Ares Capital Corp (ARCC) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Welcome to Ares Capital Corporation's First Quarter March 31, 2024, Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. I will now turn the call over to Mr. John Stilmar, partner of Ares Public Markets Investor Relations.

早安.歡迎參加 Ares Capital Corporation 於 2024 年 3 月 31 日舉行的第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次會議將於 2024 年 5 月 1 日星期三進行錄製。 我現在將電話轉給 Ares Public Markets 投資者關係合夥人 John Stilmar 先生。

Thank you. Let me start with some important reminders: Comments made during the course of this conference call and webcast and the accompanying documents contain forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements for any reason, including those listed in its SEC filings.

謝謝。讓我先提醒您一些重要的注意事項： 在本次電話會議和網路直播過程中發表的評論以及隨附文件包含前瞻性陳述，並存在風險和不確定性。該公司的實際結果可能出於任何原因與此類前瞻性聲明中表達的結果存在重大差異，包括其向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中列出的結果。

Ares Capital Corporation assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Please also note that past performance or market information is not a guarantee of future results. During this conference call, the company may discuss certain non-GAAP measures as defined by SEC Regulation G, such as core earnings per share. The company believes that core EPS provides useful information to investors regarding financial performance because it's one method the company uses to measure its financial condition and results of operation.

Ares Capital Corporation 不承擔更新任何此類前瞻性陳述的義務。另請注意，過去的表現或市場資訊並不能保證未來的結果。在本次電話會議期間，公司可能會討論 SEC G 條例定義的某些非 GAAP 指標，例如每股核心收益。該公司認為，核心每股收益為投資者提供了有關財務業績的有用信息，因為它是公司用來衡量其財務狀況和經營業績的一種方法。

A reconciliation of GAAP net income per share to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure to core EPS can be found in the accompanying slide presentation for this call. In addition, reconciliation of these measures may also be found in our earnings release filed this morning with the SEC on Form 8-K. Certain information discussed in this conference call and the accompanying slide presentation, including information related to portfolio of companies is derived from third-party sources and has not been independently verified and accordingly, the company makes no representation or warranty with respect to this information.

本次電話會議隨附的幻燈片簡報中可以找到 GAAP 每股淨利潤與與核心每股收益最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的調整表。此外，這些措施的協調也可以在我們今天早上向 SEC 提交的 8-K 表格收益報告中找到。本次電話會議和隨附的幻燈片簡報中討論的某些資訊（包括與公司投資組合相關的資訊）來自第三方來源，未經獨立驗證，因此，本公司對此資訊不作任何陳述或保證。

The company's first quarter ended March 31, 2024, earnings presentation can be found on the company's website at www.arescapitalcorp.com by clicking on first quarter 2024 earnings presentation link on the homepage of the Investor Resources section. Ares Capital Corporation's earnings release and Form 10-Q are also available on the company's website.

該公司的第一季截至2024年3月31日，透過點擊投資者資源部分主頁上的2024年第一季度收益演示鏈接，可以在公司網站www.arecapitalcorp.com上找到收益演示。 Ares Capital Corporation 的收益報告和 10-Q 表格也可在該公司網站上取得。

I'll now turn the call over to Kipp DeVeer, Ares Capital Corporation's Chief Executive Officer. Kipp?

現在我將把電話轉給 Ares Capital Corporation 執行長 Kipp DeVeer。基普？

Thanks, John. Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining our earnings call today. I'm here with our Co-Presidents, Mitch Goldstein and Kort Schnabel; our Chief Operating Officer, Jana Markowicz; our Chief Financial Officer, Scott Lem, and other members of the management team.

謝謝，約翰。大家好，感謝您參加今天的財報電話會議。我和我們的聯合總裁 Mitch Goldstein 和 Kort Schnabel 一起來到這裡。我們的營運長 Jana Markowicz；我們的財務長 Scott Lem 和管理團隊的其他成員。

I'd like to start by welcoming Scott to his first earnings call with me in his new role as Chief Financial Officer. Scott has been with us for quite a while as a key business leader within our finance and accounting team. He's been at Ares for more than 20 years. So having him join us as our newly appointed CFO is great. We look forward to his continued contributions to Ares Capital. Scott and his promotion is just another example of our culture of continuing to promote our strongest players and shows the depth of the talent that exists at Ares. We still believe this differentiates us from other companies in the market. Now we'll move on to our results.

首先，我謹歡迎 Scott 擔任財務長後與我一起參加他的第一次財報電話會議。斯科特作為我們財務和會計團隊的關鍵業務領導者已經在我們身邊工作了一段時間。他在阿瑞斯已經工作了二十多年。因此，讓他加入我們擔任我們新任命的財務長真是太好了。我們期待他繼續為Ares Capital做出貢獻。史考特和他的晉升只是我們繼續提拔最強球員的文化的另一個例子，並展示了阿瑞斯的人才深度。我們仍然相信這使我們有別於市場上的其他公司。現在我們將繼續討論我們的結果。

This morning, we reported another quarter of strong core earnings of $0.59 per share. Our core earnings per share increased 3.5% from the prior year and were well above our $0.48 per share first quarter regular dividend. These results were driven by continued strong attractive investment environment and the beneficial impact of higher base rates and attractive credit spreads. The strength of our earnings and the positive valuation momentum in our portfolio has also supported solid growth in our net asset value per share after paying a healthy level of regular dividends.

今天早上，我們報告了另一個季度強勁的核心盈利，每股收益為 0.59 美元。我們的每股核心收益較上年增長 3.5%，遠高於第一季每股 0.48 美元的定期股息。這些結果得益於持續強勁且有吸引力的投資環境以及較高的基本利率和有吸引力的信用利差的有利影響。我們的獲利實力和投資組合的正面估值動能也支持了我們在支付健康水準的定期股息後每股資產淨值的穩健成長。

Our NAV, which increased 6% year-over-year, reached another record of $19.53 per share. In the first quarter of 2024, while merger and acquisition activity levels remain relatively low, our share in the business continues to remain very strong. The banks are more active again and this is generally good for all market participants as the increased availability of capital typically brings out more M&A and adds confidence to companies seeking financing for transactions.

我們的資產淨值年增 6%，創下每股 19.53 美元的新紀錄。 2024 年第一季度，雖然併購活動水準仍然相對較低，但我們在該業務中的份額仍然非常強勁。銀行再次變得更加活躍，這通常對所有市場參與者都有好處，因為資本可用性的增加通常會帶來更多的併購，並增加尋求交易融資的公司的信心。

The firming of the credit markets, the aging of significant amounts of private equity dry powder and the continued pressures from LPs to return capital are all factors that support higher levels of activity. We're seeing signs of a pickup in transaction activity as evidenced by the $1.2 billion of commitments we've closed in the second quarter to date.

信貸市場的堅挺、大量私募股權乾粉的老化以及有限合夥人要求返還資本的持續壓力都是支持更高水準活動的因素。我們看到交易活動有回升的跡象，第二季迄今已完成的 12 億美元承諾就證明了這一點。

While current market conditions are more competitive, this is not a new phenomenon for us. We have navigated in many competitive markets over the past 2 decades, 2021 was the most recent that was similar. In these environments, we believe that our expansive direct origination capabilities that span the entirety of the middle market from the low, middle and upper segments become even more valuable. And having a very large portfolio also helps to drive new investment activity.

雖然當前的市場環境競爭更加激烈，但這對我們來說並不是什麼新現象。過去 20 年來，我們在許多競爭激烈的市場中游刃有餘，2021 年是最近一次類似的市場。在這些環境下，我們相信，我們橫跨低、中、高端整個中端市場的廣泛直接原創能力變得更加有價值。擁有龐大的投資組合也有助於推動新的投資活動。

We continue to find attractive investments with compelling returns at historically lower levels of relative risk. And specifically for our originations in the first quarter, the weighted average LTV was below 40%. All-in yields were nearly 11% and leverage is nearly 0.5 turn below our weighted average over the past 2 years. Furthermore, the originated yield per unit of leverage, which we view as one measure of the risk-adjusted return in the current rate environment was 10% above the recent 2-year average.

我們繼續尋找有吸引力的投資，以歷史上較低的相對風險水平獲得令人矚目的回報。特別是我們第一季的產品，加權平均 LTV 低於 40%。過去兩年的總收益率接近 11%，槓桿率比我們的加權平均值低近 0.5 倍。此外，每單位槓桿的原始收益率（我們將其視為當前利率環境下風險調整後回報的一種衡量標準）比最近兩年的平均水平高出 10%。

Our credit fundamentals across our portfolio are also indicating health and strength. Our portfolio companies showed organic EBITDA growth over the last 12 months of 10% which is remarkable in today's economic environment. Interest coverage levels remained stable to slightly improved and leverage levels tick down.

我們整個投資組合的信用基本面也顯示了健康和實力。我們的投資組合公司在過去 12 個月中的有機 EBITDA 成長了 10%，這在當今的經濟環境中是顯著的。利息保障水準保持穩定或略有改善，槓桿水準下降。

The annual EBITDA growth of our portfolio companies is more than double the annual growth of the companies in the S&P 500, which we source through data provided by S&P. On a final point, and as Scott will discuss further, current market environment does enable us to raise capital more efficiently. So far this year, we've been active as an issuer in the unsecured notes market and the secured bank and CLO markets. We've issued in all these markets in what we believe are the tightest pricing levels amongst the BDCs.

我們的投資組合公司的年 EBITDA 成長是標準普爾 500 強公司年成長的兩倍以上，我們透過標準普爾提供的數據來獲取這些數據。最後一點，正如斯科特將進一步討論的那樣，當前的市場環境確實使我們能夠更有效地籌集資金。今年到目前為止，我們作為發行人一直活躍在無擔保票據市場以及有擔保銀行和 CLO 市場。我們在所有這些市場上發行了我們認為是 BDC 中最嚴格的定價水準。

With that, let me turn the call over to Scott to provide more details on our financial results and some further thoughts on our balance sheet.

接下來，讓我將電話轉給斯科特，以提供有關我們財務業績的更多詳細資訊以及對我們資產負債表的進一步想法。

Thanks, Kipp. I'm excited for the opportunity to serve as Ares Capital's CFO. This morning, we reported GAAP net income per share of $0.76 for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $0.72 in the prior quarter and $0.52 in the first quarter of 2023. As Kipp stated, we also reported core earnings per share of $0.59 for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $0.63 in the prior quarter and $0.57 in the first quarter of 2023.

謝謝，基普。我很高興有機會擔任 Ares Capital 的財務長。今天上午，我們報告2024 年第一季GAAP 每股淨利潤為0.76 美元，而上一季為0.72 美元，2023 年第一季為0.52 美元。核心收益0.59 美元2024 年第一季的銷售額為 0.63 美元，2023 年第一季為 0.57 美元。

Our investment income in the quarter was primarily driven by the continued benefits of higher base rates and structuring fees due to an improving investing environment. Our restructuring fees decreased from the fourth quarter of 2023 given the usual seasonality in our business. They increased meaningfully from the first quarter of last year.

我們本季的投資收入主要是由於投資環境改善而帶來的基本利率和結構費上漲的持續收益所推動的。鑑於我們業務的通常季節性，我們的重組費用較 2023 年第四季有所下降。與去年第一季相比，它們顯著增加。

Our stockholders' equity ended the quarter at $11.9 billion or $19.52 per share, a new record high for us, which is a 1.5% increase per share over the prior quarter and nearly a 6% increase per share from a year ago. Our total portfolio at fair value at the end of the quarter was $23.1 billion, up from $22.9 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, largely driven by net unrealized gains in portfolio for the quarter. The weighted average yield on our debt and other in completion securities at amortized cost was 12.4% at March 31, 2024, which was down slightly from 12.5% at December 31, 2023, but higher than the 12% at March 31, 2023.

本季末，我們的股東權益達到 119 億美元，即每股 19.52 美元，創歷史新高，每股比上一季增長 1.5%，比去年同期增長近 6%。截至本季末，我們以公允價值計算的投資組合總額為 231 億美元，高於第四季末的 229 億美元，這主要是由本季投資組合未實現淨收益推動的。截至2024年3月31日，我們的債務及其他已完成證券的攤餘成本加權平均收益率為12.4%，略低於2023年12月31日的12.5%，但高於2023年3月31日的12%。

In terms of our capitalization and liquidity, we have had a fairly active start to the year making sure we are able to continue supporting our investment opportunities. So far this year, we have amended extended or raised over $7 billion of financing for ARCC.

就我們的資本和流動性而言，我們今年開局相當活躍，確保我們能夠繼續支持我們的投資機會。今年到目前為止，我們已為 ARCC 修改、延長或籌集了超過 70 億美元的融資。

More specifically, in the first quarter, we issued $1 billion of unsecured notes at market-leading spreads and successfully settled our maturing $400 million of convertible notes in almost all newly issued shares, allowing us to retain the capital and further bolster our permanent equity capital base.

更具體地說，在第一季度，我們以市場領先的利差發行了10 億美元的無擔保票據，並成功結算了幾乎所有新發行股票中即將到期的4 億美元可轉換票據，使我們能夠保留資本並進一步增強我們的永久股本根據。

In March, we also extended each of the revolving period and maturity date for our SMBC funding facility by 3 years. Post quarter end, we renewed our largest revolving credit facility for another year, pushing it to a full 5-year maturity with the same pricing and terms. We also lowered the pricing on our BNP funding facility to SOFR plus 250 basis points.

3 月份，我們也將 SMBC 融資工具的循環期和到期日延長了 3 年。季度末後，我們將最大的循環信用額度再續約一年，以相同的定價和條款使其達到完整的 5 年期限。我們也將 BNP 融資工具的定價降低至 SOFR 加 250 個基點。

Finally, just last week, we priced our first on-balance sheet CLO in nearly 18 years. The blended pricing through the AA tranche on the $476 million of notes was SOFR plus 186 basis points, which we believe is one of the tightest executions amongst issuers in this part of the market. Closing is expected in the next few weeks, subject to customary closing conditions.

最後，就在上週，我們對近 18 年來的首個表內 CLO 進行了定價。 4.76 億美元票據的 AA 部分混合定價為 SOFR 加 186 個基點，我們認為這是該市場發行人中執行最嚴格的之一。預計在未來幾週內完成交割，但須符合慣例成交條件。

This transaction allows us to further diversify our sources of committed debt financing at pricing levels currently below other forms of secured funding available in the market. Our overall liquidity position remains strong with approximately $6.3 billion of total available liquidity, including available cash and pro forma for all of post quarter end transactions previously mentioned.

這項交易使我們能夠進一步多元化我們的承諾債務融資來源，其定價水準目前低於市場上其他形式的擔保融資。我們的整體流動性狀況仍然強勁，可用流動性總額約為 63 億美元，包括可用現金和前面提到的所有季度末交易的預計金額。

We also ended the first quarter with a debt-to-equity ratio net of available cash of 0.95x as compared to 1.02x a quarter ago and our lowest net leverage ratio since the end of 2019. We believe our significant amount of dry powder positions us well to continue supporting our portfolio company commitments, remain active in the current investment environment and eliminate any refinancing risk with respect to the series remaining term debt maturities.

截至第一季末，扣除可用現金後，我們的債務股本比率為 0.95 倍，而上一季為 1.02 倍，淨槓桿比率為 2019 年底以來最低。在當前的投資環境中保持活躍，並消除與該系列剩餘期限債務到期相關的任何再融資風險。

Moving on to the dividend. We declared a second quarter 2024 dividend of $0.48 per share. This dividend is payable on June 28, 2024, to stockholders of record on June 14, 2024, and is consistent with our first quarter 2024 dividend. In terms of our taxable income spillover, we currently estimate that we ended 2023 with approximately $635 million or $1.05 per share for distribution to stockholders in 2024.

繼續討論股息。我們宣布 2024 年第二季股利為每股 0.48 美元。該股將於 2024 年 6 月 28 日支付給 2024 年 6 月 14 日登記在冊的股東，與我們 2024 年第一季的股利一致。就我們的應稅收入溢出而言，我們目前估計，到 2023 年底，我們將在 2024 年向股東分配約 6.35 億美元，即每股 1.05 美元。

This estimated spillover level is more than 2x our current regular quarterly dividend, which we believe helps bring stability to our dividend.

這項估計的溢出水準是我們目前定期季度股息的兩倍以上，我們相信這有助於穩定我們的股息。

I will now turn the call over to Mitch to walk through our investment activities.

我現在會把電話轉給米奇，介紹我們的投資活動。

Thanks, Scott. I'm going to spend a few minutes providing more details on our investment activity, our portfolio performance and our positioning for the first quarter. I will then conclude with an update on our post-quarter end activity, backlog and pipeline.

謝謝，斯科特。我將花幾分鐘提供有關我們的投資活動、投資組合表現和第一季定位的更多詳細資訊。最後，我將介紹我們季度末活動、積壓訂單和管道的最新情況。

In the first quarter, our team originated approximately $3.6 billion of new investment commitments across 61 transactions. We continue to find compelling investments with attractive risk-adjusted returns despite some more competitive market conditions. We are generating double-digit yields with a weighted average LTV on our senior loan commitments at levels below 5x debt to EBITDA. Excluding the $1.6 billion of loans on transactions we originated and distributed as agent, our commitments nearly tripled from the first quarter of 2023.

第一季度，我們的團隊在 61 筆交易中發起了約 36 億美元的新投資承諾。儘管市場競爭更加激烈，但我們仍繼續尋找具有吸引力的風險調整回報的有吸引力的投資。我們的優先貸款承諾的加權平均 LTV 正在產生兩位數的收益率，低於 EBITDA 債務的 5 倍。不包括我們作為代理商發起和分配的 16 億美元交易貸款，我們的承諾比 2023 年第一季幾乎增加了兩倍。

The breadth of our sourcing capabilities allow us to find value in companies with EBITDA from less than $15 million to over $600 million. Our extensive market coverage of companies of all sizes across the market enables us to source transactions in segments where we are seeing less competition or where we believe that we have a strong competitive advantage.

我們廣泛的採購能力使我們能夠找到 EBITDA 價值從低於 1500 萬美元到超過 6 億美元的公司。我們對市場上各種規模公司的廣泛市場覆蓋範圍使我們能夠在競爭較少或我們認為擁有強大競爭優勢的細分市場中尋找交易來源。

Shifting to the portfolio. We ended the first quarter with a $23.1 billion portfolio at fair value, which grew 1% from the prior quarter and 9% from the prior year. The median EBITDA of our portfolio is $79 million, which reflects our presence in both the core middle market and the upper middle market. The weighted average LTM EBITDA growth of our portfolio of 10%, that Kipp mentioned, is also broad-based.

轉向投資組合。第一季結束時，我們的投資組合以公允價值計算為 231 億美元，比上一季成長 1%，比上年成長 9%。我們投資組合的 EBITDA 中位數為 7,900 萬美元，這反映了我們在核心中端市場和中高階市場的地位。 Kipp 提到，我們投資組合的加權平均 LTM EBITDA 成長率為 10%，這也是基礎廣泛的。

Importantly, in our portfolio, the size of a company has not been a driver of performance. Companies in our portfolio with $25 million to $50 million of EBITDA have similar to or even higher growth rates as compared to companies with over $100 million of EBITDA. We believe company and industry selection as well as our underwriting process drive these types of positive results.

重要的是，在我們的投資組合中，公司規模並不是績效的驅動因素。我們投資組合中 EBITDA 為 2,500 萬至 5,000 萬美元的公司與 EBITDA 超過 1 億美元的公司相比，成長率相似甚至更高。我們相信公司和行業的選擇以及我們的核保流程推動了這些類型的正面成果。

In fact, our view is based on a study done by the Ares quantitative research group that found that industry selection could account for approximately 500 basis points of difference in total for senior U.S. loan returns over more than a decade of investing.

事實上，我們的觀點是基於 Ares 定量研究小組所做的一項研究，該研究發現，在十多年的投資中，產業選擇可能導緻美國高級貸款回報總計約 500 個基點的差異。

With respect to our credit performance, our weighted average portfolio grade of 3.1 remained unchanged from the prior quarter's level. Our nonaccruals at cost ended the quarter at 1.7%, up slightly from the prior quarter but lower than the same quarter a year ago. Our current nonaccrual levels remains well below our 2.9% historical average since the great financial crisis and the KBW BDC average of 3.8% for the same period.

就我們的信用表現而言，我們的加權平均投資組合評級為 3.1，與上一季的水平保持不變。本季末，我們以成本計算的非應計費用為 1.7%，比上一季略有上升，但低於去年同期。我們目前的非應計水準仍遠低於金融危機以來 2.9% 的歷史平均水平，以及同期 KBW BDC 3.8% 的平均值。

Our nonaccrual rate at fair value remained consistent with last quarter at 0.6%, which continues to be well below historical levels for our company. Another indicator of stable credit performance is the fact that our portfolio companies with a risk rate of 1 or 2 declined quarter-over-quarter.

我們的公允價值非應計利率與上季保持一致，為 0.6%，繼續遠低於我們公司的歷史水準。信用表現穩定的另一個指標是，風險率為 1 或 2 的投資組合公司逐季下降。

And finally, our portfolio quality is also reinforced by the substantial amount of equity invested in our company, primarily by large and well-established private equity firms. At the end of the first quarter, the weighted average loan-to-value in the portfolio was 43%, which we believe gives us strong downside protection in our loans.

最後，我們公司的大量股權投資（主要是大型且成熟的私募股權公司）也增強了我們的投資組合品質。第一季末，投資組合中的加權平均貸款價值比為 43%，我們相信這為我們的貸款提供了強有力的下行保護。

As the market is starting to see more dispersion results among managers, we believe our outperformance and credit position, including our significant diversification, differentiates us from our competition. Our strong and growing portfolio is well diversified across 510 different companies that span the market. The number of companies in our portfolio has increased 9% over the past year and 48% over the past 5 years, and the average hold size is only 0.2% at fair value.

隨著市場開始看到管理者之間的結果更加分散，我們相信我們的卓越表現和信用狀況，包括我們的顯著多元化，使我們在競爭中脫穎而出。我們強大且不斷成長的投資組合在跨市場的 510 家不同公司中實現了多元化。我們投資組合中的公司數量在過去一年增加了 9%，在過去 5 年增加了 48%，而以公允價值計算，平均持有規模僅為 0.2%。

Excluding our investments in Ivy Hill and the SDLP, which we believe are well diversified on their own, no single investment accounts for more than 2% of the portfolio at fair value. And our top 10 largest investments totaled just 11% of the portfolio at fair value. We believe this degree of diversification further adds to the credit strength of our portfolio as it reduces the impact to the overall portfolio from any single negative credited event at an individual company.

除去我們對 Ivy Hill 和 SDLP 的投資（我們認為它們本身就具有良好的多元化），沒有任何單一投資佔投資組合公允價值的比例超過 2%。以公允價值計算，我們前 10 名最大的投資僅佔投資組合的 11%。我們相信，這種程度的多元化進一步增強了我們投資組合的信用實力，因為它減少了單一公司的任何單一負面信用事件對整體投資組合的影響。

And finally, we have had an active start to the second quarter. From April 1st through April 24, 2024, we made new investment commitments totaling $1.2 billion, of which $1.1 billion were funded. We exited or were repaid on $249 million of investment commitments, which resulted in us earning $1 million of net realized gains.

最後，我們在第二季取得了積極的開局。從2024年4月1日到4月24日，我們做出了總額12億美元的新投資承諾，其中11億美元已到位。我們退出或償還了 2.49 億美元的投資承諾，這使我們獲得了 100 萬美元的已實現淨收益。

As of April 24, our backlog and pipeline stood at roughly $1.3 billion. Our backlog contains investments that are subject to approvals and documentation and may not close or we may sell a portion of these investments post-closing.

截至 4 月 24 日，我們的積壓訂單和待交付訂單金額約為 13 億美元。我們的積壓訂單包含需要獲得批准和文件記錄的投資，可能不會關閉，或者我們可能會在關閉後出售這些投資的一部分。

I will now turn the call back over to Kipp for some closing remarks.

現在我將把電話轉回給基普，讓他發表一些結束語。

Thanks a lot, Mitch. In conclusion, we believe that the company is well positioned to navigate the opportunities ahead of us. At Ares Capital, we've navigated a variety of market environments, credit cycles and interest rate cycles over our 20-year history with a cumulative average return on equity in the double digits.

非常感謝，米奇。總之，我們相信該公司處於有利地位，可以駕馭眼前的機會。在 Ares Capital，我們在 20 年的歷史中經歷了各種市場環境、信貸週期和利率週期，累積平均股本回報率達到兩位數。

In our opinion, this is a very good time to be invested in a high-quality company focused on private credit. Our portfolio is performing well, and we believe that the potential returns on our investment remain compelling by historical standards. While we remain mindful of the potential for increased credit risks delivered with a higher for longer rate environment, we are highly diversified in defensively positioned companies and our companies are demonstrating healthy and differentiated levels of growth.

我們認為，現在是投資專注於私人信貸的優質公司的好時機。我們的投資組合表現良好，我們相信，按照歷史標準，我們的投資潛在回報仍然引人注目。儘管我們仍然關注長期較高利率環境可能帶來的信用風險增加的可能性，但我們在防禦性定位的公司中高度多元化，並且我們的公司正在表現出健康和差異化的成長水平。

Our balance sheet and liquidity position remains strong, which we believe allows us to take advantage of this compelling new investment environment. Overall, we are confident that the factors that have driven our historical outperformance remain firmly in place. And as a result, we remain optimistic about our future prospects.

我們的資產負債表和流動性狀況依然強勁，我們相信這使我們能夠利用這個引人注目的新投資環境。總體而言，我們相信推動我們歷史優異表現的因素仍然存在。因此，我們對未來的前景保持樂觀。

As always, we appreciate you joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you next quarter. With that, operator, we can open the line for questions.

一如既往，我們感謝您今天加入我們。我們期待下個季度與您交談。有了這個，接線員，我們就可以打開提問線路了。

(Operator Instructions) And we'll take our first question today from John Hecht with Jefferies.

（操作員說明）今天我們將回答 John Hecht 和 Jefferies 提出的第一個問題。

Thinking about a lot of activity in the quarter, both on the deployment and repayment side, I'm wondering, Kipp, can you give us kind of an update on the syndicated and liquid of owned markets and how they're influencing activity with you guys and elsewhere in the market?

考慮到本季在部署和還款方面的大量活動，我想知道基普，您能否向我們介紹一下自有市場的聯合和流動性的最新情況，以及它們如何影響您的活動夥計們和市場上的其他地方？

Sure, John. I mean I think it's not a huge driver, frankly, of what we're doing. There's been a lot of press, I'd say, about the bank's returning to the market and perhaps a more risk on way to try to arrange and underwrite to syndicate more traditional leveraged finance transaction. So that certainly picked up.

當然，約翰。坦白說，我認為這並不是我們正在做的事情的巨大推動力。我想說，關於銀行重返市場的報道很多，而且嘗試安排和承銷銀團更傳統的槓桿金融交易可能會面臨更大的風險。所以這肯定有所回升。

I think if you look specifically at our activity, I think it was about 70% of our new deals were coming from the existing portfolio, a little bit slower on the kind of new platform side, which was a little bit surprising for us. But as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we're pretty optimistic that a handful of factors remain in play that should compel pretty good transaction activity this year.

我認為，如果你具體觀察我們的活動，我認為我們大約 70% 的新交易來自現有投資組合，新平台方面的速度有點慢，這對我們來說有點令人驚訝。但正如我在準備好的演講中提到的，我們非常樂觀地認為，一些因素仍然在發揮作用，這應該會推動今年的交易活動相當不錯。

Okay. And then you had obviously a lot of, again, deployment and repayment activity and the capital structuring fees as a percentage that were a little lower, is there anything to read on that side or is that just a function of the mix of originations?

好的。然後，你顯然有很多部署和還款活動，資本結構費用的百分比略低，這方面有什麼值得閱讀的，還是這只是起源組合的函數？

It's more mix than anything, although I will say we've noticed a little bit of pressure on upfront fees on new deals in the market simply because there aren't as many of them. So it's one of the levers that a borrower can pull to a certain degree to try to achieve more attractive financing, but it's more mix than anything else.

它比任何東西都更混合，儘管我會說我們注意到市場上新交易的預付費用有一點壓力，只是因為這樣的交易數量並不多。因此，這是藉款人可以在一定程度上嘗試獲得更具吸引力的融資的槓桿之一，但它比其他任何東西都更混合。

I'd also add there real quick, the numbers are probably a little bit inflated just because we also as an enrolled agent, we did front some deals, so the true origination was probably closer to the $2 billion.

我還要快速補充一下，這些數字可能有點誇大，因為我們也是註冊代理商，我們確實進行了一些交易，所以真正的來源可能接近 20 億美元。

You sort of have to back that number out.

你必須支持這個數字。

Yes, exactly.

對，就是這樣。

So the true -- what was that -- the true origination was what?

那麼，真正的──那是什麼──真正的起源是什麼？

About $2 billion because about $1.5 billion was us as our role of agent fronting for some deals.

大約 20 億美元，因為大約 15 億美元是我們作為某些交易的代理角色。

This happens from time to time. Yes, it happens from time to time just depending on what syndicate composition looks like, who can fund it closing, who can that sort of the technical point, but when you evaluate it, just make sure you look at the math in that light.

這種情況時有發生。是的，這種情況時不時地發生，取決於辛迪加的組成是什麼樣的，誰可以資助它結束，誰可以提出這樣的技術點，但當你評估它時，只要確保你從這個角度看待數學。

Our next question will come from Finian O'Shea with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題將來自富國銀行的 Finian O'Shea。

Can you talk about the environment for second lien if the reduced exposure there is more market related or your portfolio positioning? And if that should continue or if applicable, your ability to replace that with other forms of junior in structured equity, there's a lot of that at the portfolio, but wondering if there are sort of adequate volumes there if second lien meaningfully recedes?

如果減少的風險敞口更多地與市場相關或您的投資組合定位，您能否談談第二留置權的環境？如果這種情況繼續下去，或者如果適用的話，你有能力用其他形式的初級結構性股權來取代它，投資組合中有很多這樣的東西，但想知道如果第二留置權有意義地消退，那裡是否有足夠的數量？

Yes, I'm going to have Kort follow-on a couple of thoughts. On my side, I would say, look, when last year came around and kind of the private credit players that's included, really, were representing new deals in the market. Almost everything that we're doing is getting done as a unitranche regardless of size.

是的，我將請科特跟進一些想法。就我而言，我會說，看，當去年到來時，其中包括的私人信貸參與者實際上代表了市場上的新交易。幾乎我們所做的一切都是作為一個整體完成的，無論規模大小。

And that second lien, which has been a larger part of our investing effort, is just frankly not as prevalent in the market in terms of the mix of new deals. Does that come back if some large deals actually get done as first lien in the syndicated market where we can provide junior capital? Maybe, I guess, we'll wait and see.

坦白說，第二個留置權是我們投資努力的很大一部分，但就新交易的組合而言，它在市場上並不那麼普遍。如果一些大型交易實際上是作為我們可以提供初級資本的銀團市場的第一留置權完成，這種情況還會回來嗎？我想，也許我們拭目以待。

As you know, our second lien investing tends to emphasize much, much larger companies and is very often in line with the syndicated first lien. And that transaction just really hasn't been prevalent in the market, I'd say, for the last, call it, 3, 6, 9 months, and we'll see where we go from here.

如您所知，我們的第二留置權投資往往側重於規模大得多的公司，並且通常與銀團第一留置權一致。這種交易在市場上確實還沒有流行，我想說，最後，稱之為 3、6、9 個月，我們會看看接下來會發生什麼。

The only other thing I'd add, and I'll kick it to Kort if he wants to add on is, we are seeing a lot of really good companies, to your point, about junior capital investing and structured equity and all of that, that are performing well, but simply don't have the amount of cash flow they expected. So you see some senior lenders that are probably saying, "Well, with higher rates, I'm not really deleveraging the way I was hoping to," and frankly, on the other side, the equity is looking for an extension of duration to accomplish what they want to achieve from an IRR perspective.

我唯一要補充的另一件事是，如果科特想補充的話，我會把它踢給科特，就你的觀點而言，我們看到了很多非常好的公司，涉及初級資本投資和結構性股權等等。因此，你會看到一些高級貸款人可能會說，“好吧，隨著利率上升，我並沒有真正按照我希望的方式去槓桿化”，坦率地說，另一方面，股票正在尋求延長期限從IRR 的角度來看，實現他們想要實現的目標。

So there is we think, a pretty interesting opportunistic credit pipeline and funnel to do some of these deleveraging junior capital deals. But hopefully, that answers the question. Kort, if you have anything to add to it.

因此，我們認為，這是一個非常有趣的機會主義信貸管道和漏斗，可以進行一些去槓桿化的初級資本交易。但希望這能回答問題。科特，如果你有什麼要補充的。

No, Kipp, I think you covered it all. Obviously, we're -- the return opportunities in the first lien market are super attractive. So regardless of the fact that there aren't as many second lien opportunities right now, we're not too bothered by that given the other opportunities that the market is showing us. But certainly, more a function of what the market is giving rather than a purposeful change on our part.

不，基普，我想你已經涵蓋了這一切。顯然，我們—第一個留置權市場的回報機會非常有吸引力。因此，儘管目前沒有那麼多第二留置權機會，但考慮到市場向我們展示的其他機會，我們並沒有太擔心。但當然，更多的是市場給予的功能，而不是我們有目的的改變。

Awesome. And I guess a small follow-up, maybe sort of related. We noticed the special opportunities or ASOF Group was moved over to credit, presumably under your domain, Kipp. Is that -- is there any anticipated change there? Like maybe if you can go over your historical collaboration or co-investment with that unit and how might that change going forward?

驚人的。我猜想會有一個小小的後續行動，也許有點相關。我們注意到特殊機會或 ASOF 集團已轉移到信用，大概在您的域下，Kipp。那是——有什麼預期的改變嗎？比方說，如果您可以回顧一下與該部門的歷史合作或共同投資，那麼未來會發生什麼變化？

Yes. I mean it plays into the comment that I made about opportunistic credit. And I guess all I'd say is there's been a lot of collaboration over the years and frankly, because that business was changing, I'd say, a little bit missed opportunity to look more credit facing and less like it should be attached to our private equity efforts. It was just a pretty simple move for us that we made kind of around year-end that became formal here at the end of the first quarter.

是的。我的意思是，它符合我對機會主義信貸的評論。我想我想說的是，多年來我們進行了很多合作，坦率地說，因為業務正在發生變化，我想說，有點錯過了看起來更多面對信用而不是應該附加的機會我們的私募股權投資努力。對我們來說，這只是一個非常簡單的舉措，我們在年底左右採取了這項舉措，並在第一季末正式實施。

Our next question will come from Melissa Wedel with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的 Melissa Wedel。

I noticed that dividend income was substantially higher quarter-over-quarter. As we think about the dividend income stream going forward, should we think about that as being aligned with the direction and change in interest rates and really consider that as much a floating rate piece of the portfolio?

我注意到股息收入較上季大幅增加。當我們考慮未來的股息收入流時，我們是否應該將其視為與利率的方向和變化保持一致，並真正將其視為投資組合的浮動利率部分？

Yes, Melissa thanks for the question. So it's 2 things, right. So Ivy Hill, obviously, represents the lion's share of that dividend income. But I'd say for this quarter, it's higher because we actually took on kind of onetime dividend from one of our equity investments. So that's probably why you see it tick up. I don't think there's a big change there away from maybe that onetime event, but we obviously benefit from having a diversified equity portfolio that can deliver dividends from time to time.

是的，梅麗莎謝謝你的提問。所以這是兩件事，對吧。因此，艾維希爾顯然代表了股息收入的最大份額。但我想說，就本季而言，它更高，因為我們實際上從我們的一項股權投資中獲得了一次性股息。所以這可能是你看到它上漲的原因。我不認為這與一次性事件相比有什麼大的變化，但我們顯然受益於多元化的股票投資組合，可以時不時地派發股息。

Okay. And then I was hoping to follow up on one of the things that Scott touched on. Scott, welcome. I look forward to working with you. The CLO issuance post quarter end. I think you mentioned it's been a while since you've done something like that. I was hoping you could talk about CLO issuance as part of the funding strategy and mix going forward, what role can that play? When will you flex that versus other secured or unsecured?

好的。然後我希望跟進斯科特談到的其中一件事。斯科特，歡迎。我期待與您合作。季度末後 CLO 發行。我想你提到你已經有一段時間沒有做過類似的事情了。我希望您能談談 CLO 發行作為融資策略和未來組合的一部分，它能發揮什麼作用？您什麼時候會相對於其他有擔保或無擔保的方式進行調整？

Yes, sure. So I think one of our main themes for capital raising is diversity and I think it is a pretty compelling opportunity for us. The spreads in that market are very attractive relative to other forms of secured financing. So I think as we're seeing also just as assets have moved into -- from the BSL side to the private credit, the flow of debt capital in the CLO market is also moving that way.

是的，當然。因此，我認為我們融資的主題之一是多樣性，我認為這對我們來說是一個非常有吸引力的機會。相對於其他形式的擔保融資，該市場的利差非常有吸引力。因此，我認為，正如我們所看到的那樣，隨著資產從 BSL 轉移到私人信貸，CLO 市場中的債務資本流動也在朝著這個方向發展。

So it made a lot of sense for us to tap that market, diversify funding sources at a pretty attractive spread. And going forward, I think it's definitely part of our playbook now.

因此，對我們來說，開拓這個市場、以相當有吸引力的利差實現資金來源多元化是很有意義的。展望未來，我認為這現在絕對是我們策略的一部分。

Our next question will come from Casey Alexander with Compass Point.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Compass Point 的 Casey Alexander。

Scott did not mention -- traditionally, you guys mentioned what the spillover income is. But he didn't mention that, I was wondering what that number is, unless I missed it, which could be? But you continue to pile up the spillover income quarter-over-quarter. At what point in time do you sort of reach the limit or do you just consider it to be a cheap form of financing with the excise tax? But when do you sort of reach the limit at which point in time you'd kind of be forced to make some special distributions?

斯科特沒有提到——傳統上，你們提到了溢出收入是什麼。但他沒有提到這一點，我想知道那個數字是多少，除非我錯過了，可能是？但溢出收入持續逐季增加。您在什麼時間點達到了限制，或者您只是認為這是一種廉價的消費稅融資形式？但是什麼時候你會達到極限，在這個時間點你會被迫進行一些特別的發行呢？

Yes. I mean, look, over the history of the company, Casey, I appreciate the question, we've obviously done specials and a whole host of different ways. And I said this as we tend to really want to look at it on an annual basis because it's a tax calculation that we can really true up at the end of the year, and that's typically when we make determinations. But we're in a little bit of a tricky position as you can probably appreciate, because while we have loads of earnings in excess of the regular dividend, the trajectory for rates going forward is reasonably uncertain.

是的。我的意思是，看看公司的歷史，凱西，我很欣賞這個問題，我們顯然已經做了特價菜，並採取了很多不同的方式。我之所以這麼說，是因為我們往往真的想每年查看一次，因為這是我們可以在年底真正實現的稅收計算，而這通常是我們做出決定的時候。但您可能會意識到，我們的處境有點棘手，因為雖然我們的收益超過了定期股息，但未來利率的軌跡相當不確定。

I think if you ask around the table, folks would have very different views. So combining that with the fact that we really aren't in a position, in my opinion, any way where we want to put the company in a place where we would have to reduce its regular dividend, we just feel better materially out earning it today and building the NAV.

我想如果你問一下桌子周圍的人，人們會有非常不同的看法。因此，結合這一事實，在我看來，我們確實無法以任何方式讓公司處於必須減少定期股息的境地，我們只是在物質上感覺更好地賺取股息今天並建立資產淨值。

So hopefully, that answers the question, but it's a little bit tricky in a world where the rate environment changed quickly. We obviously wanted to recognize the much more substantial earnings power of the company when we increased the dividend to the $0.48. But yes, it's something we talk about a lot. When is the right time? Do we get credit for specials? Do we not? All of that very much in the dialogue with the management team and our Board.

希望這能回答這個問題，但在利率環境快速變化的世界裡，這有點棘手。當我們將股息提高到 0.48 美元時，我們顯然希望認識到該公司更強大的盈利能力。但是，是的，這是我們經常談論的事情。什麼時候是適當的時間？我們可以獲得特價優惠嗎？我們不這樣嗎？所有這些都在與管理團隊和董事會的對話中進行。

Our next question will come from Paul Johnson with KBW.

我們的下一個問題將來自 KBW 的 Paul Johnson。

You touched on my question in terms of just kind of pressure on fee income. But is that something that you think you've experienced more on deals that you've refinanced in the market or are you also seeing a little bit of fee compression on new platform deals as well?

您談到了我的問題，即費用收入的壓力。但您是否認為您在市場上再融資的交易中經歷過更多這種情況，或者您是否也在新平台交易中看到了一點費用壓縮？

Yes, it's Kort Schnabel here. I would say it's primarily on existing transactions. New transactions are seeing some fee pressure. But as was mentioned before, the mix shift this quarter, I think we were 72% of our originations were to the incumbent borrowers and that was really the big driver of the numbers that you're seeing there. There is definitely some pressure across all fronts. But as is normally the case, existing portfolio companies don't deliver the same kind of fees as new borrowers do.

是的，我是科特·施納貝爾。我想說這主要是針對現有交易。新交易面臨一些費用壓力。但正如之前提到的，本季的混合變化，我認為我們 72% 的貸款是針對現有借款人的，這確實是您所看到的數字的主要推動力。各方面肯定都存在一些壓力。但與通常情況一樣，現有的投資組合公司不會提供與新借款人相同的費用。

Appreciate that. And one last question I had, just kind of higher level, but I was wondering kind of get your thoughts on a feature -- a loan feature that we've heard more about portability, if that's something that you've offered in any of your loans, if that's something that you come across? But any kind of thoughts on that feature would be nice to hear.

感謝。我的最後一個問題，只是更高級別的問題，但我想知道您對一項功能的想法 - 我們已經聽到更多關於可移植性的貸款功能，如果這是您在任何一個中提供的功能你的貸款，如果你有遇過這種情況嗎？但我們很高興聽到有關該功能的任何想法。

Yes. We've agreed to do it a couple of times. We've put a lot of guardrails obviously, around when that financing can board, i.e., to what counterparty would we be continuing to be involved with, what will be the fees, loan documentation, all sorts of other stuff.

是的。我們已經同意這樣做幾次了。顯然，我們在融資何時可以進行方面設置了很多防護欄，即我們將繼續與哪些交易對手合作，費用、貸款文件以及各種其他內容是多少。

I actually think that's more of a feature, frankly, of last year where the financing environment felt more complicated. So having the value of an incumbent group kind of move over with the new equity check in a sponsor-to-sponsor deal is highly valuable, right, when the financing markets feel uncertain. I wouldn't say that the financing markets feel particularly uncertain today. So my guess is the request for portability assets would go down. But we'll see where we go from here.

坦白說，我實際上認為這更像是去年的一個特點，當時融資環境感覺更加複雜。因此，當融資市場感到不確定時，透過贊助商對贊助商交易中的新股權檢查來轉移現有集團的價值是非常有價值的，對吧。我不會說今天的融資市場感覺特別不確定。所以我的猜測是對可移植性資產的需求將會下降。但我們會看看接下來的發展方向。

Our next question will come from Mark Hughes with Truist.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Truist 的 Mark Hughes。

You've mentioned earlier in the call that your quantitative group determined that industry selection got to 500 basis points or could account for 500 basis points of outperformance. How stable is that over time those industry groups to migrate or is it pretty steady?

您先前在電話會議中提到，您的量化團隊確定產業選擇達到 500 個基點，或可以解釋 500 個基點的優異表現。隨著時間的推移，這些產業群體遷移的穩定性如何，還是相當穩定？

Hughes, this is Mitch, by the way. Yes, our group -- if you look at how they did the analysis, it was over an extended period of time in our portfolio. And if you have been following us for as long as we've been doing this, our industry groups that where we tend to invest has been pretty stable. So they were able to get that analytics through our portfolio over a very extended period of time.

休斯，順便說一句，這是米奇。是的，我們的團隊——如果你看看他們是如何進行分析的，你會發現它是在我們的投資組合中很長一段時間內進行的。如果您一直關注我們，那麼我們傾向於投資的行業群體一直相當穩定。因此，他們能夠在很長一段時間內透過我們的投資組合獲得分析結果。

And is it that the industry groups that you focused on have been reasonably stable and that...

您所關注的行業群體是否相當穩定且...

Yes, if you look at our business services, our health care services, the industries where we have missed really haven't changed a lot. We don't invest in cyclical businesses. We don't invest in low-margin businesses. So they were able to have a significant amount of data with which to make that analysis out of.

是的，如果你看看我們的商業服務、醫療保健服務，我們錯過的行業確實沒有太大變化。我們不投資週期性業務。我們不投資低利潤業務。因此，他們能夠擁有大量數據來進行分析。

Yes. Okay. Appreciate that. And then the exit seemed low for April. Anything to that or just happen to be lower?

是的。好的。感謝。然後四月的退出似乎很低。有什麼關係或只是碰巧更低？

Yes. I don't think there's anything to it. It's just a single month of data, so I wouldn't take too much away.

是的。我不認為這有什麼關係。這只是一個月的數據，所以我不會拿走太多。

Our next question will come from Erik Zwick with Hovde Group.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Hovde Group 的 Erik Zwick。

I wanted to start just maybe a quick follow-up. Kipp you mentioned earlier, there's some uncertainty, I think, as we all know with regard to the future direction of interest rates and just looking at Slide 5, percentage of fixed rate investments in the portfolio is up a little bit year-over-year, not a huge change by any means, but curious if that's reflective at all of either your preference or borrower preference to maybe do floating versus fixed, given their belief in the direction of interest rates or maybe that's more kind of natural migration from quarter-to-quarter?

我想開始快速跟進。您之前提到的基普，我認為存在一些不確定性，正如我們都知道利率的未來方向，只要看看幻燈片 5，投資組合中固定利率投資的百分比同比略有上升無論如何，這都不是一個巨大的變化，但很好奇，這是否反映了你或借款人對浮動利率或固定利率的偏好，考慮到他們對利率方向的信念，或者這可能是從季度開始的更自然的遷移——到季度？

Yes. I don't think there's anything particularly targeted there. I will say when we do some of our junior capital investing, we try to strike the right balance between floating and fixed rate, and frankly, have a mix of both.

是的。我不認為那裡有什麼特別有針對性的東西。我想說，當我們進行一些初級資本投資時，我們試圖在浮動利率和固定利率之間取得適當的平衡，坦白說，將兩者結合起來。

But yes, I think you're right, that one borrower today may say I want fixed because I think we're higher for longer than another borrower may say the exact opposite. So there's nothing particularly intentional there and different situations just lead to different outcomes. I wouldn't take too much away.

但是，是的，我認為你是對的，今天的一個借款人可能會說我想要固定，因為我認為我們的利率比另一位借款人可能說的完全相反的時間更長。所以沒有特別的意圖，不同的情況只會導致不同的結果。我不會拿走太多。

Nothing intentional around the small change quarter-to-quarter, but definitely intentional in terms of having some fixed rate exposure in the portfolio, which I think is a differentiator for us versus others in the market and just gives us more balance to operate through all different kinds of environments. Some of that fixed rate, as Kipp mentioned, the junior capital tying back to his comment about some of the opportunistic situations we're seeing for delevering balance sheets right now given the higher rates, a lot of those are also fixed rate opportunities. So that's probably driving a little bit of that pickup that you're seeing.

季度與季度之間的小變化並不是有意為之，但在投資組合中擁有一些固定利率敞口方面絕對是有意為之，我認為這是我們與市場上其他人的區別所在，並且只是讓我們在整個營運過程中更加平衡不同類型的環境。正如基普所提到的，其中一些固定利率，初級資本與他的評論有關，鑑於利率較高，我們現在看到了一些去槓桿化資產負債表的機會主義情況，其中許多也是固定利率機會。所以這可能是你所看到的皮卡的一部分。

I appreciate the color there. And just a bit of a follow-up as well on kind of your funding strategy today, you noticed -- or mentioned how active you've been then the first part of the year on the unsecured debt market, the spreads have been very attractive and tight for you.

我很欣賞那裡的顏色。今天對您的融資策略進行了一些後續行動，您注意到 - 或提到您今年上半年在無擔保債務市場上的活躍程度，利差非常有吸引力對你來說很緊。

So you're up to about, I guess, 78% of unsecured debt to total debt at this point. And I wonder if you could just kind of refresh on your bigger picture view of over time, what your preferred mix is? And it sounds like, as you noted as well, CLOs have kind of reentered the picture as well. So just curious of your overall kind of bigger picture thoughts there.

所以我猜，此時無擔保債務佔總債務的比例約為 78%。我想知道你是否可以隨著時間的推移刷新一下你的大局觀，你最喜歡的組合是什麼？正如您也指出的那樣，CLO 似乎也重新進入了這個領域。所以只是好奇你的整體大局想法。

Yes. Look, I think we're always -- our investment-grade rating is very important to us and maintaining that and definitely a big component of that is making sure we're majority unsecured. So I think we're probably a little heavier unsecured at the moment than we would normally, but I think we're happy at the levels we're at now.

是的。聽著，我認為我們始終——我們的投資等級對我們來說非常重要，維持這一評級絕對是確保我們大部分無擔保的重要組成部分。所以我認為我們目前可能比平常更沒有保障，但我認為我們對現在的水平感到滿意。

And I think like doing the CLO and other forms of secured financing are also part of our -- like I mentioned, part of our playbook. So we'll continue to probably do everything.

我認為，像 CLO 和其他形式的擔保融資一樣，也是我們的一部分——就像我提到的，我們劇本的一部分。所以我們可能會繼續做一切事情。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question will come from Robert Dodd with Raymond James.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將由羅伯特·多德和雷蒙德·詹姆斯提出。

Last quarter, you gave us an update on the AA side of the portfolio, there were some liquidity questions. Obviously, I mean, noncore is not really low, there is only 1 new 1 this quarter. If I look at the revolver and delayed raw utilization, they go up a couple of hundred basis points this quarter, but not a lot.

上個季度，您向我們介紹了投資組合 AA 方面的最新情況，其中存在一些流動性問題。顯然，我的意思是，非核心並不低，本季只有 1 個新的 1。如果我看看左輪手槍和延遲的原始利用率，本季度它們上升了幾百個基點，但幅度不大。

So can you give us any more color on what the liquidity pressures are in the tail end to the portfolio? And do you think if rates do stay higher for longer into 2025, is there a point in which there's liquidity pressures really become tough on that?

那麼您能給我們更多關於投資組合尾部的流動性壓力的資訊嗎？您是否認為，如果利率確實在 2025 年之前保持在較高水平，流動性壓力是否會在某個時刻真正變得嚴峻？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Robert. I mean we saw a modest, but I wouldn't say a material uptick in just revolver drawdown. That probably does obviously tell us that there's likely companies that obviously have less liquidity than they might like, and I mentioned this a bit earlier in the call. It's kind of a unique period, at least in my opinion, having done this a long time because you have a lot of pretty strong company performance.

是的。謝謝你的提問，羅伯特。我的意思是，我們看到了適度的增長，但我不會說左輪手槍的縮減有實質的上升。這可能確實告訴我們，有些公司的流動性顯然比他們希望的要少，我在電話會議的早些時候提到過這一點。這是一個獨特的時期，至少在我看來，已經這樣做了很長時間，因為你有很多相當強勁的公司業績。

And even with that strong company performance, you have capital structures that got set up that may be can't live through 5% base rates for a long period of time. And that's why you're seeing more equity and more structured equity come in to deleverage a lot of these situations with potential for rates to remain higher for longer, which frankly, is kind of our baseline expectation around here.

即使公司業績強勁，你所建立的資本結構可能無法長期承受 5% 的基本利率。這就是為什麼你會看到更多的股權和更具結構性的股權來去槓桿化許多此類情況，這些情況有可能使利率在更長時間內保持在較高水平，坦率地說，這是我們的基本預期。

So we're managing the portfolio and thinking about risk as if we have higher base rates for longer. But again, none of our metrics have really shifted materially, right? Our nonaccruals are up a touch but materially below historical averages. And again, when you look at what we consider to be our underperformers and watchlist, the 1s and the 2s, it's pretty consistent in terms of the percentage of the portfolio.

因此，我們正在管理投資組合併考慮風險，就好像我們在更長時間內保持較高的基本利率一樣。但同樣，我們的指標都沒有真正發生重大變化，對嗎？我們的非應計費用略有上升，但遠低於歷史平均。再說一遍，當您查看我們認為表現不佳的股票和觀察名單（1 級和 2 級）時，您會發現它們在投資組合中所佔的百分比非常一致。

So all in all, as a big macro overlay to thinking about the portfolio as a whole, we definitely take that into consideration and that's how we think about managing the assets today, but it's not a particular concern.

總而言之，作為考慮整個投資組合的宏觀宏觀疊加，我們肯定會考慮到這一點，這就是我們今天管理資產的方式，但這並不是一個特別值得關注的問題。

Got it. And one more, if I can. Obviously, on peak and I don't necessarily have a huge problem with peak, but peak collections for the last couple of quarters have been quite low. Obviously, I think cash peak collections voluntary by the borrower rather than repayment. I mean is there any trends there?

知道了。如果可以的話，再來一張。顯然，在高峰期，我不一定對高峰期有很大的問題，但過去幾季的高峰期收集量相當低。顯然，我認為現金高峰收款是藉款人自願的，而不是還款。我的意思是有什麼趨勢嗎？

I mean it's volatile quarter-to-quarter anyway, but anything you're seeing from borrowers who might have in the past don't want to pay their peak in cash and are electing to just hold the cash now instead?

我的意思是，無論如何，它每個季度都會波動，但是您從過去可能不想支付最高現金額並選擇現在只持有現金的借款人那裡看到了什麼？

I don't think there's any significant trend. I just looked at Scott and he whispered a word, it's episodic, which I think it just comes quarter to quarter, and it's not all that easy to predict. I wouldn't take any big picture trend away from some of that data.

我認為沒有任何明顯的趨勢。我只是看著斯科特，他低聲說了一句話，這是偶發性的，我認為它只是每季都會發生，而且並不是那麼容易預測。我不會從其中一些數據中得出任何大趨勢。

Robert, it's Mitch, I think you have to look at when M&A picks up, a lot of our preferred where we like to invest down the balance sheet where we see real value is based on exits, right? And when M&A picks up, you'll see a lot of that preferred come through when M&A is slow, you'll see that just continue to stay out there, which we're happy to because the companies are performing.

羅伯特，我是米奇，我想你必須看看併購何時開始，我們很多人都喜歡在資產負債表上進行投資，我們認為真正的價值是基於退出，對吧？當併購加速時，你會看到很多優先股在併購緩慢時出現，你會發現它們只是繼續留在那兒，我們很高興這樣做，因為這些公司正在表現。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Kipp DeVeer for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回 Kipp DeVeer 先生做總結發言。

I'll just thank everybody for their participation today and look forward to speaking to you all next quarter.

我將感謝大家今天的參與，並期待下個季度與大家交談。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes our conference call for today. If you missed any part of today's call, an archived replay of the call will be available approximately 1 hour after the end of the call through May 30 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to domestic callers by dialing 1-800-839-5635 and to international callers by dialing 1-402-220-2561. An archived replay will also be available on a webcast link located on the homepage of the Investor Resources section of Ares Capital's website.

謝謝你們，女士們、先生們。我們今天的電話會議到此結束。如果您錯過了今天通話的任何部分，則可在通話結束後約 1 小時至 5 月 30 日下午 5:00 之間查看通話的存檔重播。東部時間 國內撥打電話請撥 1-800-839-5635，國際電話撥打 1-402-220-2561。存檔重播也可透過位於 Ares Capital 網站投資者資源部分主頁上的網路廣播連結取得。