCs adopt written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to manage the BDC’s derivatives risks and comply with certain recordkeeping requirements. Rule 18f-4 provides that a BDC may enter into an unfunded commitment agreement that is not a derivatives transaction, such as an agreement to provide financing to a portfolio company, if the BDC has, among other things, a reasonable belief, at the time it enters into such an agreement, that it will have sufficient cash and cash equivalents to meet its obligations with respect to all of its unfunded commitment agreements, in each case as it becomes due. Pursuant to Rule 18f-4, when we trade reverse repurchase agreements or similar financing transactions, including certain tender option bonds, we need to aggregate the amount of any other senior securities representing indebtedness (e.g., bank borrowings, if applicable) when calculating our asset coverage ratio. The Company currently qualifies as a “limited derivatives user” and expects to continue to do so. The Company has adopted a derivatives policy and complies with the recordkeeping requirements of Rule 18f-4.
Interest and Dividend Income Recognition
Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis and includes amortization and accretion of discounts or premiums. Certain investments may have contractual payment-in-kind (“PIK”) interest or dividends, the majority of which is structured at initial underwriting. PIK interest or dividends represent accrued interest or dividends that are added to the principal amount of the investment on the respective interest or dividend payment dates rather than being paid in cash and generally becomes due at maturity or at the occurrence of a liquidation event. Discounts to par value on securities purchased are amortized into interest income over the contractual life of the respective security using the effective yield method. Premiums to par value on securities purchased are amortized to first call date. The amortized cost of investments represents the original cost adjusted for the amortization or accretion of discounts or premiums, if any. Upon prepayment of a loan or debt security, any prepayment premiums, unamortized upfront loan origination fees and unamortized discounts are recorded as interest income in the current period.
Loans are generally placed on non-accrual status when there is reasonable doubt that principal or interest will be collected in full. Accrued interest is generally reversed when a loan is placed on non-accrual status. Interest payments received on non-accrual loans may be recognized as income or applied to principal depending upon management’s judgment regarding collectability. If at any point we believe PIK interest is not expected to be realized, the investment generating PIK interest will be placed on non-accrual status. When a PIK investment is placed on non-accrual status, the accrued, uncapitalized interest or dividends are generally reversed through interest income. Non-accrual loans are restored to accrual status when past due principal and interest is paid current and, in management’s judgment, are likely to remain current. Management may make exceptions to this treatment and determine to not place a loan on non-accrual status if the loan has sufficient collateral value and is in the process of collection.
Dividend income on preferred equity securities is recorded on the accrual basis to the extent that such amounts are payable by the portfolio company and are expected to be collected. Dividend income on common equity securities is recorded on the record date for private portfolio companies or on the ex-dividend date for publicly-traded portfolio companies.
Distributions
We have elected to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and qualify annually thereafter, as a RIC under subchapter M of the Code. To obtain and maintain our tax treatment as a RIC, we must timely distribute (or be deemed to distribute) in each taxable year to our shareholders at least the sum of :
• 90% of our investment company taxable income (which is generally our ordinary income plus the excess of realized short-term capital gains over realized net long-term capital losses), determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid, for such taxable year; and
• 90% of our net tax-exempt interest income (which is the excess of our gross tax-exempt interest income over certain disallowed deductions) for such taxable year.
As a RIC, we (but not our shareholders) generally will not be subject to U.S. federal tax on investment company taxable income and net capital gains that we distribute to our shareholders.
We intend to distribute annually all or substantially all of such income. To the extent that we retain our net capital gains or any investment company taxable income, we generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at corporate rates. We can be expected to carry forward our net capital gains or any investment company taxable income in excess of current year dividend distributions, and pay the U.S. federal excise tax as described below.
Amounts not distributed on a timely basis in accordance with a calendar year distribution requirement are subject to a nondeductible 4% U.S. federal excise tax payable by us. We may be subject to a nondeductible 4% U.S. federal excise tax if we do not distribute (or are treated as distributing) during each calendar year an amount at least equal to the sum of:
• 98% of our net ordinary income excluding certain ordinary gains or losses for that calendar year;
• 98.2% of our capital gain net income, adjusted for certain ordinary gains and losses, recognized for the twelve-month period ending on October 31 of that calendar year; and
• certain undistributed amounts from previous years in which we paid no U.S. federal income tax.
While we intend to distribute any income and capital gains in the manner necessary to minimize imposition of the 4% U.S. federal excise tax, sufficient amounts of our taxable income and capital gains may not be distributed and as a result, in such cases, the excise tax will be imposed. In such an event, we will be liable for this tax only on the amount by which we do not meet the foregoing distribution requirement.
We intend to pay quarterly distributions to our shareholders out of assets legally available for distribution. All distributions will be paid at the discretion of our Board and will depend on our earnings, financial condition, maintenance of our tax treatment as a RIC, compliance with applicable BDC regulations and such other factors as our Board may deem relevant from time to time.
To the extent our current taxable earnings for a year fall below the total amount of our distributions for that year, a portion of those distributions may be deemed a return of capital to our shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Thus, the source of a distribution to our shareholders may be the original capital invested by the shareholder rather than our income or gains. Shareholders should read written disclosure carefully and should not assume that the source of any distribution is our ordinary income or gains.
We have adopted an “opt out” dividend reinvestment plan for our common shareholders. As a result, if we declare a cash dividend or other distribution, each shareholder that has not “opted out” of our dividend reinvestment plan will have their dividends or distributions automatically reinvested in additional shares of our common stock rather than receiving cash distributions. Shareholders who receive distributions in the form of shares of common stock will be subject to the same U.S. federal, state and local tax consequences as if they received cash distributions.
Income Taxes
We have elected to be treated as a BDC under the 1940 Act. We have also elected to be treated as a RIC under the Code beginning with the taxable year ending December 31, 2016 and intend to continue to qualify as a RIC. So long as we maintain our tax treatment as a RIC, we generally will not pay U.S. federal income taxes on any ordinary income or capital gains that we distribute at least annually to our shareholders as distributions. Rather, any tax liability related to income earned and distributed by us represents obligations of our investors and will not be reflected in our consolidated financial statements. However, we will be subject to U.S. federal income tax imposed at corporate rates on any income, including capital gains, not distributed (or deemed distributed) to our stockholders.
To qualify as a RIC, we must, among other things, meet certain source-of-income and asset diversification requirements. In addition, to qualify for RIC tax treatment, we generally must distribute to our shareholders, for each taxable year, at least (i) 90% of our “investment company taxable income” for that year, which is generally our net ordinary income plus the excess, if any, of our realized net short-term capital gains over our realized net long-term capital losses and (ii) our net tax-exempt income. In order for us to not be subject to U.S. federal excise taxes, we must distribute annually an amount at least equal to the sum of (i) 98% of our net ordinary income (taking into account certain deferrals and elections) for the calendar year, (ii) 98.2% of our capital gains in excess of capital losses for the one-year period ending on October 31 of the calendar year and (iii) certain undistributed amounts from previous
years on which we paid no U.S. federal income tax. We, at our discretion, may carry forward taxable income in excess of calendar year dividends and pay a 4% nondeductible U.S. excise tax on this income.
Certain consolidated subsidiaries of ours are subject to U.S. federal and state income taxes imposed at corporate rates. We evaluate tax positions taken or expected to be taken in the course of preparing our consolidated financial statements to determine whether the tax positions are “more-likely-than-not” to be sustained by the applicable tax authority. Tax positions not deemed to meet the “more-likely-than-not” threshold are reserved and recorded as a tax benefit or expense in the current year. All penalties and interest associated with income taxes are included in income tax expense. Conclusions regarding tax positions are subject to review and may be adjusted at a later date based on factors including, but not limited to, on-going analyses of tax laws, regulations and interpretations thereof. There were no material uncertain tax positions through December 31, 2025. As applicable, our prior three tax years remain subject to examination by U.S. federal, state and local tax authorities.
Recent Developments
Dividend
On February 18, 2026, our Board declared a first quarter dividend of $0.37 per share for stockholders of record as of March 31, 2026, payable on or before April 15, 2026.
2026 Stock Repurchase Program
On February 17, 2026, the Board approved a repurchase program (the “2026 Stock Repurchase Program”) under which we may repurchase up to $300 million of our common stock. Under the 2026 Repurchase Program, purchases may be made at management’s discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, including pursuant to trading plans with investment banks pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act, in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations. Unless extended by the Board, the 2026 Stock Repurchase Program will terminate 18-months from the date it was approved. Upon entering into the 2026 Stock Repurchase Program, the 2025 Stock Repurchase Program will terminate.
2026 Notes Repayment
On January 15, 2026, we repaid all $500.0 million of the 2026 Notes at 100.0% of their principal amount, plus the accrued interest thereon.
CLO XIV Redemption
On January 20, 2026, the CLO XIV Issuer redeemed all classes of the CLO XIV Debt in full, along with accrued and unpaid interest.
Asset Sale
On February 18, 2026, we entered into six separately negotiated loan sale agreements totaling $400.0 million in investment commitments (each, a “Subject Portfolio” and collectively, the “Subject Portfolios”). Excluding unfunded commitments, the aggregate fair value of the Subject Portfolios as of February 12, 2026 was $357.6 million, equivalent to 99.8% of par value. The Subject Portfolios consist of 91.9% first-lien investments, 4.7% second-lien investments and 3.4% unsecured investments and include investments in 74 portfolio companies across 24 industries. 98.3% of investments in the Subject Portfolios are floating rate and 100% of investments in the Subject Portfolios are 1- or 2-rated on our 5-point internal investment ratings scale. The Subject Portfolios have an average investment size of $4.8 million and a weighted average spread of 5.5% and consist of partial sales representing 5% of our exposure to each underlying portfolio company as of December 31, 2025. The settlement of the sales of such portfolio company investments is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026. We intend to use the proceeds from the loan sale agreements to repay indebtedness.
