Bain Capital Specialty Finance Inc (BCSF) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Bain Capital Specialty Finance second-quarter ended -- June 30, 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

大家好，歡迎參加今天結束的貝恩資本專業金融第二季度 - 2024 年 6 月 30 日的收益電話會議。（操作員說明）

It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Miss Katherine Schneider. Please go ahead.

現在我很高興將會議交給凱瑟琳·施奈德女士。請繼續。

Thank you, Marjorie. Good morning and welcome, everyone to the Bain Capital Specialty finance second quarter ended June 30, 2024 conference call. Yesterday, after market closed, we issued our earnings press release and investor presentation of our quarterly results, a copy of which is available on Bain Capital Specialty Finances Investor Relations website.

謝謝你，瑪喬麗。早安，歡迎大家參加截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的貝恩資本專業金融第二季電話會議。昨天，收盤後，我們發布了收益新聞稿和季度業績投資者介紹，其副本可在貝恩資本專業財務投資者關係網站上取得。

Following our remarks today, we will hold a question-and-answer session for analysts and investors. This call is being webcast and a replay will be available on our website. This call and the webcast are property of Bain Capital specialty finance and any unauthorized broadcast in any form is strictly prohibited.

在今天的演講之後，我們將為分析師和投資者舉行問答會。該電話會議正在網路直播，我們的網站上將提供重播。本次電話會議和網路廣播屬於貝恩資本專業金融的財產，嚴禁以任何形式進行未經授權的廣播。

Any forward-looking statements made today do not guarantee future performance, and actual results may differ materially. These statements are based on current management expectations, which include risks and uncertainties, which are identified in the risk factors section of our Form 10-Q that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated.

今天做出的任何前瞻性陳述並不保證未來的業績，實際結果可能存在重大差異。這些陳述是基於目前管理層的預期，其中包括風險和不確定性，這些風險和不確定性在我們的表格 10-Q 的風險因素部分中確定，可能導致實際結果與所示結果有重大差異。

Bain Capital Specialty Finance assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements at this time unless required to do so by law. Lastly, past performance does not guarantee future results.

除非法律要求，貝恩資本專業金融目前不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。最後，過去的表現並不能保證未來的結果。

So, with that, I'd like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Michael Ewald.

因此，我想將電話轉給我們的執行長 Michael Ewald。

Thanks, Katherine, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us here on our earnings call. I'm joined today by Mike Boyle, our President; and our Chief Financial Officer, Amit Joshi. In terms of the agenda for the call, I'll start with an overview of our second quarter ended June 30, 2024 results and then provide some thoughts on our performance, the overall market environment and our positioning. Thereafter Mike and Amit will discuss our investment portfolio and financial results in greater detail.

謝謝凱瑟琳，大家早安，謝謝您參加我們的財報電話會議。今天我們的總裁 Mike Boyle 也加入了我的行列。以及我們的財務長阿米特喬希 (Amit Joshi)。就電話會議的議程而言，我將首先概述截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的第二季業績，然後提供對我們的業績、整體市場環境和我們的定位的一些想法。此後，麥克和阿米特將更詳細地討論我們的投資組合和財務表現。

As usual, we'll also leave some time for questions at the end. So starting with yesterday after market close, we delivered solid second quarter results. Q2 net investment income per share was $0.51 as we continued to benefit from high base interest rates across our portfolio.

像往常一樣，我們最後也會留一些時間來提問。因此，從昨天收盤後開始，我們交付了穩健的第二季業績。第二季每股淨投資收益為 0.51 美元，因為我們繼續受益於整個投資組合的高基本利率。

Our net investment income return represented an annualized yield of 11.6% on book value and covered our regular dividend by 121%. Q2 earnings per share were $0.45 or an annualized return on equity of 10.2% as credit fundamentals remain healthy across our entire portfolio.

我們的淨投資收益回報率以帳面價值計算的年化收益率為11.6%，涵蓋我們的定期股息121%。由於我們整個投資組合的信貸基本面保持健康，第二季每股收益為 0.45 美元，年化股本回報率為 10.2%。

As of June 30, our net asset value per share was $17.70, unchanged from the prior quarter-end. Subsequent to quarter-end, our board declared a third quarter dividend equal to share and payable to record date holders as of September 30, 2024.

截至 6 月 30 日，我們的每股淨資產值為 17.70 美元，與上一季末持平。季度末後，我們的董事會宣布第三季股息等於股票，並向截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日的記錄日期持有人支付。

The board also declared an additional dividend of $0.03 per share for shareholders of record as of June 30 as we previously announced back in February. This brings total dividends for the third quarter to $0.45 per share or a 10.2% annualized rate on ending book value as of June 30, which we believe represents an attractive yield for our shareholders.

正如我們之前在 2 月宣布的那樣，董事會還宣布向截至 6 月 30 日在冊股東派發每股 0.03 美元的額外股息。這使得第三季的股息總額達到每股 0.45 美元，即截至 6 月 30 日的期末帳面價值的年化率為 10.2%，我們認為這對我們的股東來說是一個有吸引力的收益率。

Turning now to the market environment, we continue to see healthy transaction levels during the second quarter, driven by both refinancing and new deal activity, although new deal activity still remains at lower levels relative to historical periods.

現在轉向市場環境，在再融資和新交易活動的推動下，我們在第二季度繼續看到健康的交易水平，儘管新交易活動相對於歷史時期仍處於較低水平。

In spite of this lower activity level for new M&A, we believe the private credit market remains well positioned for future growth, given the large amount of private equity dry powder earmarked for new deal activity on the one hand and mounting pressure for sponsors to return capital to investors through portfolio company sales on the other.

儘管新併購活動水準較低，但我們認為，私人信貸市場仍處於未來成長的有利位置，一方面考慮到大量私募股權乾粉專門用於新交易活動，而且發起人返還資本的壓力越來越大另一方面透過投資組合公司的銷售向投資者提供。

Furthermore, market expectations for future rate cuts have increased in recent weeks on the back of softer economic data, which could continue to drive new activity levels into this year and into 2025 as well. Against this backdrop, Bain Capital's private credit group remained active in the middle market, sourcing new investment opportunities from our broad and deep set of relationships, while still remaining highly selective.

此外，在經濟數據疲軟的背景下，市場最近幾週對未來降息的預期有所增加，這可能會繼續推動今年和 2025 年的新活動水準。在此背景下，貝恩資本的私人信貸集團在中間市場保持活躍，從我們廣泛而深入的關係中尋找新的投資機會，同時仍保持高度選擇性。

Our gross originations during Q2 were $307 million, up 55% year-over-year, though down approximately 24% from Q1 levels of $403 million. During the quarter, we were active providing capital to new companies and add-on capital to existing portfolio companies to support their growth, through our platform incumbency advantage. Our Q2 originations were split nearly half and half between new and existing borrowers.

我們第二季的總營收為 3.07 億美元，年增 55%，但較第一季的 4.03 億美元下降約 24%。本季度，我們積極向新公司提供資本，並透過我們的平台現有優勢，向現有投資組合公司提供附加資本，以支持其發展。我們第二季的貸款額在新借款人和現有借款人之間幾乎各佔一半。

We continue to see attractive terms in the core middle market, which we define as companies with between $25 million and $75 million of EBITDA and we're being Capital's platform has consistently invested over its 25-plus year history. Across our direct originations to new platforms during the second quarter, the median EBITDA of our borrowers was approximately $45 million.

我們繼續在核心中間市場看到有吸引力的條款，我們將其定義為 EBITDA 在 2500 萬美元至 7500 萬美元之間的公司，並且我們是 Capital 的平台在其 25 多年的歷史中持續投資。在第二季我們直接發起的新平台中，借款人的 EBITDA 中位數約為 4,500 萬美元。

While we have seen some recent spread, compression terms and structure continue to be attractive, with a weighted average yield of 11.6% and median leverage levels of 4.6 times on these new originations. We also remain focused on investing in debt structures that provide us with strong lender controls. 95% of our Q2 originations to new companies were structured with documentation containing financial covenants tied to management's forecasts, and we have majority control in nearly 80% of these debt tranches, allowing us to drive eventual outcomes at our discretion. These statistics are consistent with our broader portfolio, showing our continued focus on these core tenets.

雖然我們最近看到了一些價差，但壓縮條款和結構仍然具有吸引力，這些新產品的加權平均收益率為 11.6%，槓桿水平中位數為 4.6 倍。我們也繼續專注於投資債務結構，為我們提供強有力的貸方控制。我們第二季向新公司發起的95% 的債務都是包含與管理層預測相關的財務契約的文件，而且我們對其中近80% 的債務部分擁有多數控制權，使我們能夠自行決定推動最終結果。這些統計數據與我們更廣泛的投資組合一致，顯示我們持續關注這些核心原則。

Moving on to credit quality, our portfolio companies continue to perform well in the current market environment. Investments on non-accrual status declined quarter-over-quarter and are below industry averages. Our non-accruals represented 1.2% and 1.0% at amortized cost and fair value, respectively, as of June 30.

說到信用質量，我們的投資組合公司在當前的市場環境中繼續表現良好。非應計狀態的投資季減，低於同業平均。截至 6 月 30 日，我們的非應計費用以攤餘成本和公允價值計算分別為 1.2% 和 1.0%。

Credit risk rating trends were also stable during the quarter, with only a small percentage of our portfolio underperforming and on our watch list. We've been very pleased with the performance of our borrowers operating in a higher interest rate environment in recent years, and we believe this is a testament to Bain Capital's disciplined and highly selective underwriting process.

本季信用風險評等趨勢也保持穩定，我們的投資組合中只有一小部分錶現不佳並處於我們的觀察名單上。我們對近年來在較高利率環境下運作的借款人的表現感到非常滿意，我們相信這證明了貝恩資本紀律嚴明且高度選擇性的承銷流程。

Lastly, we also enhanced our capital position during the quarter by attracting new lenders to our platform. We increased the commitments under our secured revolving credit facility by nearly 30% and extended the maturity to mid-2029 from 2026. At the end of the second quarter, our gross and net leverage ratios were 1.03 times and 0.95 times respectively, which are the lower end of our target leverage ratio of 1.0 times to 1.25 times and position us well with ample dry powder to capitalize on new investment opportunities in the current market environment.

最後，我們也透過吸引新的貸方加入我們的平台，在本季增強了我們的資本狀況。我們將擔保循環信貸安排的承諾增加了近 30%，並將期限從 2026 年延長至 2029 年中期。截至第二季末，我們的總槓桿率和淨槓桿率分別為1.03倍和0.95倍，這是我們目標槓桿率1.0倍至1.25倍的下限，使我們擁有充足的乾粉來利用新的槓桿率。當前市場環境下的投資機會。

I will now turn the call over to Mike Boyle, our President, to walk through our investment portfolio in greater detail. Mike?

我現在將把電話轉給我們的總裁 Mike Boyle，以更詳細地介紹我們的投資組合。麥克風？

Thank you, Mike, and good morning everyone. I'll start with our investment activity in the second quarter and then provide an update on trends in our portfolio. New investments made during the second quarter were $307 million into 77 portfolio companies, including $143 million into 11 new companies and $164 million in incremental funding to existing companies.

謝謝你，麥克，大家早安。我將從第二季的投資活動開始，然後提供有關我們投資組合趨勢的最新資訊。第二季對 77 家投資組合公司的新投資為 3.07 億美元，其中包括對 11 家新公司的 1.43 億美元投資以及對現有公司的增量融資 1.64 億美元。

Sales and repayment activity totaled approximately $474 million in the quarter, although $271 million of the sale activity was into our joint ventures.

本季的銷售和還款活動總計約 4.74 億美元，儘管其中 2.71 億美元的銷售活動流入了我們的合資企業。

All of this activity resulted in a net harvesting of our investments of $167 million quarter-over-quarter. Our new fundings were split between new and existing portfolio companies as we leveraged our long standing relationships with private equity sponsors, who valued our industry expertise to help them grow and execute on their longer term business plans.

所有這些活動使我們的投資環比淨收益達 1.67 億美元。我們的新資金被分配給新的和現有的投資組合公司，因為我們利用了與私募股權贊助商的長期關係，他們重視我們的行業專業知識，以幫助他們發展和執行長期業務計劃。

This quarter, we remain focused on investing in first lien senior secured loans with 86% of our new fundings into first lien structures. 9% of our investment activity was into investment vehicles, which included an additional contribution to the senior loan program.

本季度，我們仍專注於投資第一留置權優先擔保貸款，其中 86% 的新資金投入第一留置權結構。我們 9% 的投資活動涉及投資工具，其中包括對高級貸款計劃的額外捐款。

Sales and repayment activity across the portfolio was elevated relative to prior periods as we continued to ramp our joint venture investment into the SLP, which has been producing attractive return on equities for our shareholders with an inception-to-date return of about 16%.

隨著我們繼續增加對SLP 的合資投資，整個投資組合的銷售和還款活動相對於前期有所增加，SLP 為我們的股東帶來了有吸引力的股本回報，成立至今的回報率約為16%。

Turning now to the investment portfolio, at the end of the second quarter, the size of our investment portfolio at fair value was approximately $2.2 billion across a highly diversified set of 154 portfolio companies operating across 32 industries. Our portfolio primarily consists of investments in first Lien senior secured loans, given our focus on downside management and investing in the top of the capital structure.

現在轉向投資組合，截至第二季末，我們的投資組合以公允價值計算的規模約為 22 億美元，涉及 32 個行業的 154 家高度多元化的投資組合公司。鑑於我們專注於下行管理和投資於資本結構的頂層，我們的投資組合主要包括對第一留置權優先擔保貸款的投資。

As of June 30, 63% of the investment portfolio at fair value was in first lien debt, 5% in second lien or subordinated debt, and 9% in equity and other interests. The remaining 17% of the portfolio is invested in our joint ventures, including 11% in the international Senior loan program and 6% in the senior loan program, both of which are primarily invested in first lien loans.

截至6月30日，以公允價值計算的投資組合中63%為第一留置權債務，5%為第二留置權或次級債務，9%為股權及其他權益。投資組合的其餘17%投資於我們的合資企業，其中11%投資於國際高級貸款計劃，6%投資於高級貸款計劃，兩者主要投資於第一留置權貸款。

As of June 30, 2024 the weighted average yield on the investment portfolio at amortized cost and fair value were 13.1% and 13.2% respectively, as compared to 12.9% and 13% respectively as of March 30, 2024. 93% of our debt investments bear interest at a floating rate, positioning the company favorably in today's higher interest rate environment.

截至2024年6月30日，投資組合的攤餘成本和公平價值加權平均收益率分別為13.1%和13.2%，而截至2024年3月30日分別為12.9%和13%。 93%以浮動利率承擔利息，使該公司在當今較高的利率環境中處於有利地位。

Moving on to portfolio credit quality trends, our credit fundamentals remain very healthy. As Mike highlighted earlier, we saw stable trends within our internal risk rating scale quarter-over-quarter risk rating one and two investments, which indicate that a company is performing in line or better than expectations relative to our underwrite, totaled 97% of the portfolio as of June 30, unchanged from the prior quarter.

轉向投資組合信用品質趨勢，我們的信用基本面仍然非常健康。正如麥克先前強調的那樣，我們在內部風險評級範圍內看到了穩定的趨勢，季度環比風險評級一級和二級投資，這表明公司的表現符合或優於我們承保的預期，總計 97%截至6月30 日的投資組合與上一季持平。

Risk rating three and four companies are underperforming investments comprised only 3% of our portfolio at fair value. Investments on nonaccrual improved quarter-over-quarter to 1.2% and 1% of the total investment portfolio and amortized cost and fair value respectively, down from 1.7% and 1.0% respectively in the prior quarter. This was primarily driven by the realization of one non-accrual in the quarter exited at the fair value from last quarter.

風險評級為三級和四級的公司表現不佳，以公平價值計算，投資僅占我們投資組合的 3%。非應計投資分別佔總投資組合、攤餘成本和公允價值的 1.2% 和 1%，低於上一季的 1.7% 和 1.0%。這主要是由於本季度實現了一項非應計費用，並以上第一季的公允價值退出。

As a reminder, Bain Capital's platform has deep restructuring of workout capabilities to utilize, if needed to maximize value for our shareholders. We believe this deep bench of expertise positions us and our platform well throughout various market environments, especially today's higher interest rates environment.

提醒一下，貝恩資本的平台對鍛鍊能力進行了深度重組，以便在需要時利用，為我們的股東實現價值最大化。我們相信，這種深厚的專業知識使我們和我們的平台能夠在各種市場環境中保持良好的地位，尤其是當今的利率較高的環境。

We would also mention that performance across our 100-plus companies within our underlying JVs continue to perform well consistent with the trends in our broader portfolio.

我們還要提到的是，我們基礎合資企業內 100 多家公司的業績繼續與我們更廣泛的投資組合的趨勢保持良好一致。

Amit will now provide a more detailed financial review.

阿米特現在將提供更詳細的財務審查。

Thank you, Mike and good morning everyone. I'll start the review of our second-quarter 2024 results with our income statement. Total investment income was $72.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024, as compared to $74.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The decrease in investment income was primarily driven by the decrease in other income.

謝謝你，麥克，大家早安。我將從損益表開始回顧 2024 年第二季的業績。截至2024年6月30日止三個月的總投資收益為7,230萬美元，而截至2024年3月31日止三個月的總投資收益為7,450萬美元。投資收益下降主要是其他收入下降所致。

Our investment income continues to benefit from high quality sources of investment income, largely driven by contractual cash income across its investments. Interest income and dividend income represented 96% of our total investment income in Q2.

我們的投資收入繼續受益於高品質的投資收入來源，這主要是由其投資的合約現金收入所驅動的。利息收入和股息收入佔第二季總投資收入的96%。

Total expenses before taxes for the second quarter was $38 million as compared to $39.5 million in the first quarter. Net investment income for the quarter was $33.1 million or $0.51 per share, as compared to $34 million or $0.53 per share for the prior quarter.

第二季稅前總支出為 3,800 萬美元，而第一季為 3,950 萬美元。本季的淨投資收益為 3,310 萬美元，即每股 0.51 美元，而上一季的淨投資收益為 3,400 萬美元，即每股 0.53 美元。

During the three month ended June 30, 2024, the company had a net realized and unrealized losses of $4 million. Net income for three months ended June 30, 2024 was $29.1 million or $0.45 per share.

截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的三個月內，該公司的已實現和未實現淨虧損為 400 萬美元。截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的三個月淨利為 2,910 萬美元，即每股 0.45 美元。

Moving over to our balance sheet, as of June 30, our investment portfolio at fair value total $2.2 billion and total assets of $2.4 billion. Total net assets were $1.1 billion as of June 30. NAV per share was $17.70, unchanged from $17.70 at the end of first quarter. As we demonstrated, strong NII over earning our dividend, coupled with stable credit quality across our portfolio.

轉向我們的資產負債表，截至 6 月 30 日，我們的投資組合公允價值總計 22 億美元，總資產為 24 億美元。截至 6 月 30 日，總淨資產為 11 億美元。每股資產淨值為 17.70 美元，與第一季末的 17.70 美元持平。正如我們所展示的，強勁的NII超過了我們的股息，加上我們投資組合中穩定的信用品質。

At the end of Q2, our debt to equity ratio was 1.03 times as compared to 1.19 times for the end of Q1. Our net leverage ratio, which represents principal debt outstanding, less cash and unsettled rates was 0.095 times at the end of Q2 as compared to 1.09 times at the end of Q1.

在第二季末，我們的負債股本比率為 1.03 倍，而第一季末為 1.19 倍。我們的淨槓桿率（代表未償本金債務減去現金和未結算利率）在第二季末為 0.095 倍，而第一季末為 1.09 倍。

As Mike highlighted earlier, we further strengthened our capital position through increasing the commitment under the Sumitomo revolver credit facility to $855 million, up from $665 million, and extending the maturity date to May 2029 from December 2026.

正如麥克先前強調的那樣，我們透過將住友左輪信貸安排下的承諾從6.65 億美元增加到8.55 億美元，並將到期日從2026 年12 月延長至2029 年5 月，進一步增強了我們的資本狀況。

We were pleased with our ability to attract new lenders to the facility and we were able to hold the terms on our existing facility constant. As of June 30, approximately 49% of our outstanding debt was in floating rate date debt and 51% was in fixed rate debt. Our debt funding continues to benefit from low fixed rate debt structures.

我們對吸引新貸款人加入設施的能力感到滿意，並且能夠保持現有設施的條款不變。截至 6 月 30 日，我們的未償債務中約 49% 為浮動利率債務，51% 為固定利率債務。我們的債務融資持續受益於低固定利率債務結構。

For the three month ended June 30, 2024, the weighted average interest rate on our debt outstanding was 5.1% as compared to 5.2% as of the prior quarter end. The weighted average maturity across our debt commitment was approximately 4.8 years as of June 30, 2024. Liquidity at quarter end totaled $712 million, including $617 million of undrawn capacity on our revolving credit facility, $98 million of cash and cash equivalent, including $67 million of restricted cash and negative $3 million of unsettled trade net of receivables and payables of investments.

截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的三個月，我們的未償債務加權平均利率為 5.1%，而上一季末為 5.2%。截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日，我們債務承諾的加權平均期限約為 4.8 年。季度末的流動性總額為7.12 億美元，包括循環信貸額度中未提取的6.17 億美元、現金和現金等價物9,800 萬美元，其中包括6,700 萬美元的限制性現金以及扣除投資應收賬款和應付賬款後的負300 萬美元的未結算貿易淨額。

Subsequent to quarter end, our board declared a third quarter 2024 dividend equal to $0.42 per share and a special dividend as previously announced of $0.03 per share bringing total Q3 dividend to $0.45 share. Both dividends are payable on October 31, 2024 to stockholders of record on September 30, 2024.

季度末後，我們的董事會宣布 2024 年第三季股息為每股 0.42 美元，以及先前宣布的每股 0.03 美元的特別股息，使第三季股息總額達到 0.45 美元。兩次股利均將於2024年10月31日支付給2024年9月30日登記在冊的股東。

As a reminder, our Board declared a total of $0.12 per share additional dividend driven by our strong over earnings in 2023. We intend to pay these special dividend installments of $0.03 per share each quarter throughout the current year.

謹此提醒，由於我們 2023 年強勁的超額獲利，我們的董事會宣布追加每股 0.12 美元的額外股息。我們打算在今年每季支付每股 0.03 美元的特別股息。

We currently estimate that our spillover income totaled approximately $0.99 per share, representing over 2 times of our quarterly regular dividend. We will continue to monitor our undistributed earning against prudent capital management considerations.

我們目前估計我們的溢出收入總計約為每股 0.99 美元，相當於我們季度定期股息的 2 倍以上。我們將繼續根據審慎的資本管理考量來監控我們的未分配利潤。

With that, I'll turn the call back to Mike Ewald for closing remarks.

接下來，我將把電話轉回給麥克‧埃瓦爾德 (Mike Ewald)，讓其致閉幕詞。

Thanks Amit. And so, in closing here, we are pleased to deliver another quarter of attractive earnings for our shareholders with NII well in excess of our dividend and stable NAV, as our underlying borrowers continue to perform well.

謝謝阿米特。因此，最後，我們很高興為我們的股東再帶來一個季度有吸引力的收益，NII 遠遠超過我們的股息和穩定的資產淨值，因為我們的基礎借款人繼續表現良好。

Bain Capital credit remains well positioned to execute on its direct lending strategy, given our platform's expertise, resources and relationships that have been built on 25-plus years of experience investing in the core metal market. We remain committed to delivering value for our shareholders through producing attractive ROEs. And thank you for the privilege of managing our shareholders capital.

鑑於我們平台的專業知識、資源和關係是建立在 25 多年核心金屬市場投資經驗基礎上的，貝恩資本信貸仍然處於執行其直接貸款策略的有利位置。我們仍然致力於透過產生有吸引力的股本回報率為股東創造價值。感謝您有幸管理我們的股東資本。

Marjorie, please open the line for questions.

瑪喬麗，請撥打電話提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Derek Hewett, Bank of America.

德里克·休伊特，美國銀行。

Good morning, everyone. I'm not sure if you addressed this in your opening comments, but could you talk about the 20 basis points increase in the overall portfolio yield seems to be an outlier relative to what we were seeing this earnings season?

大家早安。我不確定您是否在開場白中談到了這一點，但您能否談談總體投資組合收益率增長 20 個基點，相對於我們在本財報季看到的情況來說，似乎是一個異常值？

A key component of the increased yield is the fact that we sold a number of our investments down into the senior loan program joint venture. As a reminder, that's a joint venture that's intended to hold many of the lower yielding assets off balance sheet, rather than keeping them on our balance sheet, and give us the flexibility to operate seamlessly in a market where spreads are tightening. And so really, that optimization of assets between the balance sheet and the SLP is a key part of what drove that increase in the yields quarter-over-quarter.

收益率增加的關鍵因素是我們將一些投資出售給了高級貸款計劃合資企業。提醒一下，這是一家合資企業，旨在將許多收益率較低的資產保留在資產負債表之外，而不是保留在我們的資產負債表上，並讓我們能夠靈活地在利差收緊的市場中無縫運作。事實上，資產負債表和 SLP 之間的資產優化是推動收益率逐季成長的關鍵部分。

Because as a reminder, both the SLP and our balance sheet focus on those first lien investments that are, we're in a market where there is some spread tightening, as we noted in our remarks. But we think we've set up a structure that works really well for this type of market environment.

因為提醒一下，SLP 和我們的資產負債表都專注於那些第一留置權投資，即我們所處的市場利差有所收緊，正如我們在評論中指出的那樣。但我們認為我們已經建立了一個非常適合這種市場環境的結構。

Okay. And then, in terms of the -- of interest coverage, did you mention what interest coverage was for the second quarter?

好的。然後，就利息覆蓋率而言，您是否提到第二季的利息覆蓋率是多少？

We did not highlight that specifically across the portfolio, but it is still more than 2 times, when we look at the median interest coverage across the portfolio. And we've run as we've talked about in prior quarters, a number of stress tests, really looking at prolonged interest rates, floating rate up at this level, as well as interest rate improvement from here or increase from here, excuse me. And that we feel like anything that has any meaningful interest coverage degradation is in our risk rating three and four basket. So I think the results of our interest rate sensitivities on the asset by asset basis are reflected in both the marks and the risk ratings of the portfolio.

我們沒有在整個投資組合中具體強調這一點，但當我們查看整個投資組合的中位數利息覆蓋率時，它仍然超過 2 倍。正如我們在前幾個季度談到的那樣，我們進行了一系列壓力測試，真正著眼於長期利率、在此水平上浮動利率，以及利率從這裡改善或從這裡增加，請原諒。我們認為任何具有有意義的利息覆蓋率下降的事物都在我們的風險評級三級和四級籃子中。因此，我認為我們對資產的利率敏感性結果反映在投資組合的分數和風險評級中。

Okay, thank you for that. And then my last question is just pick in comments. It's about 8% of total investment revenue. Right now it's only up about 1% quarter-over-quarter. But at what level would you start to get a little bit concerned about pick and then kind of, how would you characterize it? Is it kind of structured into the, was it structured into the original investment, or was this is the pick mainly related to amendments and other credit deterioration issues?

好的，謝謝你。然後我的最後一個問題只是在評論中挑選。約佔總投資收入的8%。目前，環比僅增長約 1%。但是在什麼水平上你會開始有點擔心選秀權，然後你會如何描述它？它是否被納入原始投資中，或者這是否主要與修訂和其他信用惡化問題有關？

Sure. So the vast majority of the pick really comes from structures in the original investment thesis, and those come from opportunities where we were more junior in the capital stack. So on occasion, we are doing a more second lean or kind of pick junior capital investment.

當然。因此，絕大多數的選擇實際上來自原始投資論文中的結構，而這些結構來自我們在資本堆疊中處於初級階段的機會。因此，有時我們會進行二次投資或挑選初級資本投資。

And so we do have a large portion of the pick comes from those original underwritten pick streams. There are some situations where we're doing amendments and adding pick to the portfolio as well, in terms of getting increased yield on an underperforming company. But again, the majority really comes from the original underwritten investment that we're making.

因此，我們確實有很大一部分選秀權來自那些原始承保選秀流。在某些情況下，我們會進行修正並在投資組合中加入選擇，以提高表現不佳的公司的收益率。但同樣，大部分確實來自我們正在進行的原始承保投資。

Paul Johnson, KBW

保羅·約翰遜，KBW

Thanks for taking my questions. I'm curious, for the loans that go into the JV, do any of those loans, given that the tick is kind of an option, the underwriting thesis, do or any of those loans in the either the JVs tick loans and are you able to kind of characterize how much of the income side of those JVs is currently?

感謝您回答我的問題。我很好奇，對於進入合資企業的貸款，做任何這些貸款，考慮到勾選是一種選擇，承銷論文，做或任何合資企業勾選貸款中的任何貸款，你是嗎？合資企業目前的收入有多少？

So the pick level of the joint ventures is very low. Those are not structurally picked loans that end up being traded down into those -- down into the ISLP or the SLP. So I would note that the interest income that's picked in both joint ventures is very low, particularly lower than compared to what's on balance sheet.

所以合資企業的選擇水準很低。這些貸款並不是從結構上挑選出來的，最終會被降級為 ISLP 或 SLP。因此，我要指出的是，兩家合資企業的利息收入都非常低，特別是低於資產負債表上的利息收入。

That's helpful. And then just on the performance of the JVs, I was wondering if you can kind of maybe talk to high level how those are performing non-accruals and such. They've been obviously performing very well for you so far, but I look at 18% trailing return on the SLP fund. That's obviously a very strong return for any kind of JV. So you just kind of talk to that. What's really driven that strong performance?

這很有幫助。然後就合資企業的表現而言，我想知道您是否可以與高層談談這些企業如何執行非應計費用等。到目前為止，他們顯然對你來說表現非常好，但我看到 SLP 基金的追蹤回報率為 18%。對於任何類型的合資企業來說，這顯然都是非常強勁的回報。所以你只是談談這個。到底是什麼推動如此強勁的表現？

So starting with the SLP, I would say non accruals have been lower than what we've seen on our balance sheet and so they are closer to kind of 1.5% to 2% versus the 3% of our risk rating threes and fours on balance sheet. So it is a very healthy portfolio in the SLP. And that, again, is driven by the fact that those assets are lower risk, lower spread originated in North America. And so that has been a very healthy portfolio to-date.

因此，從 SLP 開始，我想說，非應計費用低於我們在資產負債表上看到的水平，因此它們更接近 1.5% 至 2%，而我們的風險評級總體上為 3%床單。所以這是 SLP 中一個非常健康的投資組合。這又是由這些資產源自北美的風險較低、利差較低這一事實所推動的。因此，迄今為止，這是一個非常健康的投資組合。

In terms of the ISLP, where we are focused on international exposures, we've seen a slight uptick in non-accruals, but again still in line with what we're seeing on balance sheet. We've seen that trailing return out of the ISLP has been about 12% since inception, reflecting the fact that there is solid underlying credit health there. We have seen a couple of new non accruals, or one in particular, new non-accrual, come up in the ISLP that has not yet defaulted or had a covenant breach.

就 ISLP 而言，我們專注於國際風險敞口，我們看到非應計項目略有上升，但仍與我們在資產負債表上看到的情況一致。我們看到，自成立以來，ISLP 的追蹤回報約為 12%，這反映出該計畫具有堅實的基礎信用健康狀況。我們已經看到 ISLP 中出現了一些新的非應計費用，或特別是一種新的非應計費用，但尚未違約或違反契約。

But we are keeping our eye on what the ultimate outcome will be for that investment and so some of the decrease in the ISLP mark this quarter was actually from that one new non-accrual, held primarily in the ISLP because it is a loan in the UK. But even in spite of that one name on non-accrual, we're still seeing that strong performance in the ISLP continuing.

但我們正在密切關注該投資的最終結果，因此本季度 ISLP 標記的部分下降實際上是由於一項新的非應計項目主要由 ISLP 持有，因為它是在 ISLP 中的貸款。但即使有一個非權責發生製名稱，我們仍然看到 ISLP 的強勁表​​現仍在繼續。

That's very helpful commentary. And then just kind of in terms of like the relative value currently spreads have obviously come in very meaningfully in the US middle market. Do you have any kind of preference in terms of relative value between kind of the international market versus the United States?

這是非常有幫助的評論。然後，就目前的相對價值而言，利差顯然在美國中間市場非常有意義。就國際市場與美國市場的相對價值而言，您有什麼偏好嗎？

Thanks, Paul. Look, I think at this point they're still pretty equivalent. It certainly doesn't change, really day-to-day or week-to-week. It's more kind of quarter-to-quarter. We obviously have seen some rate cutting happen in Europe already, which we haven't seen in the US, so we're certainly mindful of that.

謝謝，保羅。看，我認為在這一點上它們仍然相當相當。它當然不會改變，真的是日復一日或週復一週。更像是按季度計算。顯然，我們已經看到歐洲已經發生了一些降息，但在美國還沒有看到，所以我們當然會注意到這一點。

But from an overall creditworthiness perspective, things like relative spreads, when you account for currency hedging, when you think about leverage levels, when you think about competitive positioning of the underlying portfolio companies, I'd say today it's pretty equivalent between US and Europe, and Australia has always just been kind of a steady 5%-ish, plus or minus contributor.

但從整體信用度的角度來看，當你考慮貨幣對沖時，當你考慮槓桿水平時，當你考慮基礎投資組合公司的競爭定位時，相對利差之類的事情，我想說今天美國和歐洲之間的情況相當相似，而澳洲一直是穩定的 5% 左右的貢獻者。

Thank you. And I'd like to turn the call back over to our speakers for any additional or closing remarks.

謝謝。我想將電話轉回給我們的發言人，請其發表補充或結束語。

Thanks, Marguerite. And thanks, everyone, again for your time today and your attention as we went through our second quarter results here. We look forward to speaking with you again once we've got our third quarter results ready to go. Thanks again, and have good days. Cheers.

謝謝，瑪格麗特。再次感謝大家今天抽出時間來關注我們第二季的業績。一旦我們準備好第三季的業績，我們期待再次與您交談。再次感謝，祝你日子愉快。乾杯。

This concludes today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect at anytime.

今天的節目到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以隨時斷開連線。