Ares Capital Corp (ARCC) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to Ares Capital Corporation's fourth quarter and year-ended December 31, 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. I will now turn the call over to Mr. John Stilmar, Partner of Ares Public Markets Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

下午好，歡迎參加 Ares Capital Corporation 第四季和截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的年度財報電話會議。(操作員指示) 提醒一下，本次會議將於 2025 年 2 月 5 日星期三錄製。現在，我將電話轉交給 Ares Public Markets 投資者關係合夥人 John Stilmar 先生。請繼續。

Great. Thank you very much. Let me start with some important reminders.

偉大的。非常感謝。首先，我要說一些重要的提醒。

Comments made during the course of this conference call and webcast and 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. 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.

本次電話會議和網路廣播過程中所發表的評論以及隨附文件包含前瞻性陳述，並受風險和不確定性的影響。本公司的實際結果可能因任何原因（包括本公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中列出的原因）與此類前瞻性陳述中表達的結果有重大差異。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。

During this call, the company may discuss certain non-GAAP measures as defined by SEC Regulation G, such as core earnings per share or core EPS. The company believes that core EPS provides useful information to investors regarding the financial information because it's one method the company uses to measure its financial results and conditions.

在本次電話會議中，本公司可能會討論美國證券交易委員會 G 條例定義的某些非公認會計準則指標，例如核心每股盈餘或核心每股盈餘。該公司認為核心每股收益為投資者提供了有關財務信息的有用信息，因為這是公司衡量其財務業績和狀況的方法之一。

A reconciliation of GAAP net income per share, 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.

在本次電話會議的附帶幻燈片簡報中可以找到 GAAP 每股淨收益的對帳表，這是與核心每股收益最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標。此外，這些措施的對帳表也可在我們今天上午向美國證券交易委員會提交的 8-K 表格收益報告中找到。

Certain information discussed in this conference call and the accompanying slide presentation, including information related to portfolio companies, was 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.

本次電話會議和隨附的幻燈片簡報中討論的某些資訊（包括與投資組合公司相關的資訊）來自第三方來源，尚未經過獨立核實。因此，該公司不對此資訊做出任何陳述或保證。

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

該公司截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的第四季度和年度收益報告可在公司網站 www.arescapitalcorp.com 上找到，方法是點擊「投資者資源」部分主頁上的第四季度收益報告。Ares Capital Corporation 的獲利報告和 10-K 表格也可在該公司的網站上查閱。

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

現在我將電話轉給 Ares Capital Corporation 的執行長 Kipp DeVeer 先生。基普？

Thanks so much, John. Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining our earnings call today. I'm joined by Kort Schnabel, our newly announced CEO; Jim Miller, our Co-President; Jana Markowicz, our Chief Operating Officer; and Scott Lem, our Chief Financial Officer; as well as other members of the management team who will also be available during our Q&A session.

非常感謝，約翰。大家好，感謝您參加我們今天的財報電話會議。和我一起的還有我們新任執行長 Kort Schnabel；我們的聯合總裁 Jim Miller； Jana Markowicz，我們的營運長；以及我們的財務長 Scott Lem；以及管理團隊的其他成員，他們也將出席我們的問答環節。

Before the team discusses our fourth quarter and full year results, I want to discuss the leadership changes that were announced this morning. As you may have seen from our press release this morning, Kort Schnabel has been named as our new Chief Executive Officer effective April 30.

在團隊討論我們的第四季和全年業績之前，我想討論一下今天早上宣布的領導層變動。正如您可能從我們今天早上的新聞稿中看到的，Kort Schnabel 已被任命為我們的新首席執行官，自 4 月 30 日起生效。

Kort, who joined Ares in 2001, is a widely respected and tenured executive at Ares with extensive leadership and private credit experience. As a founding member of Ares' US Direct Lending strategy back in 2004, Kort has been instrumental to the success and growth of the US direct lending platform which has driven the successful long-term track record at Ares Capital.

科特於 2001 年加入 Ares，是 Ares 廣受尊敬的長期高階主管，擁有豐富的領導能力和私人信貸經驗。作為 2004 年 Ares 美國直接借貸策略的創始成員，Kort 對美國直接借貸平台的成功和發展發揮了重要作用，推動了 Ares Capital 的長期成功業績。

Elevating Kort to CEO is a natural progression, given his many past contributions and our confidence in his future leadership. In connection with this appointment and considering my new responsibilities at Ares Management, which were announced this morning, I will be stepping down as the CEO of Ares Capital Corporation at the end of April. I will, however, remain actively involved with the company, both as a member of the ARCC Board of Directors and the Ares US Direct Lending Investment Committee.

鑑於科特過去的諸多貢獻以及我們對他未來領導能力的信心，將他提升為執行長是自然而然的進展。鑑於此項任命並考慮到我今天上午宣布的在 Ares Management 的新職責，我將於 4 月底辭去 Ares Capital Corporation 首席執行官一職。不過，我將繼續積極參與公司事務，擔任 ARCC 董事會成員和 Ares US Direct Lending 投資委員會成員。

Jim Miller, who currently serves as a Co-President of Ares Capital, alongside Mr. Schnabel, will continue as the sole president of the company. These changes reflect the natural evolution in the leadership at Ares, and we're very fortunate to have such a deep and committed team.

Jim Miller 目前與 Schnabel 先生一起擔任 Ares Capital 聯席總裁，並將繼續擔任該公司的唯一總裁。這些變化反映了 Ares 領導層的自然演變，我們非常幸運擁有如此深厚和忠誠的團隊。

Over the past decade, as CEO, it's been a great privilege working day-to-day with the entire team that has driven all of the success of ARCC. During this roughly 10-year period, the company has paid over 40 quarters of steady or increasing dividends, increased book value per share by over 20% and generated $500 million of realized gains in excess of realized losses.

在過去的十年裡，作為首席執行官，我很榮幸能夠與推動 ARCC 成功的整個團隊每天一起工作。在這大約 10 年的時間裡，該公司已連續 40 個季度支付穩定或增加的股息，每股帳面價值增加了 20% 以上，並產生了超過已實現損失的 5 億美元的已實現收益。

This investing success has led to a stock-based total return for our investors of nearly 14% per annum, outperforming the S&P 500, the S&P 500 Financials Index and the KBW Bank Index over that period. And when compared to other yield-oriented investments available to shareholders, we've generated more than 300 basis points per annum of outperformance when compared to the ETFs for utility and REIT stocks and for mortgage REITs.

這項投資成功為我們的投資者帶來了每年近 14% 的股票總回報率，超過了同期標準普爾 500 指數、標準普爾 500 金融指數和 KBW 銀行指數。與股東可用的其他收益導向投資相比，我們比公用事業和房地產投資信託基金股票以及抵押貸款房地產投資信託基金的 ETF 每年產生超過 300 個基點的優異表現。

I'm confident that Kort and the broader Ares Capital leadership team, which averages 20 years of experience at the company will continue to execute strongly for our shareholders. I can't think of a better, more capable leader for the next chapter. And before turning the call over to Kort for some additional comments on our company's successful 2024, I do want to acknowledge the tragic impact that we've witnessed from the wildfires that have spread across the Los Angeles area.

我相信，科特和 Ares Capital 領導團隊（平均在公司擁有 20 年的經驗）將繼續為我們的股東提供強有力的服務。我想不出還有誰能比他更優秀、更有能力領導下一篇章。在將電話轉給科特，請他對我們公司 2024 年的成功發表一些補充評論之前，我想承認我們目睹了席捲洛杉磯地區的野火造成的悲慘影響。

This tragedy has unfortunately impacted the lives of many of our clients and colleagues, and our thoughts are with them and their loved ones during this challenging time. Ares is working diligently to support them and the entire area in their recovery.

不幸的是，這場悲劇影響了我們許多客戶和同事的生活，在這個充滿挑戰的時刻，我們的心與他們以及他們的親人同在。阿瑞斯正在努力幫助他們和整個地區的復原。

Let me now turn the call over to Kort.

現在讓我把電話轉給科特。

Thank you, Kipp, and I certainly look forward to continuing to work with you, our executive team, and the other members of the ARCC Board in the years to come. So let me start by providing a few thoughts on current market conditions, ARCC's performance, and our outlook heading into 2025.

謝謝你，基普，我非常期待在未來的幾年裡繼續與你、我們的執行團隊以及 ARCC 董事會的其他成員合作。因此，我首先就當前的市場狀況、ARCC 的表現以及我們對 2025 年的展望談談一些看法。

As our earnings release outlines, our fourth quarter results concluded another strong year for ARCC with continued healthy credit performance and our underlying portfolio companies and a well-positioned balance sheet. We are positioned with significant available capital that should benefit us as we look for an increase in activity in 2025.

正如我們的收益報告所述，我們的第四季度業績為 ARCC 又一個強勁的一年畫上了句號，我們的信貸表現持續良好，我們的底層投資組合公司以及資產負債表狀況良好。我們擁有大量可用資本，這將使我們受益，因為我們期待 2025 年活動增加。

We also ended 2024 with record NAV per share of $19.89. The growth in NAV per share in the fourth quarter was the eighth consecutive quarter of NAV growth, which continued our long-term trend of ARCC delivering among the strongest total returns as measured by dividends plus NAV per share growth as compared to our BDC peers.

2024 年底，我們的每股資產淨值也達到了創紀錄的 19.89 美元。第四季度每股淨資產值的成長是我們淨資產值連續第八個季度增長，這延續了我們長期以來的趨勢，即與我們的 BDC 同行相比，ARCC 以股息和每股淨資產值增長來衡量，實現了最強勁的總回報。

In addition to our positive NAV performance, 2024 was another year where our strong results were supported by the benefits of our well-established platform, industry-leading scale, deep incumbent positions, and differentiated strategy covering the broader middle market.

除了我們積極的資產淨值表現外，2024 年也是我們強勁業績的一年，這得益於我們完善的平台、行業領先的規模、深厚的現有地位以及覆蓋更廣泛中端市場的差異化策略。

Despite a historically subdued M&A environment in 2024 and counter to many others in the direct lending market, we achieved one of the most active origination years in our company's history. We continue to see the total return opportunity in today's market as highly attractive with significant equity cushions supporting our debt investments and a healthy total yield premium to the liquid loan market.

儘管 2024 年的併購環境歷史上較為低迷，並且與直接貸款市場中的許多其他環境相反，我們仍實現了公司歷史上最活躍的發起年份之一。我們繼續認為，當今市場的總回報機會極具吸引力，有大量的股本緩衝支撐著我們的債務投資，總收益高於流動貸款市場。

During 2024, we reviewed a record volume of new opportunities totaling more than $650 billion, and the number of potential investments we evaluated during the year grew each quarter on a year-over-year basis.

2024 年，我們審查了創紀錄數量的新機遇，總額超過 6500 億美元，並且我們在年內評估的潛在投資數量每個季度都同比增長。

Given the strength of our pipeline, we were also able to generate a record level of new commitments, net of repayments, which totaled $5 billion for the year. As many of you know, our philosophy has been to out-originate our competition, which we believe is a key driver of long-term credit performance. While ARCC had a record year in both the estimated dollar value of transactions we reviewed and in ARCC's net new originations, we still remain highly disciplined in terms of credit selection.

鑑於我們強大的融資管道，我們還能夠產生創紀錄的新承諾（扣除還款），全年總額達到 50 億美元。大家可能都知道，我們的理念就是超越競爭對手，我們相信這是長期信用表現的關鍵驅動力。儘管 ARCC 在我們審查的交易估計美元價值和 ARCC 的淨新發起額方面都創下了歷史新高，但我們在信貸選擇方面仍然保持高度自律。

Our overall selectivity rate remained in the mid-single digits for 2024, consistent with our long-term average since our inception more than 20 years ago. A key driver of originations during 2024 has been our growing wallet share with incumbent borrowers.

到 2024 年，我們的整體選擇率仍將保持在中等個位數，與我們 20 多年前成立以來的長期平均值一致。2024 年貸款發放的一個關鍵驅動因素是我們在現有借款人中的錢包份額不斷增長。

As we have discussed in the past, we believe financing incumbent borrowers can provide attractive risk-adjusted returns as our tenure with these borrowers gives us many advantages when making incremental investment decisions.

正如我們過去所討論過的，我們相信為現有借款人提供融資可以提供有吸引力的風險調整回報，因為我們與這些借款人的合作關係為我們在進行增量投資決策時提供了許多優勢。

In 2024, over 70% of our new commitments were to existing borrowers, and importantly, we are increasingly being asked to provide a larger portion of our borrowers' overall capital structures. As an illustration, our share of the overall financings for our top 10 largest incumbent borrowers more than doubled in each of the past 3 quarters.

2024 年，我們 70% 以上的新承諾都是針對現有借款人的，而且重要的是，我們越來越多地被要求提供借款人整體資本結構中更大比例的資金。舉例來說，在過去三個季度中，我們對十大現有借款人的整體融資份額每季都增加了一倍以上。

In addition to these sourcing advantages, our focus on noncyclical high free cash flow businesses continues to drive strong credit results. As Jim will discuss later, we continue to believe our diversification and industry selection have contributed to ARCC's strong credit performance in comparison with other BDCs. Through our time-tested underwriting processes, highly selective approach and focus on incumbent borrowers, we have been able to avoid many of the problems that have driven recent increases in nonaccruals in the BDC space.

除了這些採購優勢之外，我們對非週期性高自由現金流業務的關注繼續推動強勁的信貸業績。正如 Jim 稍後將要討論的那樣，我們仍然相信，與其他 BDC 相比，我們的多元化和行業選擇促成了 ARCC 的強勁信用表現。透過我們久經考驗的核保流程、高度選擇性的方法以及對現有借款人的關注，我們已經能夠避免導致近期 BDC 領域不計息業務增加的許多問題。

Our nonaccrual rates continue to be below our own and peer group historical averages, and the underlying growth in our portfolio companies continues to be strong. Specifically, the organic weighted average LTM EBITDA growth rate of our portfolio companies reached 11% in the fourth quarter, which increased from 10% the prior quarter and 9% at year-end 2023. In comparison, the average LTM EBITDA growth of the leveraged loan market in 3Q 2024 reached a 3.5-year low, less than 1%.

我們的不計息率持續低於我們自己和同行的歷史平均水平，而且我們投資組合公司的潛在成長持續強勁。具體而言，我們投資組合公司的有機加權平均 LTM EBITDA 成長率在第四季達到 11%，高於上一季的 10% 和 2023 年底的 9%。相較之下，2024 年第 3 季槓桿貸款市場的平均 LTM EBITDA 成長率達到 3.5 年來的最低水平，不到 1%。

Although our portfolio is performing very well, we are carefully monitoring for potential impacts from changes in new government policies. Given what we have seen from the early actions of the new administration, we don't currently expect any material direct impact to our portfolio for new government policies. But this new regime will be worth watching in terms of policy changes, and we will be sure to be thoughtful and vigilant about any material changes to the landscape for direct lending.

儘管我們的投資組合表現良好，但我們正在密切關注新政府政策變化的潛在影響。鑑於新政府早期行動的情況，我們目前預計新政府政策不會對我們的投資組合產生任何重大直接影響。但這項新制度在政策變革方面值得關注，我們一定會對直接貸款格局的任何重大變化保持深思熟慮和警惕。

We've also had a very successful year executing on our balance sheet initiatives. As Scott will describe in more detail, our competitive advantages and our long-term track record helped us secure ratings upgrades from 2 of the major credit rating agencies throughout the year, making ARCC the highest-rated BDC amongst the 3 major rating agencies. We have further added to our deep sources of liquidity and are levered at just below 1x net debt to equity, providing significant flexibility to support our ability to invest.

我們在執行資產負債表計劃方面也取得了非常成功。正如斯科特將更詳細地描述的，我們的競爭優勢和長期的業績記錄幫助我們在全年獲得了兩家主要信用評級機構的評級升級，使 ARCC 成為三大評級機構中評級最高的 BDC。我們進一步增加了深厚的流動資金來源，並將淨債務與股權的比率控制在略低於 1 倍的水平，從而提供了極大的靈活性來支持我們的投資能力。

Looking ahead, we expect a healthy economy, combined with increasing pressure on private equity sponsors to seek liquidity and a growing confidence from executives to support an accelerating M&A environment in 2025. It stands to reason that with the increasing importance of direct lending in the market, which continues to finance the majority of LBOs, overall direct lending volumes will follow suit.

展望未來，我們預期經濟將保持健康，私募股權發起人尋求流動性的壓力將越來越大，而高階主管的信心也將不斷增強，以支持 2025 年加速發展的併購環境。可以預見，隨著直接貸款在市場上的重要性日益提升，並將繼續為大多數槓桿收購提供資金，整體直接貸款量也將隨之增加。

While our market remains competitive, we believe our position as the largest publicly traded BDC managed by the largest global direct lending platform provides meaningful advantages in sourcing, underwriting, and risk management.

雖然我們的市場仍然具有競爭力，但我們相信，作為全球最大的直接借貸平台管理的最大的上市 BDC，我們的地位在採購、承保和風險管理方面具有顯著優勢。

I'm very proud of what our team accomplished in 2024 and believe we are well positioned for a successful 2025 and beyond. I will now turn the call over to Scott to take us through more details on our financial results and balance sheet.

我為我們團隊在 2024 年所取得的成就感到非常自豪，並相信我們已為 2025 年及以後的成功做好準備。現在我將把電話轉給史考特，讓他向我們詳細介紹我們的財務表現和資產負債表。

Thanks, Kort. This morning, we reported GAAP net income per share of $0.55 for the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to $0.62 in the prior quarter and $0.72 in the fourth quarter of 2023. For the year, we reported GAAP net income per share of $2.44 compared to $2.75 for 2023.

謝謝，科特。今天上午，我們報告了 2024 年第四季的 GAAP 每股淨利潤為 0.55 美元，而上一季為 0.62 美元，2023 年第四季為 0.72 美元。我們報告的本年度每股 GAAP 淨收入為 2.44 美元，而 2023 年為 2.75 美元。

We also reported core earnings per share of $0.55 for the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to $0.58 in the prior quarter and $0.63 in the fourth quarter of 2023. Our decline in core earnings was largely driven by the impact of the decline in yields from the portfolio as base rates at the end of the year were nearly 100 basis points lower than where they were at the end of 2023.

我們還報告稱，2024 年第四季每股核心收益為 0.55 美元，而上一季為 0.58 美元，2023 年第四季為 0.63 美元。我們的核心收益下降主要是受到投資組合殖利率下降的影響，因為年底的基準利率比 2023 年底的水平低了近 100 個基點。

As you may recall from our last earnings call, there is typically up to a 1-quarter lag between the full quarter impact to interest income from these changes in period-end yields that we report for the most recent quarter. Simply put, the impact from the changes in portfolio yields during the third quarter were the primary driver of the sequential change in our core earnings for the fourth quarter.

您可能還記得，我們​​上次的收益電話會議中提到，我們報告的最近一個季度的期末收益率變化對整個季度的利息收入的影響通常最多會滯後 1 個季度。簡而言之，第三季投資組合報酬率變化的影響是我們第四季核心獲利環比變化的主要驅動因素。

While the market sentiment on future interest rates has generally changed to a higher for longer sentiment since the end of the third quarter, market base rates did decline approximately 30 to 50 basis points, depending on whether you're comparing the change in 1-month or 3-month SOFR during the fourth quarter.

雖然自第三季末以來，市場對未來利率的情緒總體上已轉變為長期利率走高，但市場基準利率確實下降了約 30 至 50 個基點，具體取決於您比較的是第四季度 1 個月還是 3 個月 SOFR 的變化。

As such, the change in our fourth quarter portfolio yields were impacted by this change in market rates and, to a lesser extent, a higher mix of first lien loans in the portfolio in the fourth quarter as compared to the third. While our portfolio will be impacted by the full quarter impact of the most recent base rate declines, we also stand to benefit from these same rate declines in our interest expense as it relates to our floating rate debt obligations.

因此，我們第四季度投資組合收益率的變化受到了市場利率變化的影響，並且與第三季度相比，第四季度投資組合中第一留置權貸款的比例更高（但程度較輕）。雖然我們的投資組合將受到最近基準利率下降的整個季度的影響，但與我們的浮動利率債務相關的利息支出也將從同樣的利率下降中受益。

Turning to the balance sheet. Our total portfolio at fair value at the end of the quarter was $26.7 billion, up from $25.9 billion at the end of the third quarter and up from $22.9 billion a year ago. The weighted average yield on our debt and other income-producing securities at amortized cost was 11.1% at December 31, which was down from 11.7% at September 30, and 12.5% at the end of 2023. Our total weighted average yield on total investments at amortized cost was 10%, which compares to 10.7% a quarter ago and 11.3% a year ago.

轉向資產負債表。我們本季末的總投資組合以公允價值計算為 267 億美元，高於第三季末的 259 億美元，也高於一年前 229 億美元。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的債務和其他創收證券的攤銷成本加權平均收益率為 11.1%，低於 9 月 30 日的 11.7% 和 2023 年底的 12.5%。我們以攤銷成本計算的總投資總加權平均收益率為 10%，而上一季為 10.7%，去年同期為 11.3%。

Our stockholders' equity ended the quarter at $13.4 billion or $19.89 per share, another record high for us, as Kort noted earlier in the call. Before we give you an update on our capitalization and liquidity, let me start by highlighting the notable accomplishments related to our credit ratings during the year.

正如科特早些時候在電話會議中指出的那樣，本季末我們的股東權益為 134 億美元，即每股 19.89 美元，這再創歷史新高。在我們向您介紹我們的資本化和流動性的最新情況之前，我首先要強調一下我們今年在信用評級方面取得的顯著成就。

At the end of November, S&P upgraded the issuer of credit and senior unsecured ratings for Ares Capital to BBB from BBB-. If you recall, this is on the heels of Moody's recently upgrading the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings for Ares Capital to Baa2 from Baa3 at the end of September.

11月底，標準普爾將Ares Capital的信用及高級無抵押發行人評等從BBB-上調至BBB。如果你還記得的話，這是在 9 月底穆迪剛剛將 Ares Capital 的長期發行人和高級無擔保評級從 Baa3 上調至 Baa2 之後做出的。

Along with the existing BBB rating and a positive outlook from Fitch, this clearly differentiates Ares Capital as the highest credit rated BDC, which we believe will allow us to continue enjoying best-in-class funding costs and potentially increase debt capacity over time.

加上現有的 BBB 評級和惠譽的正面展望，這顯然使 Ares Capital 成為信用評級最高的 BDC，我們相信這將使我們能夠繼續享受一流的融資成本，並可能隨著時間的推移提高債務能力。

Let me update you on our recent debt capital activity since our last call. For the first time as a firm mid-BBB issuer, we opened the new year with a $1 billion unsecured note issuance that matures in March 2032 and priced at a spread to treasuries of 150 basis points for an all-in coupon of 5.8%. We did swap the newest issuance to SOFR plus 170 basis points, which is well inside of the weighted average spread on our floating rate debt of 197 basis points as of December 31.

讓我向您通報我們自上次電話會議以來最近的債務資本活動。作為一家實力雄厚的中等 BBB 級發行人，我們首次在新年伊始發行了 10 億美元無擔保票據，該票據將於 2032 年 3 月到期，與國債的利差為 150 個基點，全票面利率為 5.8%。我們確實將最新發行的債券換成了SOFR加170個基點，遠低於我們截至12月31日的浮動利率債務的加權平均利差197個基點。

Overall, we were certainly pleased to capitalize on some very favorable issuer dynamics with a longer tenor issuance at an issuance spread that was tied for our lowest (inaudible) spread in our history of tenor. Our overall liquidity position remains strong with nearly $6.7 billion of total available liquidity, including available cash on a pro forma basis for our recent unsecured notes issuance. This positions us well ahead of the upcoming $600 million in notes maturing in March and the $1.25 billion of notes maturing in July.

整體而言，我們非常高興能夠利用一些非常有利的發行人動態，以較長的期限發行，發行價差與我們期限歷史上最低的（聽不清楚）價差持平。我們的整體流動性狀況依然強勁，總可用流動性接近 67 億美元，包括我們最近發行的無擔保票據的備考現金。這使我們遠遠領先即將於 3 月到期的 6 億美元票據和即將於 7 月到期的 12.5 億美元票據。

In terms of our leverage, we ended the fourth quarter with debt-to-equity ratio, net of available cash, of 0.99x, down from the 1.03x a quarter ago. We believe our significant amount of dry powder positions us well to continue supporting our existing portfolio company commitments as well as new investing activities.

就我們的槓桿率而言，第四季末我們的負債權益比率（扣除可用現金）為 0.99 倍，低於上一季的 1.03 倍。我們相信，我們大量的資金可以讓我們更好地繼續支持我們現有的投資組合公司承諾以及新的投資活動。

Moving on to our dividend. We declared a first quarter 2025 dividend of $0.48 per share. ARCC has been paying stable or increasing regular quarterly dividends for over 15 consecutive years. This dividend is payable on March 31, 2025, to stockholders of record on March 14 and is consistent with our fourth quarter 2024 dividend. In terms of our taxable income spillover, we currently estimate we will have $922 million or $1.37 per share available for distribution to stockholders in 2025.

繼續討論我們的紅利。我們宣布 2025 年第一季的股息為每股 0.48 美元。ARCC 已連續 15 年支付穩定或增加的定期季度股利。該股將於 2025 年 3 月 31 日支付給 3 月 14 日登記在冊的股東，與我們 2024 年第四季的股利一致。就我們的應稅收入溢出而言，我們目前估計，2025 年我們將有 9.22 億美元或每股 1.37 美元可供分配給股東。

In addition to our fourth quarter earnings being well in excess of our current dividend, we believe the taxable income spillover is a significant differentiator for us in the BDC sector and helps provide further visibility and stability to our dividend.

除了我們第四季度的收益遠遠超過我們目前的股息之外，我們認為應稅收入溢出是我們在 BDC 領域的一個重要差異化因素，有助於進一步提高我們股息的可見度和穩定性。

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

現在我將把電話轉給吉姆，讓他介紹我們的投資活動。

Thank you, Scott. As previewed, I'll provide some additional detail on our investment activity, our portfolio performance and our positioning for the fourth quarter and the year. I will then conclude with an update on our post-quarter-end activity and backlog.

謝謝你，斯科特。正如預覽的那樣，我將提供有關我們的投資活動、投資組合表現以及第四季度和全年定位的更多詳細資訊。最後，我將介紹我們季度末後的活動和積壓情況。

In the fourth quarter, our team originated approximately $3.8 billion of new investment commitments, which is greater than a 50% increase over Q4 of 2023. This was a strong quarter to end what was a very active year for the company, in which we originated over $15 billion of new commitments, more than double the commitment volumes of 2023.

第四季度，我們的團隊產生了約 38 億美元的新投資承諾，比 2023 年第四季成長了 50% 以上。這是一個強勁的季度，為公司非常活躍的一年畫上了句號，在這一年中，我們產生了超過 150 億美元的新承諾，是 2023 年承諾額的兩倍多。

In addition to growing our growing market share with our existing borrowers that Kort discussed previously, our strong origination results are supported by our differentiated approach in covering the broader market.

除了科特之前討論過的透過現有借款人不斷擴大我們的市場份額之外，我們強勁的發起結果還得益於我們覆蓋更廣泛市場的差異化方法。

Despite having what we believe is the highest level of deployment of any public BDC, the median EBITDA of our new investments during the year was approximately $70 million. About one-third of our new investments were to borrowers with EBITDA of less than $50 million. We believe Ares is the only direct lending platform of scale that actively focuses across the lower, middle, and upper middle markets. This broad and differentiated coverage supports our ability to find what we believe are the best risk-adjusted returns while remaining highly selective.

儘管我們認為我們的部署水準是所有公共 BDC 中最高的，但我們當年新投資的 EBITDA 中位數約為 7,000 萬美元。我們新投資的約三分之一是向 EBITDA 低於 5000 萬美元的借款人投資的。我們相信 Ares 是唯一一個積極關注中低端和中高端市場的規模直接借貸平台。這種廣泛而差異化的覆蓋範圍支持我們在保持高度選擇性的同時找到我們認為最佳的風險調整回報。

We believe that the lower middle market deals can provide 25 to 50 basis points of enhanced spread despite lower leverage levels and stronger when compared to some of the upper middle market transactions being completed by our peers. Importantly and further demonstrating our ability to successfully invest across the middle market, size is not a driver of portfolio performance in our portfolio as companies in all size bands in our portfolio had similar EBITDA growth rates over the last 12 months.

我們認為，儘管槓桿水平較低，但中低端市場交易可以提供 25 至 50 個基點的增強利差，並且與我們同行完成的一些中高端市場交易相比更為強勁。重要的是，進一步證明了我們成功投資中端市場的能力，規模並不是我們投資組合中投資組合表現的驅動因素，因為我們投資組合中所有規模範圍內的公司在過去 12 個月中都有相似的 EBITDA 成長率。

In fact, we believe with our scale and size, especially in that part of the market, we have the ability to establish points of incumbency to allow us the opportunity to grow with these companies for years to come.

事實上，我們相信憑藉我們的規模和規模，特別是在該部分市場，我們有能力建立主導地位，從而有機會在未來幾年與這些公司一起成長。

With respect to our portfolio, we ended the year with a $26.7 billion portfolio at fair value, which grew at 3% from the prior quarter and 17% from the prior year. In addition to expanding market share with our incumbent borrowers, our growth is supported by our ability to provide flexible capital solutions to a wide variety of new companies seeking a direct lending solution. This can be seen in the total number of companies in our portfolio, which reached 550 at year-end 2024, an increase from just over 500 a year ago.

就我們的投資組合而言，截至年底，我們的投資組合公允價值為 267 億美元，較上一季成長 3%，較上年同期成長 17%。除了擴大現有借款人的市場份額之外，我們為尋求直接貸款解決方案的各種新公司提供靈活資本解決方案的能力也支持了我們的成長。從我們投資組合中的公司總數就可以看出這一點，到 2024 年底，該數字將達到 550 家，比一年前略有增加。

An often overlooked point of differentiation for ARCC versus other BDCs is our high level of portfolio diversification. By maintaining small individual company position sizes of less than 0.2% of the portfolio on average, ARCC has been able to mitigate the impact of negative credit events in any one company or industry.

ARCC 與其他 BDC 相比的一個經常被忽視的差異是我們的高度投資組合多樣化。透過將單一公司部位規模平均維持在投資組合的 0.2% 以下，ARCC 能夠減輕任何一家公司或產業負面信用事件的影響。

Our nonaccruals at cost ended the quarter at 1.7%, up 40 basis points from the prior quarter and year-end 2023. Despite this increase, the 1.7% metric remained well below our 2.8% historical average since the global financial crisis. This is also below the BDC historical average of 3.8% over the same time frame.

本季末，我們的未計成本費用為 1.7%，較上一季和 2023 年底上升了 40 個基點。儘管有所增長，但 1.7% 的指標仍遠低於全球金融危機以來 2.8% 的歷史平均值。這也低於 BDC 同一時間段內 3.8% 的歷史平均值。

Our nonaccrual rate at fair value also modestly increased to 0.9% from 0.6% last quarter, but this, too, continues to be well below our historical levels. Our overall risk ratings remained stable throughout 2024, and the percentage of our portfolio at fair value in Grade 1 and 2 names ended the year at 2.9%, meaningfully down from 6.4% at year-end 2023.

我們的公允價值不提率也從上一季的 0.6% 小幅上升至 0.9%，但這也仍遠低於我們的歷史水準。我們的整體風險評級在 2024 年全年保持穩定，年底時我們投資組合中 1 級和 2 級債券的公允價值百分比為 2.9%，較 2023 年底的 6.4% 大幅下降。

As a sign of additional strength in our portfolio, at the end of the fourth quarter, our weighted average loan to value was 44%, which we believe provides us with strong downside protection for our loans. This loan to value is also significantly below our 10-year average while our portfolio interest coverage ratio reached 1.9x, up from 1.8x the prior quarter and 1.6x at year-end 2023.

作為我們投資組合進一步增強的標誌，在第四季度末，我們的加權平均貸款價值比為 44%，我們相信這為我們的貸款提供了強有力的下行保護。該貸款價值比也遠低於我們的 10 年平均水平，而我們的投資組合利息覆蓋率達到 1.9 倍，高於上一季的 1.8 倍和 2023 年底的 1.6 倍。

Shifting to 2025, we've been busy, supported by what we believe are the early signs of a growing market activity for growth capital and M&A. Our total commitments through January 28, 2025, were $1.2 billion, approximately an 80% increase as compared to the commitments closed in January of last year.

展望 2025 年，我們一直很忙碌，我們認為這是成長資本和併購市場活動成長的早期跡象所支持。截至 2025 年 1 月 28 日，我們的總承諾額為 12 億美元，與去年 1 月完成的承諾金額相比增長約 80%。

Also, our backlog as of January 28, 2025, stood at $1.8 billion, which is more than double our reported backlog at February 1 of last year. As a reminder, 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.

此外，截至 2025 年 1 月 28 日，我們的積壓訂單為 18 億美元，是去年 2 月 1 日報告積壓訂單的兩倍多。提醒一下，我們的積壓訂單包含需經過批准和文件記錄的投資，這些投資可能不會完成，或者我們可能會在完成後出售部分投資。

As we look to the future, we believe the company remains well positioned to address what we see as a growing market opportunity. We remain committed to building upon what we believe is a successful long-term track record. As always, we appreciate you joining us today, and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

展望未來，我們相信公司仍然能夠很好地應對我們所看到的不斷增長的市場機會。我們依然致力於鞏固我們所認為的長期成功業績。像往常一樣，我們感謝您今天的加入我們，並期待下個季度與您交談。

With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

接線員，請打開熱線來回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) The Investor Relations team will be available to address any further questions at the conclusion of today's call. (Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）今天電話會議結束後，投資者關係團隊將隨時解答您的任何其他問題。（操作員指令）

Melissa Wedel, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的梅麗莎·韋德爾。

First, congrats to Kort and Kipp on the change in your roles. Look forward to continuing to have these conversations more so with you, Kort, going forward. In terms of the activity during the fourth quarter, I was hoping we could just chat about the cadence a little bit. I think heading into the quarter, it definitely seemed to be the case that it might not be the seasonally busy quarter that the December quarter can be possibly because some companies are waiting until the new year to sort of pick up the pace of activity on deals and strategic acquisitions, et cetera.

首先，恭喜 Kort 和 Kipp 的角色轉變。科特，期待今後能繼續與您進行這樣的對話。就第四季的活動而言，我希望我們可以稍微聊聊節奏。我認為進入本季度，肯定的情況是，它可能不像 12 月季度那樣是季節性繁忙的季度，因為一些公司正在等到新的一年，以加快交易和戰略收購等方面的活動步伐。

Assuming that was what we saw in the numbers in 4Q just being down sequentially from the third quarter, do you think that there was any impact in terms of like timing of new investments or repayments during the quarter on NII?

假設我們看到第四季度的數字較第三季環比下降，您認為這對本季新投資或還款的時間表對 NII 有任何影響嗎？

Yes. Thanks for the comments, too, Melissa. I appreciate that. No, I mean, look, I think it was kind of flat versus the third quarter if I'm looking at the numbers correctly. Things did, I think, shift a little bit. Obviously, we have the election which may have delayed some closings. But we're very happy with the Q4 activity levels. And as we mentioned in the prepared remarks, January was busy and they remain busy. So we're feeling good about deal flow and new transactions.

是的。也謝謝你的評論，梅麗莎。我很感激。不，我的意思是，如果我沒有看錯的話，我認為它與第三季相比持平。我認為事情確實發生了一些變化。顯然，我們正面臨選舉，這可能會推遲一些交易的完成。但我們對第四季的活動水準非常滿意。正如我們在準備好的演講中提到的那樣，一月份很忙，而且他們仍然很忙。因此，我們對交易流程和新交易感到滿意。

Okay. And definitely noted the quarter-to-date details. Appreciate those details that you provide us as always. When we think about sort of the evolution of the portfolio, it definitely seemed to be the case that there has been a skew -- new investments have skewed sort of up the capital structure, so a lot of focus on first lien, not entirely but definitely skewed that way.

好的。並且明確記錄了本季迄今的詳細資訊。一如既往地感謝您向我們提供的詳細資訊。當我們思考投資組合的演變時，確實似乎存在著偏差——新的投資已經扭曲了資本結構，因此許多焦點都集中在第一留置權上，雖然不是完全的，但肯定是這樣的偏差。

When we look at the mix of repayments, we've seen some more capital be a larger piece of repayment activity. I'm just wondering how you guys are thinking about the asset allocation within the portfolio. Do you think of a sort of target level of first lien activity? Or is that really going to vary with the opportunity set going forward? And is there any change, given the new roles?

當我們觀察還款組合時，我們發現一些資本在還款活動中佔比更大。我只是想知道你們是如何考慮投資組合內的資產配置的。您是否考慮過第一留置權活動的目標程度？或者這真的會隨著未來的機會而改變嗎？鑑於新的角色，會有什麼改變嗎？

Yes, you're welcome. I mean, to answer the last question first because I think it's most important, there's really no change in how we see the mix of the portfolio over time. Definitely take your point that for the back half of the year, kind of particularly in large deals, kind of the large unitranche, sometimes taking out junior positions was the prevailing transaction.

是的，別客氣。我的意思是，首先回答最後一個問題，因為我認為這是最重要的，我們對投資組合組合的看法隨著時間的推移實際上並沒有改變。我完全接受你的觀點，即在下半年，特別是在大型交易中，例如大型單一投資組合，有時接管初級職位是一種普遍的交易。

We're still happy to do junior deals. We've seen spread compression, I would say, in the larger names that are cash pay. And then a lot of what's available on the junior side today in the higher rate environment, frankly, are noncash, i.e., all PIK junior transactions. And we find a lot of them to be attractive. We're doing some. We're obviously conscious of the percentage of PIK income at the company and wanting to have that not kind of grow from here. So it's a balance of different things. But I think most importantly, we're responding to the market and the overall philosophy of how we see mix going forward is unchanged.

我們仍然很樂意進行初級交易。我想說，在採用現金支付的較大公司中，我們已經看到了利差壓縮。坦白說，如今在高利率環境下，初級債券市場上許多可用的產品都是非現金的，即所有 PIK 初級債券交易。我們發現其中很多都很有吸引力。我們正在做一些。我們顯然意識到了公司 PIK 收入的百分比，並且不希望該百分比從現在開始成長。所以，這是一種不同事物之間的平衡。但我認為最重要的是，我們正在對市場做出反應，我們對未來產品組合的整體理念沒有改變。

Finian O'Shea, Wells Fargo Securities.

富國證券的 Finian O’Shea。

I guess to continue on investing -- first, congratulations to everyone on their new beginnings. So I want to ask about the sports franchise. I know you -- that's a newer happening effort there. I think we saw there at the broader platform, that is, but also in ARCC, that deals have come in. We saw, I think, equity in the Dolphins this quarter. It looks like the BDC got a pretty good allocation.

我想繼續投資——首先，恭喜大家的新開始。所以我想問一下有關體育特許經營的問題。我知道 — — 這是那裡正在發生的新努力。我認為我們在更廣泛的平台上看到了這一點，並且在 ARCC 中也看到了這一點，交易已經達成。我認為，本季我們看到了海豚隊的公平性。看起來 BDC 獲得了相當不錯的分配。

So the question is like on the understanding of a lot of the higher risk return deals and the more opportunistic and so forth franchises are less suitable for ARCC, like why this 1 is the sports equity, is that sort of somewhere on the bubble or something like that? And should we expect to see more of this as that franchise grows?

所以問題在於，許多高風險回報交易和更具機會主義等的特許經營權不太適合 ARCC，例如為什麼這個 1 是體育股權，這是否處於泡沫之中或類似的東西？隨著特許經營權的擴大，我們是否應該期待看到更多這樣的情況？

Yes. I'm going to ask Jim to help a little bit, too, because he's very engaged both with the sports, media, and entertainment franchise, but also specifically with the deal that we did with the Dolphins and the surrounding assets. But I mean to go backwards, we're now probably 5, 6 years into having built out a very substantial footprint and I think incredible reputation as a knowledgeable kind of SME investor.

是的。我也會請吉姆提供一些幫助，因為他非常熱衷於體育、媒體和娛樂特許經營，尤其是我們與海豚隊及其周邊資產達成的交易。但我的意思是回過頭來看，我們現在可能已經花了 5、6 年的時間建立了非常實質性的足跡，並且我認為作為知識淵博的中小企業投資者，我們享有令人難以置信的聲譽。

And it's not just teams and it's not just sports. Philosophically, the BDC, as we've always said, wants to leverage the strength of the Ares Credit platform, which is very broad and creates a diverse set of opportunities. For the BDC specifically, SME is definitely a place along with other parts of the franchise that we want to leverage for what we think are really unique investments for both the platform and for the BDC.

這不僅涉及團隊，也不僅僅涉及體育運動。從哲學上講，正如我們一直所說，BDC 希望利用 Ares Credit 平台的優勢，該平台非常廣泛並創造了多樣化的機會。具體來說，對於 BDC 而言，SME 和特許經營的其他部分一樣，都是我們希望利用的領域，我們認為這對平台和 BDC 來說都是真正獨特的投資。

I mean, I think the Dolphins specifically is a roughly $200 million investment at the BDC. And just to be clear, the asset itself includes more than just the team. It's the stadium, it's real estate, it's a Formula One team. It's tennis tournament. There's a whole lot of stuff going on there. And we think it's very unique.

我的意思是，我認為海豚隊在 BDC 的投資金額具體約為 2 億美元。需要明確的是，資產本身不僅包括團隊。它是體育場、它是房地產、它是一支一級方程式賽車隊。這是網球錦標賽。那裡發生了很多事情。我們認為它非常獨特。

I mean, I think as you probably read about in the press, Ares was one of the few firms that was granted the unique ability to come in to a franchise investment like this. We think it's a top-tier franchise in an absolutely top-tier geography that's growing and should grow with a fair amount of consistency over the next long period of time because of the quality and the diversity of the assets.

我的意思是，我想正如您可能在媒體上讀到的那樣，Ares 是少數幾家被授予獨特能力進行此類特許經營投資的公司之一。我們認為，這是絕對頂級地區的頂級特許經營權，並且正在增長，而且由於資產的品質和多樣性，在未來很長一段時間內應該會保持相當穩定的增長。

So again, for me, I think it's a fabulous investment and it's not particularly large when you look at the overall scale of the company. And it's unique and attractive to ARCC shareholders, and ARCC shareholders, frankly, only when you're talking about access through a BDC stock.

所以，對我來說，我認為這是一次極好的投資，而且從公司的整體規模來看，這項投資並不是特別大。它對 ARCC 股東來說是獨特且有吸引力的，坦白說，只有當您談論透過 BDC 股票獲得存取權時，ARCC 股東才具有吸引力。

Very helpful. As a follow-up, I guess it ties into Melissa's topics a bit on investment and returns. I think this has actually come up here and there in recent periods. But where should we think of the cap structuring fee? There's more and more emphasis on incumbent repeat borrowers. You're gearing up for your sponsors to support them. But like how much does that impact the structuring fee rate that you'll see?

非常有幫助。作為後續，我猜它與梅麗莎關於投資和回報的話題有點相關。我認為這種現象近來確實時有出現。但是，我們該如何考慮上限結構費呢？人們越來越重視現有的重複借款人。您正準備讓您的贊助商給予支持。但是這對您將看到的結構費率有多大影響？

In years past, it's obviously been really high. And then if I could sneak in a bonus question, maybe a fun 1. Kipp, I think you mentioned in your new role, you'll be involved in direct lending, but curious as to what other areas you'll be focused on.

在過去的幾年裡，這個數字顯然一直很高。然後，如果我可以偷偷地提出一個獎勵問題，也許是一個有趣的問題。基普，我想你提到過在你的新職位上，你將參與直接貸款，但很好奇你還會關注哪些其他領域。

Sure, thanks. But I think in terms of fees, there's been a continued emphasis on kind of existing portfolio companies and incumbency, which tends to generate lower fees. Well, as to say, as we've said in the last couple of calls, there's been some fee pressure in direct lending broadly, so I think upfront fees are generally down a little bit in the market for pretty much everything. So I think those are the two simple answers as to why you see that coming down.

當然，謝謝。但我認為，在費用方面，人們一直更重視現有的投資組合公司和在職人員，這往往會產生較低的費用。嗯，正如我們在最近幾次電話會議中所說的那樣，直接貸款普遍存在一些費用壓力，所以我認為市場上幾乎所有產品的預付費用普遍都有所下降。所以我認為這就是為什麼你認為其會下降的兩個簡單的答案。

In terms of your fun question, I would encourage you to go listen to the Ares earnings call that I and a handful of others did with Mike a couple of hours ago. But yes, I mean, more or less, I will continue to be very engaged with this company as a director on the Board. I'll remain on the US Direct Lending Investment Committee, which obviously opines on all the new investments for this company and a lot of other things.

對於您提出的有趣問題，我鼓勵您去聽一下幾個小時前我和其他幾個人與邁克一起參加的 Ares 財報電話會議。但是的，我的意思是，或多或少，我將繼續以董事會董事的身份積極參與這家公司的工作。我將繼續留在美國直接貸款投資委員會，該委員會顯然對該公司的所有新投資以及許多其他事項發表意見。

But I think it gives me the ability to try to support Mike with a lot of different things that we're doing, both from an operational and strategic perspective at Ares, our management company. And it's an exciting change for me. Having been with this business for 20 years and this company for 20 years, it allows me to do some new things and I'm excited about it. So thanks for asking.

但我認為它讓我有能力嘗試支持麥克開展許多不同的事情，無論是從我們管理公司 Ares 的營運還是策略角度。對我來說這是一個令人興奮的改變。我從事這項業務 20 年，在這家公司工作 20 年，這讓我有機會做一些新的事情，我對此感到很興奮。感謝您的提問。

Casey Alexander, Compass Point.

凱西亞歷山大，Compass Point。

And again, congratulations on the promotions. Kipp, I will miss your calm voice because it did help us through some pretty turbulent times during COVID.

再次恭喜您晉升。基普，我會想念你平靜的聲音，因為它確實幫助我們度過了 COVID 期間的相當動蕩的時期。

I think in support of Kort and Jim, I think you'll be getting two more so don't worry.

我認為為了支持科特和吉姆，我想你會得到另外兩個，所以不用擔心。

Okay, okay. Listen --

好的，好的。聽--

But thank you.

但謝謝你。

And we'll make this question clearly marked as of 12/31, we've seen a 100 basis point decline in base rates. Can you give me kind of a percentage of how much of that has flowed through into the portfolio by the end of the December quarter? Is it 75%? Or where do you think we are? And I don't want to do innings because it's not baseball season.

我們會明確標記這個問題，截至 12 月 31 日，我們已經看到基準利率下降了 100 個基點。您能否告訴我，截至 12 月季度末，其中有多少資金流入了投資組合？是75%嗎？或者您認為我們在哪裡？而且我不想打球，因為現在還不是棒球季。

I mean, qualitatively, what you're seeing with the yield declines is largely due to base rates. And per Melissa's question, it's a little bit to mix shift, i.e. some of the junior capital stuff coming out with more replacement from kind of senior secured or unitranche. But I was looking over at Scott to see if he had a better quantitative answer than I might have right now.

我的意思是，從品質上講，您看到的收益率下降主要是由於基準利率造成的。根據梅莉莎的問題，這有點混合轉變，也就是說，一些初級資本資產被更多的來自優先擔保或單一部分的替代。但我正在看斯科特，看看他是否有比我現在更好的定量答案。

Yes, I think as we mentioned this in the last call, and I think again, this time as well, but I think that you saw from the -- certainly a lag effect when it comes to the impact of the rates in our portfolio when they flow through. So you saw some of that in Q4 as a result of the rates as of Q3. And so we expect a similar level of decline when you think about the Q4 rates and how that'd impact Q1.

是的，我想正如我們在上次電話會議中提到的那樣，而且我認為這次也是如此，但我認為您已經看到了——當利率流經我們的投資組合時，肯定會存在滯後效應。因此，您在第四季度看到了一些這種情況，這是由於第三季的利率所致。因此，當您考慮第四季度的利率及其對第一季的影響時，我們預計會出現類似的下降幅度。

Okay, all right. Secondly, relative to the amount of your gross fundings in the quarter, there was quite a bit of activity in the ATM, and the leverage ratio is the lowest that it's been since 2019. Should I infer from that, that you expect this heightened -- that you're building and preparing for a heightened level of activity in the first half, which is unseasonable because normally the heightened level of activity is in the second half?

好的，好的。其次，相對於本季的總融資額，ATM 的活躍度相當高，槓桿率是自 2019 年以來最低的。我是否應該由此推斷，您預計這種活動會加劇——您正在為上半年活動水平的加劇做準備，而這是不合時宜的，因為通常活動水平的加劇是在下半年？

I think that's a fair assumption for sure. I mean, I'll say 2 things. When we can raise equity accretively, we like to do it. And obviously, the stock price allowed us to do that in Q4. But as I mentioned in response to one of the prior questions, we had a busy fourth quarter and it's busy right now. So I think the simple answer to your question is yes.

我認為這確實是一個合理的假設。我的意思是，我要說兩件事。當我們能夠增加股本時，我們願意這樣做。顯然，股價允許我們在第四季做到這一點。但正如我在回答之前的一個問題時提到的那樣，我們的第四季度非常忙碌，現在也很忙。因此我認為對你的問題的簡單答案是肯定的。

Doug Harter, UBS.

瑞銀的道格·哈特（Doug Harter）。

Just to kind of piggyback on that last question. As you think about 2025, how do you think about kind of target area where leverage should be versus willingness or appetite to continue to raise fresh capital?

只是為了回答最後一個問題。當您展望 2025 年時，您認為槓桿率應該處於什麼目標領域，以及人們繼續籌集新資本的意願或興趣如何？

Yes, I think we'd like the leverage ratio to be higher. Being able to increase the leverage ratio is obviously a driver of earnings, which I think will be important if and when rates continue to kind of come down, right? That's one of the countervailing levers that we can pull to drive earnings in the face of tighter spreads and lower rates. So we're fortunate in that we're still materially out-earning the core dividend so we don't feel a desperate need to do that.

是的，我認為我們希望槓桿率更高。能夠提高槓桿率顯然是獲利的驅動力，我認為如果利率繼續下降的話，這一點將非常重要，對嗎？這是我們可以在利差縮小和利率降低的情況下推動獲利成長的抵銷槓桿之一。因此，我們很幸運，因為我們的收益仍然遠遠超過核心股息，所以我們並不覺得迫切需要這樣做。

But again, just a reminder, that's a lever that we can and will pull. So in assessing both the leverage ratio and the earnings, I think that will tell us how much equity we feel comfortable raising in the ATM program. Again, Q4 was a more -- was a larger number than we've seen in prior quarters and I just commented on why that was. We'll see where we go from here. I would expect, though, that we would get back into that range that you saw from us that was sort of more regular over the last year or two.

但是，我再次提醒你，這是我們可以而且將會使用的槓桿。因此，在評估槓桿率和收益時，我認為這將告訴我們在 ATM 計劃中我們願意籌集多少股本。再次，第四季的數字比前幾季的數字更大，我剛才評論了原因。我們將會看到接下來會怎樣。不過，我預計，我們會回到您在過去一兩年內看到的更正常的範圍。

Great. And then just on your kind of spillover income, I guess, how do you think about that level? Is there a level at which you would consider returning some of that or are you comfortable kind of continuing to build that?

偉大的。那麼就您的溢出收入而言，您如何看待這個水平？您是否會考慮歸還其中的一部分，或者您是否願意繼續建造它？

I think for the time being, as we've said in the past, we usually use this time of year to assess whether we want to pay a special dividend. We chose not to, obviously, so that should tell you a couple of things. So for the time being, we feel good about, obviously, very good about where the level is because it's quite high. But there actually wasn't much of a debate this year about paying a special for a handful of different reasons. So for now, we feel better, frankly, about reserving that and thinking about it again in 12 months.

我認為就目前而言，正如我們過去所說的那樣，我們通常利用每年的這個時候來評估是否要支付特別股息。顯然，我們選擇不這樣做，所以這應該告訴你一些事情。因此就目前而言，我們顯然對目前的水平感到非常滿意，因為目前的水平相當高。但今年對於因各種不同原因而支付特別費用實際上並沒有太多爭論。因此就目前而言，坦白說，我們最好保留這一決定，並在 12 個月後再次考慮。

Mark Hughes, Truist.

馬克·休斯，Truist。

Any specifics you can share on spread and especially the trajectory through Q4 and January? Have things stabilized or are you still seeing some movement?

您能分享有關利差的具體信息，尤其是第四季度和一月份的走勢嗎？情況已經穩定下來了嗎？

I think most of the decrease we saw pretty ratably through last year. 100, 150 basis points has been the number that we quoted elsewhere in terms of the declines that we've seen, whether it was repricing existing names or new deals. For the time being, I feel like it's pretty much plateaued again because we play across the entire spectrum, smaller companies, larger companies.

我認為，去年我們看到的大部分下降都相當顯著。就我們所看到的下跌而言，我們在其他地方引用的數字是 100 到 150 個基點，無論是對現有名稱重新定價，還是對新交易重新定價。就目前而言，我覺得它幾乎再次達到了穩定狀態，因為我們的業務涉及整個領域，有小公司，也有大公司。

It varies. Large-cap unitranches are probably 475 over or 500 over and the smaller deals will command premiums to that. We haven't seen them continue to decline really into the first quarter as we've been pricing new deals.

它是因人而異的。大型單一投資組合可能高出 475 或 500，而小型交易則會要求更高的溢價。當我們為新交易定價時，我們並沒有看到它們在第一季真正繼續下滑。

And then your point about your share doubled with your commitments with existing borrowers. Is that a phenomenon of bigger versus smaller, so say, other sizable BDCs maybe having the same experience? Do you think you're outperforming in that dimension?

然後，您提到的份額隨著您對現有借款人的承諾而翻倍。這是不是出現了大公司對抗小公司的現象，也就是說，其他規模較大的 BDC 可能也有同樣的經驗？您認為您在這方面表現優異嗎？

Yes. I mean, I think for sure. We're able to obviously continue to bring larger dollars to our best borrowers, which is something that we've emphasized. But I think we've been really focused on it and we've been frankly doing even better than we have in the past.

是的。我的意思是，我確信如此。我們顯然能夠繼續為我們最優質的借款人帶來更多資金，這是我們一直在強調的一點。但我認為我們一直非常專注於此，坦白說，我們做得比過去更好。

Kenneth Lee, RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場 (RBC Capital Markets) 的 Kenneth Lee。

And echoing the congrats on the new roles for everyone. In terms of the economic backdrop, it seems very healthy here, and the nonaccruals, as you mentioned, still below long-term averages. Just want to get your latest updated thoughts around the potential for credit losses going forward, either yourself or across the industry. What's the outlook there?

並對大家獲得新職位表示祝賀。就經濟背景而言，這裡的經濟狀況似乎非常健康，而且正如您所說，未計利息仍低於長期平均水準。只是想了解一下您對您自己或整個行業未來信貸損失可能性的最新看法。那裡的前景怎麼樣？

Well, I mean, at this company specifically, I'll just reiterate. I mean, we're very pleased. I don't want to use the word surprised, but I think if you had talked to the team a year or 2 ago, there was a belief that defaults, nonaccruals everywhere would rise much more quickly than they have. Thanks for commenting, of course, I think we've outperformed a lot of the competition.

嗯，我的意思是，具體來說，在這家公司，我只想重申一下。我的意思是，我們非常高興。我不想用「驚訝」這個詞，但我認為，如果你在一兩年前與團隊交談過，你就會相信各地的違約和不計提情況都會比現在上升得更快。謝謝您的評論，當然，我認為我們已經勝過了很多競爭對手。

Where you have seen some weakness elsewhere, our portfolio is holding up extraordinarily well so we saw a real small increase in nonaccrual this quarter, but again, being below historical average and seeing strong underlying profit growth at the portfolio, which is, by the way, very large and very diverse says a lot about the strength of the US economy, which I think is quite good.

儘管其他地方存在一些弱點，但我們的投資組合表現異常良好，因此本季度未計提費用確實略有增加，但再次低於歷史平均水平，而且投資組合的潛在利潤增長強勁，順便說一句，我們的投資組合非常龐大且非常多樣化，這充分說明了美國經濟的實力，我認為這非常好。

So a lot of these companies have adjusted to the higher rate environment, which now seems to be getting some relief. As the Fed has lowered rates, again, we'll see where we go from here. But we think it's a very, very good time to be a credit investor with a largely healthy portfolio to collect, again, with the source of diverse and reliable income at Ares Capital Corporation. So we're pretty pleased with where we are.

因此，許多公司已經適應了更高的利率環境，現在似乎得到了一些緩解。隨著聯準會再次降低利率，我們將看到下一步的方向。但我們認為，對於信貸投資者來說，現在是非常好的時機，可以利用 Ares Capital Corporation 多樣化且可靠的收入來源來收集大量健康的投資組合。我們對目前的狀況非常滿意。

Great. Very helpful there.

偉大的。非常有幫助。

Paul Johnson, KBW.

保羅·約翰遜，KBW。

Congratulations to everyone. My question was mainly on just the Ivy Hill distribution. Looked like that increased quite a bit quarter-over-quarter. And I'm just wondering if there's any kind of onetime items in there, and maybe an idea of what sort of the run rate dividend for Ivy Hill going forward.

祝賀大家。我的問題主要與 Ivy Hill 分佈有關。看起來，這個數字比上一季有了很大的成長。我只是想知道其中是否有任何一次性項目，也許知道未來常春藤山的運行率股息是什麼樣的。

Yes. I mean, Ivy Hill continues to perform extraordinarily well so just a great asset for this company. Just in case you didn't pick up but I bet you did, the quarterly base dividend is up because the company has grown. But on top of that was the special dividend that got made to the tune of $10 million. They've been retaining significant income and capital for their growth that, frankly, I think they didn't feel the need to retain all of, so there was a small onetime distribution there.

是的。我的意思是，Ivy Hill 繼續表現出色，因此對於這家公司來說是一筆巨大的財富。萬一您沒注意到，但我敢打賭您注意到了，季度基本股息已經上漲，因為公司已經成長壯大。但除此之外，還支付了 1,000 萬美元的特別股息。他們一直保留著大量收入和資本用於成長，坦白說，我認為他們並不覺得有必要保留全部，因此只有少量的一次性分配。

But I think on a go-forward basis, it will depend on how quickly that company grows. But again, that increased quarterly base dividend, you should take as kind of the new run rate going forward. We feel comfortable supporting that. Obviously, the company is well equitized, having just made a special dividend as well.

但我認為，從未來來看，這將取決於該公司的發展速度。但是，你應該將增加的季度基本股息視為未來的新運行率。我們很樂意支持這一點。顯然，該公司的股權狀況良好，並且剛剛派發了特別股息。

Got it. And then in terms of your portfolio, I'm wondering if there's any way to quantify or maybe just give us a sense of, if you know of how many of your businesses that maybe have exposure to government contracts, maybe not necessarily government businesses but have exposure through contracts, services, things such as that. If there's any sort of anecdotal information that you can provide.

知道了。然後就您的投資組合而言，我想知道是否有任何方法可以量化，或者只是讓我們了解一下，您是否知道有多少企業可能與政府合約有接觸，也許不一定是政府企業，但透過合約、服務等方式有接觸。如果您可以提供任何類型的軼事資訊。

Yes. I mean, looking around the room and frankly thinking, I don't have a number for you offhand. We'll go do a little bit of digging but I'm getting shakes of heads from around the room. It's not a tremendous amount of government contracting. Defense and aerospace and all that is de minimis. So we can go back and run some numbers if you want us to follow up, but the answer is I don't think that's going to have a significant impact on the portfolio.

是的。我的意思是，環顧房間並坦率地思考，我沒有你的電話號碼。我們會進行一些挖掘，但房間裡的所有人都在搖頭。這並不是巨額的政府承包。國防和航空航天以及所有這些都是微不足道的。因此，如果您希望我們跟進，我們可以回頭計算一些數字，但答案是，我認為這不會對投資組合產生重大影響。

Okay. Yes, I think that pretty much answers my question there. And then the last question I had was just kind of higher level. But I was wondering, probably at the upper end of the middle market, have you run into any instances where private equity sponsors have been effectively looking to limit voter control or any sort of lender control within a lender group?

好的。是的，我認為這基本上回答了我的問題。我的最後一個問題只是更高層次的問題。但我想知道，可能在中端市場的高端，您是否遇到過私募股權發起人有效地尋求限制選民控製或貸方集團內任何形式的貸方控制的情況？

In a performing situation, not really. I mean, I think the traditional 1 is a sponsor-affiliated debt fund typically will have less voting or limited voting, but performing situations, no. I mean, one of the things that we've emphasized has been just really sticking to middle-market docs and making sure that some of the LME stuff that's crept into the broadly syndicated markets really don't enter our market. I'd actually say it's one of the -- probably the most significant reason that we pass on a deal that we like is just a document that we don't think works in our downside case.

在表演場合，事實並非如此。我的意思是，我認為傳統的 1 是發起人附屬債務基金通常具有較少的投票權或有限的投票權，但在執行情況下，則不會。我的意思是，我們一直強調的事情之一就是真正堅持中間市場文件，並確保一些滲透廣泛聯合市場的 LME 產品不會進入我們的市場。我實際上想說，這可能是我們放棄一項我們喜歡的交易的最重要原因之一，因為我們認為這份文件在我們的不利情況下不起作用。

But look, in troubled situations, you do see co-ops and bank groups, particularly in situations in larger companies where there's concern around LMEs. But to answer your question directly, I think the answer is we don't really see that much. I mean, pretty much everybody votes for their dollars. And if it's a club deal, it's a club deal, and you get your voting and yes, nothing unusual there. I don't know if there's a circumstance you'd heard about that we don't know about, but nothing material from my standpoint.

但是，在陷入困境的情況下，你確實會看到合作社和銀行集團，特別是在對倫敦金屬交易所 (LME) 存在擔憂的大型公司中。但直接回答你的問題，我認為答案是我們確實沒有看到那麼多。我的意思是，幾乎每個人都用自己的錢來投票。如果這是一項俱樂部交易，那就是一項俱樂部交易，你會得到你的投票，是的，這沒什麼不尋常的。我不知道是否有您聽說過而我們不知道的情況，但從我的角度來看這並不重要。

Yes, I think there have been 1 or 2 large deals where this may have occurred, but just wondering if that's something that you've observed in the market. But I appreciate the answers. Those are all the questions for me.

是的，我認為有一兩筆大型交易可能發生了這種情況，但我只是想知道這是您在市場上觀察到的現象嗎。但我很感激這些答案。這些就是我要問的全部問題。

Robert Dodd, Raymond James.

羅伯特多德、雷蒙詹姆斯。

Congratulations on the new roles. Just a quick 1 for me. I think, Kipp, it may have been cut. In the prepared remarks, you talked about I don't expect any direct impact from government policy changes. Does that -- I mean, I just want to clarify, does that include tariffs, which obviously are on hold right now but maybe they won't be.

恭喜您獲得新角色。對我來說只是一個快速的 1。基普，我想它可能被剪掉了。在準備好的發言中，您談到我預期政府政策變化不會帶來任何直接影響。這是否——我的意思是，我只是想澄清一下，這是否包括關稅，顯然目前關稅暫時擱置，但也許不會。

And it's not the first time you or the portfolio have been through the tariff rodeo if it happens. So I mean, just what are your thoughts now on if they do go through, is the portfolio now the company is just the same way they've adapted to higher rates? Have they -- are you already prepared for it because it's happened before? Or just any thoughts on that.

如果發生這種情況，那也不是您或您的投資組合第一次經歷關稅風暴。所以我的意思是，如果他們真的通過了，您現在怎麼想，現在公司的投資組合是否還是像他們適應更高利率的方式一樣？因為以前發生過這種事，你們已經做好準備了嗎？或只是對此有任何想法。

Yes. I mean, it seems to be 1 of the 2 or 3 questions of the day between that and Chinese AI and a few other things that seem to be dominating the airwaves. Look, I mean, Robert, I think the simple answer is we have a very large diverse portfolio, right? Tariffs on countries like Mexico and Canada will have an impact on every company in the United States. Probably true of the tariffs that look like they're in place with China.

是的。我的意思是，這似乎是每天人們最關心的兩三個問題之一，其中包括中國人工智慧和其他一些似乎佔據廣播電台話題的事物。聽著，我的意思是，羅伯特，我認為簡單的答案是我們擁有非常龐大的多元化投資組合，對嗎？對墨西哥和加拿大等國家徵收關稅將對美國的每家公司產生影響。對於看起來對中國徵收的關稅來說，這很可能是真的。

I think we're very early in that discussion, and obviously, spending time with portfolio companies. And the good news is we have great dialogue with our portfolio companies, right? They view us as a strong partner. We're getting monthly financial statements. We're in constant contact with CEOs and CFOs there to try to assess it.

我認為我們才剛開始討論，而且顯然還在與投資組合公司進行討論。好消息是我們與投資組合公司進行了良好的對話，對嗎？他們將我們視為強大的合作夥伴。我們正在取得每​​月的財務報表。我們一直與那裡的執行長和財務長保持聯繫，試圖對此進行評估。

But it's really hard to generalize kind of how I see big changes there because it's just so early. But we're definitely, to Kort's prepared remarks, seeing what may be out there and making sure that we're vigilant and smart about changes in every portfolio company depending on how things go.

但我很難概括我所看到的巨大變化，因為現在還為時過早。但正如科特準備好的發言中所說，我們肯定會觀察可能出現的情況，並確保根據事態發展對每個投資組合公司的變化保持警惕和明智。

Yes. And it's Kort. Robert, I could jump in on that as well just with a little more color, which is we actually have run a lot of analysis around which of our companies have exposure to tariffs, what percent of their cost of goods sold might be exposed to the countries that have already been announced. Obviously, we have to stay day-to-day in terms of the countries that might or might not be exposed to tariffs.

是的。他是科特。羅伯特，我也可以稍微詳細地談一下這個問題，我們實際上已經進行了大量分析，了解我們的哪些公司受到關稅影響，他們的銷售成本中有多少百分比可能受到已經宣布的國家的影響。顯然，我們必須每天關注那些可能或不會受到關稅影響的國家。

But so far, between China, Canada, and Mexico, we actually feel really confident that there is a very small impact on our portfolio based on a pretty exhaustive numerical analysis that we've done. So that was why we felt comfortable putting that statement into the prepared remarks. And I guess I would just also say, overall, we are just under-weighted toward product businesses that import and export products. Right.

但到目前為止，根據我們所做的相當詳盡的數值分析，我們確實確信中國、加拿大和墨西哥之間的貿易對我們的投資組合的影響非常小。因此，我們放心地將該聲明寫入準備好的發言中。我想說的是，總的來說，我們的進出口產品業務的權重偏低。正確的。

And this does conclude 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。我想將會議交還給 Kipp DeVeer 先生，請他作最後發言。

Yes, so I definitely have a few. Today, I haven't prepared any, but it's a little bit bittersweet for me today, obviously, because I'd expect in our next earnings call, which I think is April 29, you're not going to hear a whole lot, if anything, for me. But just wanted to say thanks to the analyst community and all of our shareholders who have supported the company while I've been the CEO.

是的，我肯定有幾個。今天，我還沒有準備任何東西，但對我來說，今天顯然有點苦樂參半，因為我預計在我們的下一次財報電話會議上（我想是在 4 月 29 日），你不會聽到太多關於我的消息。但我只想向分析師社群和所有在我擔任執行長期間支持公司的股東表示感謝。

It's been a real blessing for me to work with a great group of people and to be involved with a company that's had this much success over such a sustained period of time. So heartfelt thanks and wish everybody a great week. Bye-bye.

對我來說，能夠與一群優秀的人一起工作並參與一家在如此長的時間內取得如此巨大成功的公司真是一件幸事。衷心感謝大家，並祝福大家有個愉快的一週。再見。

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 March 5 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern to domestic callers by dialing 1 (800) 839-2457 and to international callers by dialing 1 (402) 220-7217.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。如果您錯過了今天電話會議的任何部分，可以在電話會議結束後約 1 小時至 3 月 5 日下午 5:00 期間查看該電話會議的存檔重播。東部地區國內電話請撥 1 (800) 839-2457，國際電話請撥 1 (402) 220-7217。

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. Again, we ask that you please disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.

存檔重播也將在 Ares Capital 網站投資者資源部分主頁上的網路直播連結上提供。再次請求您現在斷開您的線路並祝您有美好的一天。