Saratoga Investment Corp (SAR) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Saratoga Investment Corp.'s Fiscal Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

早上好，女士們，先生們。謝謝你的支持。歡迎參加 Saratoga Investment Corp. 的 2022 財年第三季度財務業績電話會議。請注意，今天的通話正在錄音中。 （操作員說明）

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Saratoga Investment Corp.'s Chief Financial and Compliance Officer, Mr. Henri Steenkamp. Please go ahead, sir.

此時，我想將電話轉給 Saratoga Investment Corp. 的首席財務和合規官 Henri Steenkamp 先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you. I would like to welcome everyone to Saratoga Investment Corp. Fiscal Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference call includes forward-looking statements and projections. We ask you to refer to our most recent filings with the SEC for important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements and projections. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements unless required to do so by law.

謝謝你。我想歡迎大家參加 Saratoga Investment Corp. 2022 財年第三季度收益電話會議。今天的電話會議包括前瞻性陳述和預測。我們要求您參考我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，了解可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述和預測產生重大差異的重要因素。除非法律要求，否則我們不承諾更新我們的前瞻性陳述。

Today, we will be referencing a presentation during our call. You can find our fiscal third quarter 2022 shareholder presentation in the Events and Presentations section of our Investor Relations website. A link to our IR page is in the earnings press release distributed last night.

今天，我們將在通話期間參考一個演示文稿。您可以在我們的投資者關係網站的活動和演示部分找到我們 2022 財年第三季度的股東演示。我們的 IR 頁面的鏈接在昨晚發布的收益新聞稿中。

A replay of this conference call will also be available from 1:00 p.m. today through January 13. Please refer to our earnings press release for details.

本次電話會議的重播也將在下午 1:00 開始提供。從今天到 1 月 13 日。詳情請參閱我們的收益新聞稿。

I would now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Christian Oberbeck, who will be making a few introductory remarks.

我現在想把電話轉給我們的董事長兼首席執行官克里斯蒂安·奧伯貝克，他將做一些介紹性發言。

Thank you, Henri, and welcome, everyone. Our fiscal 2022 third quarter performance continues to reflect the strength and resilience of our financial position and portfolio companies. Despite the unprecedented global impact and continuation of COVID-19 impacts, we feel very fortunate to have overcome its challenges thus far and to be in a position to benefit from the upside of the ongoing recovery and substantial increase in market activity.

謝謝你，Henri，歡迎大家。我們 2022 財年第三季度的業績繼續反映我們的財務狀況和投資組合公司的實力和韌性。儘管前所未有的全球影響和 COVID-19 影響的持續，我們感到非常幸運能夠克服迄今為止的挑戰，並能夠從持續復甦和市場活動的大幅增加中受益。

We believe Saratoga continues to be well positioned for potential future economic opportunities and challenges. Our existing portfolio companies are performing well, and our current business development activities allow us to find and evaluate a healthy level of new investments.

我們相信薩拉託加將繼續為潛在的未來經濟機遇和挑戰做好準備。我們現有的投資組合公司表現良好，我們目前的業務發展活動使我們能夠找到並評估健康水平的新投資。

Our AUM contracted slightly this quarter to $662 million as we originated $59 million in new platforms or follow-on investments offset by $66 million of repayments, including a $7.3 million realized gain on the sale of our GreyHeller investment and a $2.6 million realized gain on our Texas Teachers investment. These investment gains demonstrate how our strategy of taking equity positions in our portfolio companies when available and when it makes sense to us, has paid off well. With this quarter's $10 million of realized gains, increasing our total net realized gains earned to $61 million or approximately $5 per quarter end outstanding shares over the past 4 years.

本季度我們的資產管理規模小幅收縮至 6.62 億美元，因為我們發起了 5900 萬美元的新平台或後續投資，被 6600 萬美元的還款所抵消，其中包括出售我們的 GreyHeller 投資的 730 萬美元的已實現收益和我們的 260 萬美元的已實現收益德州教師投資。這些投資收益表明，我們在可用且對我們有意義的情況下，在投資組合公司中持有股權的策略如何獲得了良好的回報。憑藉本季度 1000 萬美元的已實現收益，我們在過去 4 年中獲得的總淨已實現收益增加至 6100 萬美元或每季度末流通股約 5 美元。

We continue to bring new platform investments into the portfolio with 2 added this fiscal quarter, and all of our originations were made while again an extremely high credit bar we set for all investments.

我們繼續將新的平台投資引入投資組合，本財政季度增加了 2 個，我們所有的發起都是在我們為所有投資設定的極高信用額度的同時進行的。

The performance of our existing portfolio also grew our NAV per share by 1% this quarter to $29.17. Again, a historical record for the BDC with this quarter's increase being the 16th increase in the past 18 quarters.

我們現有投資組合的表現也使我們本季度的每股資產淨值增長了 1% 至 29.17 美元。再次創下 BDC 的歷史記錄，本季度的增長是過去 18 個季度中的第 16 次增長。

To briefly recap the past quarter on Slide 2. First, we continue to strengthen our financial foundation in Q3 by maintaining a high level of investment credit quality with over 95% of our loan investments retaining our highest credit rating at quarter end, up from 93% last quarter, generating a return on equity of 14.6% on a trailing 12-month basis and registering a gross unlevered IRR of 11.9% on our total unrealized portfolio with our current fair value 3% above the total cost of our portfolio and a gross unlevered IRR of 16.4% on total realizations of $753 million.

在幻燈片 2 上簡要回顧上個季度。首先，我們通過保持高水平的投資信用質量繼續加強我們在第三季度的財務基礎，超過 95% 的貸款投資在季度末保持了我們的最高信用評級，高於 93 % 上個季度，在過去 12 個月的基礎上產生 14.6% 的股本回報率，並在我們的總未實現投資組合中登記了 11.9% 的總無槓桿內部收益率，我們當前的公允價值比我們投資組合的總成本高 3%，總無槓桿內部收益率為 16.4%，總變現額為 7.53 億美元。

Second: Our assets under management decreased slightly to $662 million this quarter, a 1% decrease from $666 million as of last quarter. This remains a 21% increase from $547 million over the same time last year and a 19% increase from $554 million as of year-end.

第二：本季度我們管理的資產小幅下降至 6.62 億美元，比上一季度的 6.66 億美元下降 1%。這仍比去年同期的 5.47 億美元增長 21%，比截至年底的 5.54 億美元增長 19%。

Our new originations included 2 new portfolio companies and 6 follow-on investments, and our current pipeline remains robust to almost $120 million of net originations since quarter end.

我們的新發起項目包括 2 家新的投資組合公司和 6 項後續投資，我們目前的管道仍然強勁，自季度末以來淨發起項目接近 1.2 億美元。

Third: Despite improving economic conditions, balance sheet strength and liquidity and NAV preservation remain paramount for us. Our current capital structure at quarter end was strong. $343 million of mark-to-market equity supported by $238 million of long-term covenant-free non-SBIC debt, $207 million of long-term covenant-free SBIC debentures and $12.5 million of long-term revolving credit borrowings.

第三：儘管經濟狀況有所改善，但資產負債表實力和流動性以及資產淨值保持對我們來說仍然至關重要。我們目前在季度末的資本結構很強勁。 3.43 億美元的市值股權，由 2.38 億美元的長期無契約非 SBIC 債務、2.07 億美元的長期無契約 SBIC 債券和 1250 萬美元的長期循環信貸借款支持。

Our quarter end regulatory leverage of 237% substantially exceeds our 150% requirement. We have $258 million of liquidity at quarter end available to support our portfolio companies with $76 million of the total dedicated to new and follow-on opportunities in our SBIC II fund. And a $144 million of cash that will be fully accretive to earnings when deployed, of which more than 3/4 has already been deployed since quarter end. The all-in cost of this new SBIC II that is currently less than 2% and the total committed undrawn lending commitments outstanding to existing portfolio companies are $21 million.

我們季度末 237% 的監管槓桿大大超過了我們 150% 的要求。我們在季度末有 2.58 億美元的流動資金可用於支持我們的投資組合公司，其中 7600 萬美元專門用於我們 SBIC II 基金的新機會和後續機會。以及 1.44 億美元的現金在部署時將完全增加收益，其中超過 3/4 自季度末以來已經部署。這個新的 SBIC II 目前低於 2% 的總成本以及對現有投資組合公司的未提取貸款承諾總額為 2100 萬美元。

And finally, based on our overall performance, including improved liquidity, the overall portfolio and financial performance and the recent deployments of cash, the Board of Directors increased our quarterly dividend by $0.01 to $0.53 per share for the quarter ended November 30, 2021, payable on January 19, 2021. We will continue to evaluate the amount of our dividends on a quarterly basis as we gain improved visibility on the economy and fundamental business performance.

最後，根據我們的整體表現，包括改善的流動性、整體投資組合和財務表現以及最近的現金部署，董事會將截至 2021 年 11 月 30 日的季度股息增加 0.01 美元至每股 0.53 美元，應付2021 年 1 月 19 日。隨著我們對經濟和基本業務業績的可見性提高，我們將繼續按季度評估股息金額。

This quarter saw a strong performance within our key performance indicators as compared to the quarters ended November 30, 2020, and August 31, 2021. Our adjusted NII is $6.1 million this quarter, up 10% versus $5.5 million last year and down 13% versus $7 million last quarter. Our adjusted NII per share is $0.53 this quarter, up from $0.50 last quarter and down from $0.63 last quarter.

與截至 2020 年 11 月 30 日和 2021 年 8 月 31 日的季度相比，本季度我們的關鍵績效指標表現強勁。本季度調整後的 NII 為 610 萬美元，比去年的 550 萬美元增長 10%，比去年同期下降 13%上個季度 700 萬美元。我們本季度調整後的每股 NII 為 0.53 美元，高於上個季度的 0.50 美元，低於上個季度的 0.63 美元。

Latest 12 months return on equity is 14.6%, up from 11% last year and up from 14.4% last quarter. Our NAV per share is $29.17, up 9% from $26.84 last year and up 1% from $28.97 last quarter. This is the highest quarterly NAV per share for Saratoga Investment since inception of our management in 2010. Henri will provide more detail later.

最近 12 個月的股本回報率為 14.6%，高於去年的 11%，高於上一季度的 14.4%。我們的每股資產淨值為 29.17 美元，比去年的 26.84 美元增長 9%，比上一季度的 28.97 美元增長 1%。這是自 2010 年我們的管理層成立以來，Saratoga Investment 的最高季度每股資產淨值。Henri 稍後將提供更多細節。

As you can see on Slide 3, our assets under managed steadily and consistently risen since we took over the BDC more than 11 years ago, and the quality of our credits remains high with no nonaccruals currently. Our management team is working diligently to continue this positive trend as we deploy our available capital into our growing pipeline while at the same time being appropriately cautious in this evolving credit environment.

正如您在幻燈片 3 中看到的那樣，自我們 11 多年前接管 BDC 以來，我們管理的資產穩步持續上升，我們的信用質量仍然很高，目前沒有非應計項目。我們的管理團隊正在努力保持這一積極趨勢，因為我們將可用資金部署到我們不斷增長的管道中，同時在這種不斷變化的信貸環境中保持適當的謹慎。

With that, I would like to now turn the call back over to Henri to review our financial results as well as the composition and performance of our portfolio.

有了這個，我現在想把電話轉回亨利，審查我們的財務業績以及我們投資組合的構成和表現。

Thank you, Chris. Slide 4 highlights our key performance metrics for the third quarter ended November 30, 2021. When adjusting for the incentive fee accrual related to net capital gains in the second incentive fee calculation, and for Q2 calculations, the interest on the redeemed SAF baby bond during the core period, adjusted NII of $6.1 million was down 13.0% from $7.0 million last quarter but up 10.1% from $5.5 million as compared to last year's Q3. Adjusted NII per share was $0.53, up $0.03 from $0.50 per share last year and down $0.10 from $0.63 per share last quarter.

謝謝你，克里斯。幻燈片 4 突出顯示了我們截至 2021 年 11 月 30 日的第三季度的關鍵績效指標。在第二次激勵費計算中調整與淨資本收益相關的激勵費應計，以及在第二季度的計算中，贖回的 SAF 嬰兒債券的利息核心期間，調整後的 NII 為 610 萬美元，比上一季度的 700 萬美元下降 13.0%，但比去年第三季度的 550 萬美元增長 10.1%。調整後的每股 NII 為 0.53 美元，比去年的每股 0.50 美元上漲 0.03 美元，比上一季度的每股 0.63 美元下降 0.10 美元。

Across the 3 quarters, weighted average common shares outstanding were 11.5 million for this Q3 and 11.2 million for both last quarter and last year's Q3. The increase in adjusted NII from last year primarily reflects the higher level of investments and result in higher interest and other income, with AUM up 21% from last year, offset by lower interest rates and tighter market spreads. The decrease from Q2 was primarily due to the nonrecurrence of the $0.6 million Taco Mac interest reserve release last quarter as well as the reduction in other income resulting from lower advisory and prepayment fees generated by lower originations and repayments this quarter. Adjusted NII yield was 7.3%. This yield is down 10 basis points from 7.4% last year and down 140 basis points from 8.7% last quarter.

在三個季度中，第三季度的加權平均已發行普通股為 1150 萬股，上一季度和去年第三季度均為 1120 萬股。調整後淨資產收益率較去年增加主要反映了較高的投資水平，導致利息和其他收入增加，資產管理規模較去年增長 21%，但被較低的利率和收窄的市場利差所抵消。與第二季度相比的減少主要是由於上季度 60 萬美元的 Taco Mac 利息儲備釋放的非經常性以及由於本季度較低的發起和還款產生的較低的諮詢和預付款費用導致的其他收入減少。調整後的 NII 收率為 7.3%。這一收益率比去年的 7.4% 下降了 10 個基點，比上一季度的 8.7% 下降了 140 個基點。

For this third quarter, we experienced a net gain on investments of $3.9 million or $0.34 per weighted average share and a $0.8 million realized loss on the repayment and termination of our Madison credit facility or $0.07 per weighted average share, resulting in a total increase in net assets from operations of $8.3 million or $0.73 per share or EPS. The $3.9 million net gain on investments was comprised of $9.9 million in realized gains and $2.5 million of deferred tax benefit on unrealized depreciation, offset by $6 million in net unrealized depreciation and $2.4 million of income tax expense generated from realized gains.

在第三季度，我們的投資淨收益為 390 萬美元或加權平均每股 0.34 美元，償還和終止我們的麥迪遜信貸額度或加權平均每股 0.07 美元的已實現損失為 80 萬美元，導致總投資增加運營淨資產為 830 萬美元或每股 0.73 美元或每股收益。 390 萬美元的投資淨收益包括 990 萬美元的已實現收益和 250 萬美元的未實現折舊遞延稅收優惠，被 600 萬美元的未實現淨折舊和已實現收益產生的 240 萬美元所得稅費用所抵消。

The $3.9 million net realized gain comprises a $7.3 million realized gain on the sale of the company's GreyHeller investment and a $2.6 million realized gain on the company's Texas Teachers investment sale. The $6 million net unrealized depreciation reflects, firstly, the $7.7 million and $2.6 million reversal of previously recognized depreciation on the GreyHeller and Texas Teachers' equity realizations, respectively, and secondly, a $2.6 million unrealized depreciation on the company's CLO equity investment, reflecting market volatility, partially offset by a 1.1% increase in the total value of the remaining portfolio, primarily related to improvements in market spreads, EBITDA multiples and/or revised portfolio company performance.

390 萬美元的已實現淨收益包括出售公司 GreyHeller 投資的 730 萬美元已實現收益和公司出售德克薩斯教師投資的 260 萬美元已實現收益。 600 萬美元的未實現淨折舊首先反映了先前確認的 GreyHeller 和 Texas Teachers 股權變現折舊的 770 萬美元和 260 萬美元的轉回，其次，公司 CLO 股權投資的 260 萬美元未實現折舊反映了市場波動性，部分被剩餘投資組合總價值的 1.1% 增長所抵消，這主要與市場價差、EBITDA 倍數和/或投資組合公司業績的修正有關。

All of the net reduction in the value of the non-CLO portfolio in the first quarter of last year has been more than reversed since May 31, 2020, and the overall portfolio of fair value is now 2.9% above cost.

自 2020 年 5 月 31 日以來，去年第一季度非 CLO 投資組合價值的所有淨減少都被逆轉了，整體公允價值組合現在比成本高出 2.9%。

Return on equity remains an important performance indicator for us, which includes both realized and unrealized gains. Our return on equity was 14.6% for the last 12 months. Total expenses, excluding interest and debt financing expenses, base management fees and incentive fees and income taxes decreased from $1.6 million to $1.2 million as compared to last year, reflecting certain optimizations realized during Q3 and fiscal 2022. This represented 0.6% of average total assets on an annualized basis down from 1.1% last year.

股本回報率對我們來說仍然是一個重要的業績指標，包括已實現和未實現的收益。過去 12 個月，我們的股本回報率為 14.6%。與去年相比，不包括利息和債務融資費用、基本管理費和激勵費以及所得稅的總費用從 160 萬美元降至 120 萬美元，反映了第三季度和 2022 財年實現的某些優化。這占平均總資產的 0.6%按年率計算，低於去年的 1.1%。

We have also again added the KPI slides, starting from Slides 26 through 29 in the appendix at the end of the presentation that shows our income statement and balance sheet metrics for the past 9 quarters and the upward trends we have maintained. Of particular note is Slide 29, highlighting how our net interest margin run rate has continued to increase in Q3 and has almost quadrupled since Saratoga took over management of the BDC and has also increased by 8% the past 12 months while still not yet receiving the benefit of putting to work a significant amount of Q3 undeployed cash.

我們還再次添加了 KPI 幻燈片，從演示文稿末尾的附錄中的幻燈片 26 到 29 開始，顯示了過去 9 個季度的損益表和資產負債表指標以及我們保持的上升趨勢。特別值得注意的是幻燈片 29，它突出了我們的淨息差運行率如何在第三季度持續增長，並且自薩拉託加接管 BDC 以來幾乎翻了兩番，並且在過去 12 個月中也增長了 8%，但仍未收到將第三季度大量未部署的現金投入工作的好處。

Moving on to Slide 5. NAV was $342.6 million as of this quarter end, an $18.5 million increase from last quarter and a $42.7 million increase from the same quarter last year, primarily driven by realized and unrealized gains and, to a lesser degree, accretive ATM equity issuances. During Q3, no shares were repurchased, while 520,000 shares were sold for net proceeds of $15.2 million at an average price of $29.16.

繼續幻燈片 5。截至本季度末，資產淨值為 3.426 億美元，比上一季度增加 1850 萬美元，比去年同期增加 4270 萬美元，主要受已實現和未實現收益以及較小程度的增值驅動ATM 股票發行。在第三季度，沒有股票被回購，而以 29.16 美元的平均價格以 1520 萬美元的淨收益出售了 520,000 股。

NAV per share as of 11/30 was $29.17, up from $28.97 as of last quarter and from $26.84 as of 12 months ago. You will see we added our historical NAV per share to this chart this quarter, which highlights how NAV per share has increased 16 of the past 18 quarters. Our net asset value growth has been accretive, as demonstrated by the consistent increase in NAV per share. We continue to benefit from our history of consistent realized and unrealized gains.

截至 11/30 的每股資產淨值為 29.17 美元，高於上一季度的 28.97 美元和 12 個月前的 26.84 美元。您將看到我們在本季度將我們的歷史每股資產淨值添加到此圖表中，這突出了過去 18 個季度中的 16 個季度的每股資產淨值如何增長。正如每股資產淨值的持續增長所證明的那樣，我們的淨資產價值增長一直在增長。我們繼續受益於我們一貫的已實現和未實現收益的歷史。

On Slide 6, you will see a simple reconciliation of the major changes in NII and NAV per share on a sequential quarterly basis. Starting at the top, adjusted NII per share decreased from $0.63 per share last quarter to $0.53 per share in Q3, a 0.4% decrease in non-CLO net interest income and $0.09 combined decrease in CLO interest income and other income, a $0.01 increase in base management fees and a $0.01 net dilution were partially offset by a $0.05 from lower operating expenses.

在幻燈片 6 上，您將看到一個簡單的對 NII 和每股 NAV 的主要變化按季度進行的簡單調節。從頂部開始，調整後的每股 NII 從上一季度的每股 0.63 美元下降到第三季度的每股 0.53 美元，非 CLO 淨利息收入下降 0.4%，CLO 利息收入和其他收入合計下降 0.09 美元，同比增長 0.01 美元基本管理費和 0.01 美元的淨稀釋被較低的運營費用帶來的 0.05 美元部分抵消。

Moving on to the lower half of the slide. This reconciles the $0.20 NAV per share increase for the quarter. The $0.45 of GAAP NII, $0.34 of net realized gains and unrealized depreciation and $0.01 of net accretion were partially offset by a $0.01 net expense related to income and deferred taxes on realized gains and unrealized depreciation, the $0.52 dividend paid in Q3 and a $0.07 realized loss on extinguishment of date.

轉到幻燈片的下半部分。這與本季度每股淨資產 0.20 美元的增長相協調。 GAAP NII 的 0.45 美元、0.34 美元的淨實現收益和未實現折舊以及 0.01 美元的淨增值被與收入相關的 0.01 美元淨費用和已實現收益和未實現折舊的遞延稅款、第三季度支付的 0.52 美元股息和已實現的 0.07 美元部分抵消日期終止時的損失。

Slide 7 outlines the dry powder available to us as of November 30, 2021, which totaled $257.6 million. This was spread between our available cash, undrawn SBA debentures and undrawn secured credit facility. This quarter end level of available liquidity allows us to grow our assets by an additional 39% without the need for external financing with $144 million of it being cash and that's fully accretive to NII when deployed, and $76 million of SBA debentures with an all-in cost of less than 2%, also very accretive. As we've mentioned before, this past October, we closed a new 3-year $50 million revolving credit facility with Encina Lender Finance. This facility replaces our existing Madison facility and with a floating rate of LIBOR plus 4% with a 75 basis point floor, has reduced our credit facility cost of capital by 100 basis points.

幻燈片 7 概述了截至 2021 年 11 月 30 日我們可用的干粉，總額為 2.576 億美元。這分散在我們的可用現金、未提取的 SBA 債券和未提取的擔保信貸額度之間。本季度末可用流動性水平使我們的資產增加了 39%，而無需外部融資，其中 1.44 億美元是現金，部署後對 NII 完全增值，7600 萬美元的 SBA 債券在不到 2% 的成本中，也非常具有增值性。正如我們之前提到的，去年 10 月，我們與 Encina Lender Finance 完成了一項新的 3 年期 5000 萬美元的循環信貸額度。該設施取代了我們現有的麥迪遜設施，並以 LIBOR 加 4% 的浮動利率和 75 個基點的下限，將我們的信貸設施資本成本降低了 100 個基點。

We remain pleased with our available liquidity and leverage position, including access to liquidity and especially taking into account the overall conservative nature of our balance sheet and the fact that almost all of our debt is long term in nature with no non-SBIC debt maturing within the next 3 years and mostly fixed rate.

我們仍然對我們可用的流動性和槓桿頭寸感到滿意，包括獲得流動性，特別是考慮到我們資產負債表的整體保守性質，以及我們幾乎所有的債務都是長期性質的，沒有非 SBIC 債務到期未來 3 年，主要是固定利率。

Now I would like to move on to Slides 8 through 11 and review the composition and yield of our investment portfolio. Slide 8 highlights that we now have $662 million of AUM at fair value or $643 million at cost invested in 42 portfolio companies and 1 CLO fund. Our first lien percentage is 76% of our total investments, of which only 3% of that is in first lien last out positions.

現在我想轉到幻燈片 8 到 11，並回顧一下我們投資組合的構成和收益。幻燈片 8 突出顯示，我們現在擁有 6.62 億美元的公允價值資產或 6.43 億美元的成本投資於 42 家投資組合公司和 1 個 CLO 基金。我們的第一留置權百分比是我們總投資的 76%，其中只有 3% 是在第一留置權後出頭寸中。

On Slide 9, you can see how the yield on our core BDC assets, excluding our CLO and syndicated loans, as well as our total asset yield has dropped below 9% this year. This is partly due to continued tightening of spreads in our markets, but also due to a mix shift of some of our high-yielding assets were repaid this quarter. In addition, our equity position this fiscal year has almost doubled from 5.7% to 10.3% in Q3, but much of that increase is due to the appreciation in existing valuations from strong performance, while some of the equity increase is also in the form of preferred equity earnings, dividend income that is reflected in our other income line in the P&L rather than in interest income.

在幻燈片 9 上，您可以看到我們的核心 BDC 資產的收益率（不包括我們的 CLO 和銀團貸款）以及我們的總資產收益率今年已降至 9% 以下。這部分是由於我們的市場利差持續收緊，但也由於本季度我們償還了一些高收益資產的混合轉移。此外，我們本財年的股權頭寸幾乎翻了一番，從第三季度的 5.7% 增至 10.3%，但這一增長大部分是由於強勁業績導致現有估值升值，而部分股權增長也以優先股收益，即反映在損益表中其他收入線而非利息收入中的股息收入。

As a reminder, most investments have a 100 basis points or higher floor. The CLO yield also decreased to 11.6% quarter-on-quarter, reflecting current market performance. The CLO is currently performing and current.

提醒一下，大多數投資都有 100 個基點或更高的下限。 CLO 收益率也環比下降至 11.6%，反映了當前的市場表現。 CLO 目前正在執行和當前。

Turning to Slide 10. During the third fiscal quarter, we made investments of $58.6 million in 2 new portfolio companies and 6 follow-on investments offset by $66.4 million in 3 repayments plus amortizations, resulting in a net decrease in investments of $7.8 million for the quarter.

轉到幻燈片 10。在第三財季，我們對 2 家新投資組合公司和 6 項後續投資進行了 5860 萬美元的投資，通過 3 次還款和攤銷抵消了 6640 萬美元，導致投資淨減少 780 萬美元。四分之一。

On Slide 11, you can see the industry breadth and diversity that our portfolio represents. Our investments are spread over 34 distinct industries with a large focus on health care software, IT services and education and health care services, in addition to our investment in the CLO, which is included as structured finance securities. Of our total investment portfolio, 10.3% consists of equity interest, which remain an important part of our overall investment strategy.

在幻燈片 11 上，您可以看到我們的產品組合所代表的行業廣度和多樣性。除了我們對 CLO 的投資外，我們的投資分佈在 34 個不同的行業，主要集中在醫療保健軟件、IT 服務以及教育和醫療保健服務，後者被列為結構性金融證券。在我們的總投資組合中，10.3% 由股權組成，這仍然是我們整體投資戰略的重要組成部分。

For the past 10 fiscal years, including year-to-date Q3, we had a combined $72.9 million of net realized gains from the sale of equity interest or sale or early redemption of other investments. This quarter alone, we generated $9.9 million of realized gains from 2 of our realizations. And over 2/3 of these historical total gains were fully accretive to NAV due to the unused capital loss carryforwards that were carried over from when Saratoga took over management of the BDC. This consistent realized gain performance highlights our portfolio credit quality, has helped grow our NAV and is reflected in our healthy long-term ROE.

在過去的 10 個財年中，包括年初至今的第三季度，我們從出售股權或出售或提前贖回其他投資中獲得了總計 7290 萬美元的已實現淨收益。僅本季度，我們就從我們的 2 項實現中產生了 990 萬美元的實現收益。由於薩拉託加接管 BDC 時結轉的未使用資本損失結轉，這些歷史總收益中超過 2/3 完全增加了資產淨值。這種一致的已實現收益表現突出了我們的投資組合信用質量，幫助提高了我們的資產淨值，並反映在我們健康的長期 ROE 中。

That concludes my financial and portfolio review. I will now turn the call over to Michael Grisius, Chief Investment Officer, for an overview of the investment market.

我的財務和投資組合審查到此結束。我現在將把電話轉給首席投資官 Michael Grisius，以了解投資市場的概況。

Thank you, Henri. I'll take a couple of minutes to describe our perspective on the current state of the market and then comment on our current portfolio performance and investment strategy. Since our last update, we see market conditions continuing to be increasingly aggressive, exceeding where they were pre-COVID-19, and very much a borrower's market. Liquidity conditions remain exceptionally robust. We have seen significant transaction volumes and unusually high M&A activity tightening credit yields and greater leverage multiples and an aggressive capital deployment posture overall, especially going into year-end.

謝謝你，亨利。我將花幾分鐘來描述我們對當前市場狀況的看法，然後評論我們當前的投資組合表現和投資策略。自我們上次更新以來，我們看到市場狀況繼續變得越來越激進，超過了 COVID-19 之前的水平，並且非常適合借款人的市場。流動性狀況仍然異常強勁。我們看到大量交易量和異常高的併購活動收緊了信貸收益率和更高的槓桿倍數以及總體上積極的資本部署態勢，尤其是進入年底。

High demand for quality deals is pushing down spreads. Pricing and leverage metrics are among the most competitive levels we've ever seen. As a result, there is increasing pressure for investors to compete in other ways, such as accelerated timing to close and looser covenant restrictions. That said, lenders in our market are still wary of thinly capitalized deals. And for the most part, are staying disciplined in terms of minimum aggregate base levels of equity and requiring reasonable covenants.

對優質交易的高需求正在壓低點差。定價和槓桿指標是我們見過的最具競爭力的水平之一。因此，投資者以其他方式競爭的壓力越來越大，例如加快關閉時間和放寬契約限制。也就是說，我們市場上的貸方仍然對資本不足的交易保持警惕。在大多數情況下，在最低總股本基礎水平和要求合理的契約方面保持紀律。

Our underwriting bar remains high as usual, yet we continue to find many strong opportunities to deploy capital, as we will discuss shortly. The calendar year 2021 has been a strong deployment environment for us with a record origination pace. Follow-on investments with existing borrowers with strong business models and balance sheets continue to be an important avenue of capital deployment, as demonstrated with 6 follow-ons this past fiscal quarter, 6 in the previous and 9 in the quarter before. We have seen this pace continue subsequent to fiscal quarter end with further investments in 2 new portfolio companies and 9 follow-ons. Most notably, we have invested in 23 new platform investments since the onset of the pandemic.

我們的承銷門檻一如既往地高，但我們繼續發現許多強大的資本部署機會，我們將在稍後討論。 2021 日曆年對我們來說是一個強大的部署環境，創紀錄的啟動速度。對擁有強大商業模式和資產負債表的現有借款人的後續投資仍然是資本配置的重要途徑，正如上一財季的 6 次後續投資、上一季度的 6 次和前一季度的 9 次所示。我們已經看到這一步伐在財政季度結束後繼續保持，進一步投資了 2 家新的投資組合公司和 9 家後續公司。最值得注意的是，自大流行開始以來，我們已經投資了 23 項新的平台投資。

Portfolio management continues to be critically important, and we remain actively engaged with our portfolio companies and in close contact with our management teams. We have found that they have generally positioned themselves to benefit from the uptick in general economic activity as the economy has recovered. All of our loans in our portfolio are paying according to their payment terms. And so in addition to not having any new nonaccruals through COVID, we have 0 nonaccruals across our whole portfolio.

投資組合管理仍然至關重要，我們仍然積極與投資組合公司合作，並與我們的管理團隊保持密切聯繫。我們發現，隨著經濟復甦，他們普遍將自己定位於從總體經濟活動的上升中受益。我們投資組合中的所有貸款都根據其付款條件付款。因此，除了通過 COVID 沒有任何新的非應計項目外，我們的整個投資組合中還有 0 個非應計項目。

We also recognized $3.9 million in net realized and unrealized gains this quarter, which means that our overall portfolio has more than recovered the unrealized depreciation associated with COVID last year. And the fair value of Saratoga's overall assets now exceeds its cost basis by 2.9%. We believe this strong performance reflects certain attributes of our portfolio that bolster its overall durability. 76% of our portfolio is in first lien debt and generally supported by strong enterprise values in industries that have historically performed well in stress situations. We have no direct energy or commodities exposure. In addition, the majority of our portfolio is comprised of businesses that produce a high degree of recurring revenue and have historically demonstrated strong revenue retention.

本季度我們還確認了 390 萬美元的已實現和未實現淨收益，這意味著我們的整體投資組合已經超過了去年與 COVID 相關的未實現折舊。 Saratoga 整體資產的公允價值現在超過其成本基礎 2.9%。我們認為，這種強勁的表現反映了我們投資組合的某些屬性，這些屬性增強了其整體耐用性。我們的投資組合中有 76% 處於第一留置權債務中，並且通常受到在歷來在壓力情況下表現良好的行業的強大企業價值的支持。我們沒有直接的能源或商品風險敞口。此外，我們的大部分投資組合都由產生高度經常性收入並且歷來表現出強大的收入保留率的業務組成。

Our approach has always been to stay focused on the quality of our underwriting. And as you can see on Slide 13, this approach has resulted in our portfolio performance being at the top of the BDC space with respect to net realized gains as a percentage of portfolio at cost. We are at the top of the list of only 8 BDCs that had a positive number over the past 3 years. A strong underwriting culture remains paramount at Saratoga. We approach each investment working directly with management and ownership to thoroughly assess the long-term strength of the company and its business model. We endeavor to peer deeply -- as deeply as possible into a business in order to understand accurately its underlying strengths and characteristics. We always have sought durable businesses and invested capital with the objective of producing the best risk-adjusted accretive returns for our shareholders over the long term.

我們的方法一直是專注於我們的承保質量。正如您在幻燈片 13 中看到的那樣，這種方法使我們的投資組合表現在 BDC 領域的領先地位，就淨實現收益佔投資組合成本的百分比而言。在過去 3 年中，我們在僅有的 8 個 BDC 中位居榜首。在薩拉託加，強大的承保文化仍然至關重要。我們直接與管理層和所有權人合作處理每項投資，以徹底評估公司的長期實力及其業務模式。我們努力深入——盡可能深入地了解企業，以便準確了解其潛在優勢和特徵。我們一直尋求持久的業務和投資資本，目標是為我們的股東長期創造最佳的風險調整增值回報。

Our internal credit quality rating reflects the impact of COVID and shows 95% of our portfolio at our highest credit rating as of quarter end. Part of our investment strategy is to selectively co-invest in the equity of our portfolio companies when we're given that opportunity and when we believe the equity -- in the equity upside potential. It has been our experience that there is significant overlap between those businesses that meet our strict underwriting requirements and those that possess attributes that make them attractive equity investments.

我們的內部信用質量評級反映了 COVID 的影響，並顯示截至季度末我們 95% 的投資組合處於最高信用評級。我們投資策略的一部分是，當我們有機會並且我們相信股票——股票有上漲潛力時，有選擇地共同投資於我們投資組合公司的股票。根據我們的經驗，符合我們嚴格承銷要求的業務與具有使其具有吸引力的股權投資特性的業務之間存在顯著重疊。

This equity co-investment strategy has not only served as yield protection for our portfolio, but also meaningfully augmented our overall portfolio returns as demonstrated again this quarter with our Texas Teachers and GreyHeller realizations. We intend to continue this strategy.

這種股權共同投資策略不僅為我們的投資組合提供了收益保護，而且還有意義地增加了我們的整體投資組合回報，正如本季度我們的 Texas Teachers 和 GreyHeller 實現所證明的那樣。我們打算繼續這一戰略。

Now looking at leverage on Slide 14, you can see that industry debt multiples were relatively unchanged from calendar Q2 to Q3, yet remain at historical high levels. Total leverage for our portfolio was 4.13x, a slight increase from last quarter, reflecting primarily the additional capital we have provided our existing portfolio companies and not increase leverage levels from our new platforms.

現在查看幻燈片 14 的槓桿率，您可以看到行業債務倍數從日曆第二季度到第三季度相對沒有變化，但仍處於歷史高位。我們投資組合的總槓桿率為 4.13 倍，比上一季度略有增加，主要反映了我們為現有投資組合公司提供的額外資本，而不是通過我們的新平台提高槓桿水平。

Through past volatility, we have been able to maintain a relatively modest risk profile throughout, although we never consider leverage in isolation. Rather focusing on investing in credits with attractive risk return profiles and exceptionally strong business models, where we are confident the enterprise value of the businesses will sustainably exceed the last dollar of our investment. In addition, this slide illustrates our consistent ability to generate new investments over the long term despite ever-changing and increasingly competitive market dynamics.

儘管我們從不孤立地考慮槓桿，但在過去的波動中，我們一直能夠保持相對適度的風險狀況。而是專注於投資具有有吸引力的風險回報和異常強大的商業模式的信貸，我們相信這些業務的企業價值將持續超過我們投資的最後一美元。此外，這張幻燈片說明了儘管市場動態不斷變化且競爭日益激烈，但我們始終有能力在長期內產生新的投資。

During the first 4 calendar quarters, we added 12 new portfolio companies and made 35 follow-on investments.

在前 4 個日曆季度，我們增加了 12 家新的投資組合公司並進行了 35 次後續投資。

Moving on to Slide 15. Our team's skill set, experience and relationships continue to mature and our significant focus on business development has led to new strategic relationships that have become sources for new deals. Our top line number of deal source remains robust, but has dropped the past 2 years, initially due to COVID, but more recently, reflecting our efforts to focus on attracting a higher percentage of quality opportunities. Most notably, the 67 term sheets issued during the last 12 months is markedly up from last year's pace, showing that we are generating more shots on goal.

繼續幻燈片 15。我們團隊的技能、經驗和關係不斷成熟，我們對業務發展的高度關注導致新的戰略關係成為新交易的來源。我們的最高交易來源數量保持強勁，但在過去 2 年有所下降，最初是由於 COVID，但最近反映了我們努力專注於吸引更高比例的優質機會。最值得注意的是，過去 12 個月發布的 67 份條款清單明顯高於去年，這表明我們正在產生更多射門機會。

What is especially pleasing to us is that almost half of our term sheets issued over the past 12 months and 7 of our 12 new portfolio company investments are from newly formed relationships, reflecting notable progress as we expand our business development efforts. But there are a number of factors that give us measured confidence that we can continue to grow our AUM steadily in this environment as well as over the long term.

令我們特別高興的是，在過去 12 個月發布的條款清單中，近一半以及我們 12 家新投資組合公司投資中有 7 家來自新建立的關係，這反映了我們在擴大業務發展努力時取得的顯著進展。但是有許多因素讓我們有信心，我們可以在這種環境下以及長期穩定地增長我們的 AUM。

First, we continue to grow our reach into the marketplace, as is evidenced by several investments we have recently made with newly formed relationships. Second, we have developed numerous deep, long-term relationships with active and established firms that look to us as their preferred source of financing. 81% of the term sheets issued are for transactions involving a private equity firm. Third, we continue to see plenty of investment opportunities in industry segments that are experiencing long-term secular growth trends and within which we have intentionally developed expertise. And this is supported by our origination pace subsequent to quarter end. We have executed approximately $130 million of new originations in 2 new portfolio companies and 9 follow-ons and had repayments of approximately $11 million in 1 exit for a net increase of almost $120 million.

首先，我們繼續擴大對市場的影響力，我們最近與新建立的關係進行的幾項投資就證明了這一點。其次，我們與活躍且成熟的公司建立了許多深厚的長期合作關係，這些公司將我們視為他們的首選融資來源。 81% 的條款清單是針對涉及私募股權公司的交易。第三，我們繼續在經歷長期長期增長趨勢並且我們有意開發專業知識的行業領域看到大量投資機會。這得到了我們在季度末之後的發起速度的支持。我們在 2 家新投資組合公司和 9 家後續公司中執行了約 1.3 億美元的新發起，並在 1 次退出中償還了約 1100 萬美元，淨增加近 1.2 億美元。

As you can see on Slide 16, our overall portfolio credit quality remains solid. The gross unleveraged IRR unrealized investments made by the Saratoga Investment management team is 16.4% on $753 million of realizations. In this quarter, we realized a $7.3 million realized gain on the sale of our GreyHeller investment and a $2.6 million realized gain on our Texas Teachers investment for a combined Q3 IRR of 22.2%.

正如您在幻燈片 16 上所見，我們的整體投資組合信用質量保持穩健。薩拉託加投資管理團隊的未實現非槓桿內部收益率總額為 16.4%，實現了 7.53 億美元。在本季度，我們通過出售我們的 GreyHeller 投資實現了 730 萬美元的已實現收益，並從我們的 Texas Teachers 投資中實現了 260 萬美元的實現收益，第三季度的合併內部收益率為 22.2%。

On the chart on the right, you can see the total gross unlevered IRR on our $619 million of combined weighted SBIC and BDC unrealized investments is 11.9% since Saratoga took over management. The 2 largest unrealized depreciations remaining due to COVID are in our Nolan Group and C2 Education Investments. Both of which are more dependent on in-person human interaction and remain our only yellow-rated investments. We do not believe the remaining unrealized depreciation changes our view of their fundamental long-term performance. Even with those current markdowns, our overall portfolio value is now almost 3% above its total cost. Our investment approach has yielded exceptional realized returns.

在右側的圖表中，您可以看到自薩拉託加接管管理層以來，我們 6.19 億美元的加權 SBIC 和 BDC 未實現投資的總無槓桿內部收益率為 11.9%。因新冠疫情而剩餘的兩個最大的未實現折舊在我們的 Nolan Group 和 C2 Education Investments 中。兩者都更依賴於人與人之間的互動，並且仍然是我們唯一的黃色評級投資。我們認為剩餘的未實現折舊不會改變我們對其基本長期表現的看法。即使當前降價，我們的整體投資組合價值現在也比其總成本高出近 3%。我們的投資方法產生了非凡的已實現回報。

Moving on to Slide 17, you can see our first SBIC license is fully funded. Our second SBIC license has already been fully funded with $87.5 million of equity, of which $207 million of equity and SBA debentures have been deployed. There is still $3 million of cash and $76 million of debentures currently available against that equity. When comparing this quarter to much of last year, the way the portfolio has proven itself to be both durable and resilient against the impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent market adjustment really underscores the strength of our team, platform and portfolio and our overall underwriting and due diligence procedures. Credit quality remains our primary focus, especially at times with such high activity levels as we are seeing now. And while the world is in continuous flux, we remain intensely focused on preserving asset value, and remain confident in our team and the future for Saratoga.

轉到幻燈片 17，您可以看到我們的第一個 SBIC 許可證已獲得全額資助。我們的第二個 SBIC 許可證已經獲得了 8750 萬美元的全部股權，其中 2.07 億美元的股權和 SBA 債券已經部署。目前仍有 300 萬美元的現金和 7600 萬美元的債券可用於抵押該股權。將本季度與去年大部分時間進行比較時，該投資組合已證明自己既耐用又能抵禦 COVID-19 的影響以及隨後的市場調整，確實突顯了我們團隊、平台和投資組合以及我們整體承保的實力和盡職調查程序。信用質量仍然是我們的主要關注點，尤其是在我們現在看到的如此高活動水平的時候。在世界不斷變化的同時，我們仍然非常專注於保護資產價值，並對我們的團隊和薩拉託加的未來充滿信心。

This concludes my review of the market, and I'd like to turn the call back over to our CEO. Chris?

我對市場的回顧到此結束，我想將電話轉回給我們的首席執行官。克里斯？

As outlined on Slide 18, the Board of Directors declared a $0.53 per share dividend for the quarter ended November 30, 2021, payable on January 19, 2022. This reflected a $0.01 or 2% increase from last quarter. The Board of Directors will continue to evaluate the dividend level on at least a quarterly basis, considering both company and general economic factors.

如幻燈片 18 所述，董事會宣布截至 2021 年 11 月 30 日的季度每股股息為 0.53 美元，將於 2022 年 1 月 19 日支付。這反映了比上一季度增加了 0.01 美元或 2%。董事會將繼續至少每季度評估一次股息水平，同時考慮公司和一般經濟因素。

Moving to Slide 19. Our total return for the last 12 months, which includes both capital appreciation and dividends, has generated total returns of 46%, above the BDC index of 32%. Our longer-term performance is outlined on our next slide. Over 3- and 5-year returns -- our 3- and 5-year returns place us in the top 14 and top 7, respectively, of all BDCs for both time horizons. Over the past 3 years, our 71% return exceeded the 50% return of the index. While over the past 5 years, our 122% return greatly exceeded the index's 58% return.

轉到幻燈片 19。我們過去 12 個月的總回報率（包括資本增值和股息）產生了 46% 的總回報率，高於 BDC 指數的 32%。下一張幻燈片概述了我們的長期表現。超過 3 年和 5 年的回報——我們的 3 年和 5 年回報分別使我們在兩個時間範圍內的所有 BDC 中排名前 14 和前 7。過去 3 年，我們 71% 的回報率超過了指數 50% 的回報率。而在過去 5 年中，我們 122% 的回報率大大超過了指數 58% 的回報率。

On Slide 21, you can further see our outperformance placed in the context of the broader industry and specific to certain key performance metrics. We continue to focus on our long-term return on equity, NAV per share performance, NII yield and dividend growth, which are both consistent and at the top of the industry and reflects the growing value our shareholders are receiving. Not only are we one of the few BDCs to have grown NAV, we have done it accretively by also growing NAV per share in 16 of the past 18 quarters.

在幻燈片 21 上，您可以進一步看到我們在更廣泛的行業背景下以及特定於某些關鍵績效指標的出色表現。我們繼續關注我們的長期股本回報率、每股資產淨值表現、淨資產收益率和股息增長，這些指標既一致又處於行業領先地位，反映了我們的股東獲得的不斷增長的價值。我們不僅是少數幾個實現資產淨值增長的 BDC 之一，而且在過去 18 個季度中的 16 個季度中，我們的每股資產淨值也實現了增長。

Moving on to Slide 22. All of our initiatives discussed on this call are designed to make Saratoga Investment a highly competitive BDC that is attractive to the capital markets community. We believe that our differentiated performance characteristics outlined on this slide will help drive the size and quality of our investor base, including adding more institutions.

轉到幻燈片 22。我們在本次電話會議上討論的所有舉措都旨在使 Saratoga Investment 成為對資本市場社區具有吸引力的極具競爭力的 BDC。我們相信，本幻燈片中概述的差異化業績特徵將有助於推動我們投資者基礎的規模和質量，包括增加更多機構。

Our differentiating characteristics include maintaining one of the highest levels of management ownership in the industry at access to low cost and long-term liquidity with which to support our portfolio and make accretive investments; receipt of our second SBIC license providing a sub-2% cost liquidity; a BBB+ investment-grade rating and active public and private bond issuances; solid historic earnings per share and NII yield; strong and industry-leading historic and long-term return on equity accompanied by growing NAV and NAV per share, putting us at the top of the industry for both, a high-quality expansion of AUM and an attractive risk profile.

我們的差異化特徵包括保持業內最高水平的管理層所有權之一，獲得低成本和長期流動性，以支持我們的投資組合併進行增值投資；收到我們的第二個 SBIC 許可證，提供低於 2% 的成本流動性； BBB+ 投資級評級和活躍的公共和私人債券發行；穩健的歷史每股收益和 NII 收益率；強勁且行業領先的歷史和長期股本回報，伴隨著不斷增長的資產淨值和每股資產淨值，使我們在資產管理規模的高質量擴張和具有吸引力的風險狀況方面均處於行業領先地位。

In addition, our historically high credit quality portfolio contains minimal exposure to conventionally cyclical industries, including the oil and gas industry. We remain confident that our experienced management team, historically strong underwriting standards and time and market tested investment strategy will serve us well in battling through the challenges in the current and future environment. And that our balance sheet, capital structure and liquidity will benefit Saratoga shareholders in the near and long term. In closing, I would again like to thank all of our shareholders for their ongoing support. And I would now like to open the call for questions.

此外，我們歷史上高信用質量的投資組合對包括石油和天然氣行業在內的傳統週期性行業的敞口極小。我們仍然相信，我們經驗豐富的管理團隊、歷來強大的承保標準以及經過時間和市場檢驗的投資策略將幫助我們應對當前和未來環境中的挑戰。我們的資產負債表、資本結構和流動性將在近期和長期內使薩拉託加股東受益。最後，我要再次感謝我們所有股東的持續支持。我現在想開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Casey Alexander with Compass Point.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自於 Compass Point 的 Casey Alexander。

And I think you guys are doing a great job, but I do have a few questions for you. My first one is for Henri. Henri, you redid the credit facility this quarter. But there are BDCs that are smaller than Saratoga that have credit facilities from traditional banks that are still at significantly lower cost than the Encina line that you guys did. What is this lender finance credit facility program give you that a traditional bank at a lower rate would not?

我認為你們做得很好，但我確實有幾個問題要問你們。我的第一個是給亨利的。亨利，你本季度重做了信貸安排。但是有些 BDC 比薩拉託加還小，它們擁有來自傳統銀行的信貸設施，其成本仍然比你們所做的 Encina 線低得多。這個貸方融資信貸便利計劃給您什麼是較低利率的傳統銀行所不能提供的？

Yes, sure. Casey, it's a good question, and it's a very important one that we obviously have very intentionally considered and constructed our balance sheet in this way. So the traditional credit facility that you see from banks and that most, if not all BDCs have -- generally have covenants that have BDC level covenants in them. So things like tangible net worth, EBITDA, multiple quarters of negative bottom lines, et cetera. And the facility can be triggered and repayment can get triggered through the BDC level covenants.

是的，當然。凱西，這是一個很好的問題，這是一個非常重要的問題，我們顯然已經非常有意地考慮並以這種方式構建了我們的資產負債表。因此，您從銀行看到的傳統信貸工具以及大多數（如果不是所有）BDC 都擁有的信貸工具通常具有包含 BDC 級別契約的契約。因此，有形淨資產、EBITDA、多個季度的負底線等等。並且可以通過 BDC 級別的契約觸發該便利和還款。

We've constructed our balance sheet from the start, from the time when Saratoga took over as a balance sheet that was going to not have covenants that could put the franchise as a whole at risk if you potentially had an event that was just specific this SPV, this credit facility entity.

我們從一開始就構建了我們的資產負債表，從薩拉託加接管資產負債表的那一刻起，如果您可能有一個特定的事件，它將沒有可能使整個特許經營權面臨風險的契約SPV，這個信貸便利實體。

And our facility is structured in a way that, again, similar to the Madison facility, which was like that as well, doesn't have any firm-wide BDC-wide covenants. It's a really, really important feature to us. And yes, we are paying up for it, but it provides us flexibility so that we have cash available if we need but doesn't put any -- either the franchise, the business as a whole letters because of something very specific to the market that could happen in the SPV itself.

而且我們的設施的結構與麥迪遜設施類似，也沒有任何公司範圍的 BDC 範圍的契約。這對我們來說是一個非常非常重要的功能。是的，我們正在為此付出代價，但它為我們提供了靈活性，因此我們可以在需要時獲得現金，但不會投入任何現金——無論是特許經營權，還是整個業務，因為某些特定於市場的東西這可能發生在 SPV 本身。

So it's really choosing structure above price for us. And especially because we have the SBIC capacity and our unsecured lending rates have come down so much, it still enables us even with this higher rate in this facility to achieve our cost of capital goals that we want to.

所以它真的是為我們選擇高於價格的結構。尤其是因為我們有 SBIC 的能力，而且我們的無擔保貸款利率已經下降了很多，即使在這個設施中使用這個更高的利率，它仍然使我們能夠實現我們想要的資本成本目標。

Yes, if I could just weigh in a little here on that as well. And just add to Henri's very thorough explanation. Casey, if you remember back the dark days of March of '20 and April of '20, there were a number of BDCs that -- and probably the very successful ones that wound up getting out of formula with their low-cost lines of credit and some of them had to make some very substantial capital contributions to avoid default or modify their facilities in a really extreme moment.

是的，如果我也可以在這裡稍微權衡一下。並且只是添加到 Henri 非常徹底的解釋中。凱西，如果你還記得 20 年 3 月和 20 年 4 月的黑暗日子，那麼有許多 BDC——而且可能是非常成功的那些以低成本信貸額度結束了公式他們中的一些人不得不做出一些非常可觀的出資以避免違約或在非常極端的時刻修改他們的設施。

At that time with the Madison facility, and we didn't have any of those concerns. Obviously, we had a lot of other concerns. But the concerns about our capital structure and having defaults and those things were not something we had to worry about at that moment. And that's always been very important to us.

當時在麥迪遜工廠，我們沒有任何這些擔憂。顯然，我們還有很多其他顧慮。但當時我們不必擔心我們的資本結構和違約以及這些事情。這對我們來說一直非常重要。

Your point is well taken that there are lower-cost approaches to financing, but those come with lots of formulaic requirements. I think Henri outlined some of the covenant ones. There's also diversity. There's also like mix of what you have in your portfolio and things like that. And at some point in time, facilities like that may make more sense to us than they do right now.

你的觀點是正確的，有低成本的融資方法，但這些方法有很多公式化的要求。我認為亨利概述了一些盟約。還有多樣性。你的投資組合中也有類似的東西和類似的東西。在某個時間點，這樣的設施對我們來說可能比現在更有意義。

But we've been working very hard forever from the very beginning at having a capital structure that allows us unfortunately, for whatever reason is, we live in an era of lots of calm and then some massive down spikes. And we just want to make sure that we're insured against the massive down spike and really not only defensively but also offensively. I mean we were able to investing right through that very dark period in that second quarter of '20 and made some very good investments and built some very strong relationships by being ready and able in a really adverse environment to just continue with our business.

但我們從一開始就一直在努力工作，以建立一個讓我們不幸的資本結構，無論出於何種原因，我們生活在一個非常平靜的時代，然後是一些巨大的下跌峰值。而且我們只是想確保我們對大幅下降的峰值有保障，而且不僅在防守端，而且在進攻端。我的意思是，我們能夠在 20 年第二季度的那個非常黑暗的時期進行投資，並且通過準備好並且能夠在非常不利的環境中繼續我們的業務，進行了一些非常好的投資並建立了一些非常牢固的關係。

And so that's really kind of the thinking behind it. And again, your point is well taken about optimization of cost, cost of financing, but we're also trying to optimize safety and concern. And not to go too far into it, but what we were able to do in that quarter because of our financial structure, has paid enormous dividends to Saratoga in terms of investments we were able to make at that point in time that we think way more than offset whatever excess cost we had in that facility.

這就是它背後的真正想法。再說一次，你的觀點是關於優化成本、融資成本的，但我們也在努力優化安全性和關注度。不要走得太遠，但由於我們的財務結構，我們在那個季度能夠做的事情，在我們當時能夠進行的投資方面為薩拉託加帶來了巨大的紅利，我們認為更多而不是抵消我們在該設施中的任何超額成本。

All right. Thank you for that answer. My next question, again, kind of back to Henri and maybe Henri, Mike sort of everybody. But in this quarter, in the fiscal third quarter, you made a fairly aggressive use of the ATM. $15 million is a fair amount for an ATM in 1 quarter. So I can assume that you knew you had in the pipeline a lot of deals that are going to be closing in December because that clearly is what happened. But would you characterize your usage of the ATM in this quarter as a normal rate, above normal rate? Would you -- as you see originations moderating over the rest of the year, there would be less aggressive use of the ATM? I'd just like to get some sort of nuance around the usage of the ATM in that particular quarter.

好的。謝謝你的回答。我的下一個問題，再次，有點回到亨利，也許亨利，邁克之類的每個人。但是在本季度，在第三財季，您相當積極地使用了 ATM。 1500 萬美元對於一台 ATM 機來說是一個公平的數額。所以我可以假設你知道你有很多交易將在 12 月完成，因為這顯然是發生的事情。但是，您會將您在本季度對 ATM 的使用描述為正常費率，高於正常費率嗎？您是否會 - 正如您看到今年餘下時間的起源放緩一樣，ATM 的使用會不那麼激進？我只是想了解一下該特定季度 ATM 的使用情況。

Sure. Casey, that's a very good question and a very important one. I think on a very high level, if you look at the overall BDC industry, and I know you're an expert in it, the periods of time when BDCs have been able to raise equity capital has not been continuous, right? And there's periods of time where you can raise money and then there's actually longer periods of time where you can't raise equity money because of trading below NAV and market conditions and the like.

當然。凱西，這是一個非常好的問題，也是一個非常重要的問題。我認為在一個非常高的層面上，如果你看看整個 BDC 行業，我知道你是這方面的專家，BDC 能夠籌集股本的時期並不是連續的，對吧？有一段時間你可以籌集資金，然後實際上有更長的時間你不能籌集股票資金，因為交易低於資產淨值和市場條件等。

So on one level, we're looking at kind of a long-term horizon, which is our broad-based growth trend. And our broad-based growth trend is significantly up. Our relationships are building. I think as Mike went through in his presentation, we're developing a lot of relationships and a lot of deal flow. I think that the level of our recent months shows not only our relationships to generate the deal flow, but also our ability to execute.

所以在一個層面上，我們著眼於一種長期的視野，這是我們基礎廣泛的增長趨勢。我們的廣泛增長趨勢顯著上升。我們的關係正在建立。我認為，正如邁克在他的演講中所經歷的那樣，我們正在發展很多關係和很多交易流程。我認為我們最近幾個月的水平不僅顯示了我們產生交易流的關係，還顯示了我們的執行能力。

And so we believe in the long run, a stronger and more robust equity base is important for us to achieve our growth objectives and our natural growth inside the market that we're in. And so part of it is really taking advantage of the market's receptivity to equity raises when it's available. So that's one thing. So we're not -- we weren't really tying it specifically to this next quarter and this next set of originations.

因此，我們相信從長遠來看，更強大、更穩健的股權基礎對於我們實現增長目標和我們所在市場的自然增長非常重要。因此，其中一部分是真正利用市場的當可用時，對股權的接受度就會提高。所以這是一回事。所以我們不是 - 我們並沒有真正將它與下個季度和下一組起源聯繫起來。

It was really much more of a broad-gauged what kind of equity levels are appropriate over our next 1, 2, 3, 4 years as we look out into the future. In terms of what we intend to do going forward, part of it's going to be driven by market receptivity and part of it's going to be driven by how we see the environment in terms of originations and our capital structure.

當我們展望未來時，在我們未來的 1 年、2 年、3 年、4 年中，更廣泛地衡量什麼樣的股權水平是合適的。就我們未來打算做的事情而言，其中一部分將由市場接受度驅動，部分將由我們如何看待環境方面的起源和我們的資本結構來驅動。

Okay. Well, I would just kind of interject into that, that ATMs are sort of the spigot for available near-term liquidity, but you don't want the ATM to become so much supply that retards the potential appreciation of the stock. That's something that shareholders have to be aware of as well.

好的。好吧，我想插話一點，ATM 是近期可用流動性的龍頭，但你不希望 ATM 供應過多，從而阻礙股票的潛在升值。這也是股東必須注意的事情。

Mike, my next question is for you, which is I'm going to ask you to put on your telescopic goggles and try to give us a feel for how far does yield compression go? And at what point in time does it potentially bottom out? Or does it bottom out? Are we moving to a new paradigm of yields that are going to embed themselves in the lower middle market?

邁克，我的下一個問題是給你的，我要請你戴上你的伸縮護目鏡，試著讓我們感受一下屈服壓縮能走多遠？它可能在什麼時候觸底？還是已經見底了？我們是否正在轉向一種新的收益率範式，這種範式將嵌入中低端市場？

Casey, that's -- if I had a crystal ball. Look, I think it's a fair question. And certainly, we've seen yield compression. And over the years, I've often tried to look forward and think about that from a macro level. And one of the things that I've learned over the years, thankfully, is that for us, the way we look at it is we want to make sure that we're seeing plenty of deal opportunities where we can deploy capital in a way that's accretive for our shareholders.

凱西，那是——如果我有一個水晶球的話。看，我認為這是一個公平的問題。當然，我們已經看到了產量壓縮。多年來，我經常試圖從宏觀層面向前看和思考。謝天謝地，多年來我學到的一件事是，對我們來說，我們看待它的方式是，我們希望確保我們看到大量交易機會，我們可以在其中以某種方式部署資本這對我們的股東來說是增值的。

And if you look at the yields that we booked new deals at this past quarter, which is averages north of 8%, let's say, somewhere 8%, 8.5%. We can deploy capital at that level very accretively for our shareholders, especially as our cost of capital has come down. I think our cost of capital in the SBIC is less than 2%. Henri mentioned where the institutional bonds are priced debt, et cetera. That's something that we can continue to do in a way that's very accretive for our shareholders.

如果你看看我們在上個季度預訂新交易的收益率，平均在 8% 以上，比方說，在 8%、8.5% 左右。我們可以在這個水平上為我們的股東增加資本配置，尤其是在我們的資本成本下降的情況下。我認為我們在 SBIC 的資本成本不到 2%。 Henri 提到了機構債券在哪裡定價的債務等等。這是我們可以繼續以對我們的股東非常有利的方式做的事情。

I would say this, too, that in really hot markets, and we're in one now for sure, and it's a reflection of there being such a long period, except for COVID -- the COVID scare, where there hasn't really been a massive disruption in the markets and the economy in general. There are people that are doing deals right now that never saw a downturn. We are competing with people that were probably in high school when the last recession happened, unfortunately. But this management team has been through a number of cycles.

我也想說，在真正火爆的市場中，我們現在肯定是這樣的，這反映了除了 COVID 之外，還有很長一段時間——COVID 恐慌，那裡並沒有真正對市場和整個經濟造成了巨大的破壞。有些人現在正在做的交易從未經歷過衰退。不幸的是，我們正在與上次經濟衰退發生時可能還在上高中的人競爭。但是這個管理團隊已經經歷了許多周期。

And so we're really careful about making sure that we're preserving our capital base, and we believe firmly that you make money in credit by not losing money. We've been successful at doing that so far. So that's kind of a bit of a long-winded way of saying that we're not going to put ourselves in a position where we're going to stretch for yield. In hot markets, you've got to make sure that you continue to focus on credit quality and getting the best assets in your portfolio, certainly at a spread that is accretive for your shareholders, but not making the mistake of saying, oh, we need to have a yield that's x because that's where BDCs typically get a yield.

因此，我們非常小心地確保我們保留了我們的資本基礎，並且我們堅信您通過不虧錢來通過信貸賺錢。到目前為止，我們已經成功地做到了這一點。所以這是一種有點囉嗦的說法，就是說我們不會把自己置於一個我們要為收益而伸展的位置。在熱門市場中，您必須確保您繼續關注信用質量並在您的投資組合中獲得最佳資產，當然，您的股東的利差肯定會增加，但不要錯誤地說，哦，我們需要有一個為 x 的收益，因為這是 BDC 通常獲得收益的地方。

And if in so doing, you end up expanding your risk profile quite considerably, which would be the case in this market, that wouldn't be a wise move. So that's the approach that we've taken. I think fortunately, the way we've constructed our balance sheet there could still be more compression in yields, and we're comfortable that we could deploy that capital very accretively.

如果這樣做，你最終會大大擴大你的風險狀況，這將是這個市場的情況，那將不是一個明智的舉動。這就是我們採取的方法。我認為幸運的是，按照我們構建資產負債表的方式，收益率可能仍會受到更多壓縮，而且我們對可以非常增加地部署這些資本感到滿意。

And the comments I make on accretive capital deployment are, of course, without taking into account the returns that we typically get on our equity co-investments, which, as I mentioned, getting 16.4% unlevered returns on realized investments of over $750 million, that's also happening not just by spread, but by much of what we've done in terms of investing in equity in a way that's been very beneficial to our shareholders.

當然，我對增值資本部署的評論沒有考慮到我們通常從股權共同投資中獲得的回報，正如我所提到的，在超過 7.5 億美元的已實現投資中獲得 16.4% 的無槓桿回報，這不僅通過傳播發生，而且通過我們在以對我們的股東非常有利的方式投資股權方面所做的大部分工作。

So hopefully, that gives you a perspective of how we think about it. Hard for us to try to time or predict too much where spreads are going to go.

因此，希望這能讓您了解我們如何看待它。我們很難對點差的去向進行太多時間或預測。

And I have one more question, and I apologize if I'm co-opting the call just a little bit. But a couple of years ago, when COVID hit, this is for you Christian, a couple of years ago when COVID hit, the company had kind of a dramatic response, and of course, there were shutdowns at that time. Two years, we roll forward here, and we're dealing with the Omicron variant and Saratoga has a much more measured response, almost feels like you're on the offense to a great extent. Is that because Saratoga now has a playbook, the portfolio companies have a playbook, the private equity sponsors have a playbook, and these variants and inconveniences are just that an inconvenience and you guys put the playbook to work and you know what you're going to do?

我還有一個問題，如果我只是稍微接聽電話，我深表歉意。但是幾年前，當 COVID 來襲時，這是給基督徒的，幾年前，當 COVID 來襲時，該公司有一種戲劇性的反應，當然，當時也有停工。兩年後，我們在這裡向前推進，我們正在處理 Omicron 變體，而薩拉託加的反應更加謹慎，幾乎感覺你在很大程度上處於進攻端。是不是因為薩拉託加現在有一個劇本，投資組合公司有一個劇本，私募股權贊助商有一個劇本，這些變體和不便只是一種不便，你們把劇本付諸實踐，你知道你要做什麼去做？

Well, Casey, I wish that were exactly the case. But I guess I'd say a couple of things. I think when the whole COVID thing hit, there was this massive shock to the system, a massive decline in the stock market and massive dry-up of liquidity and all sort of the things reminiscent of like 2008 going on in the marketplace, and plus a tremendous amount of mystery around what COVID would do. I mean was it the black death, where we were going to have 30% fatalities. I mean there's just a whole bunch of things that were completely unknown.

好吧，凱西，我希望情況確實如此。但我想我會說幾件事。我認為，當整個 COVID 事件發生時，系統受到了巨大衝擊，股市大幅下跌，流動性大規模枯竭，以及所有類似 2008 年市場上發生的事情，而且圍繞COVID會做什麼的大量謎團。我的意思是這是黑死病，我們將有 30% 的死亡人數。我的意思是有一大堆的東西是完全未知的。

I think as we fast forward to today, there's a lot more experience. There's a lot more -- there's the vaccines. There's the treatments. There's the herd immunity. There's a lot of things going on that have made this less of a mystery and more of something that's kind of a quantifiable manageable risk, if you will.

我認為當我們快進到今天時，會有更多的經驗。還有更多——還有疫苗。有治療方法。有群體免疫。如果你願意的話，有很多事情正在發生，這讓這變得不那麼神秘，而更多的是一種可量化的可控風險。

Omicron, I mean, I think everybody is still learning about that. I mean that's sort of coming on as real fast and furious. So to say that we have a playbook for Omicron is maybe that's -- we're just not in a position to say we do have one. The early data, I mean, I'm not saying anything that and -- so we're certainly not an expert on this field. But I mean it looks as if the marketplace in general is viewing Omicron as something that we're going to get through the pandemic moving to endemic. I mean there's a whole lot of thinking around that line with the information we have at hand.

Omicron，我的意思是，我認為每個人都還在學習這一點。我的意思是這有點像真正的快速和憤怒。所以說我們有 Omicron 的劇本可能是——我們只是不能說我們確實有一個。早期的數據，我的意思是，我沒有說什麼，所以我們當然不是這個領域的專家。但我的意思是，看起來整個市場似乎將 Omicron 視為我們將通過大流行走向地方性的東西。我的意思是，根據我們手頭的信息，圍繞這條線進行了很多思考。

And so -- but in terms of the response, in terms of our playing offense, I think, again, back -- going back to that time, in '20, everything kind of dried up and all the incoming calls to us were about how do we rescue our capital structure kind of thing, where now we're sort of in an environment where massive acquisitions, growth. And so we are responding to a lot of what the market is presenting to us, obviously using all the credit skills we have to try and structure things that we think take advantage of the moment but also protect us if there is a reversal in the future.

所以——但就反應而言，就我們的進攻而言，我想，再一次，回到那個時候，在 20 年，一切都枯竭了，所有打給我們的電話都是關於我們如何拯救我們的資本結構之類的事情，現在我們處於大規模收購和增長的環境中。因此，我們正在對市場呈現給我們的許多情況做出回應，顯然我們使用了所有的信用技能來嘗試構建我們認為可以利用這一刻的東西，但如果未來出現逆轉，也可以保護我們.

And I think if you look at our credit metrics, if you look at our attachment points and all those types of things and the types of companies we're financing, we feel pretty good about our portfolio as we did back then. But -- so -- yes, I would just say that also, I think financially, I think we're in a stronger position than we were back then and our knowledge base is better. And the world is better. I think there's more tools to apply against something that's better understood for the moment.

而且我認為，如果您查看我們的信用指標，如果您查看我們的附著點以及所有這些類型的事物以及我們正在融資的公司類型，我們對我們的投資組合感覺非常好，就像我們當時所做的那樣。但是 - 所以 - 是的，我只想說，我認為在財務上，我認為我們的處境比當時更強大，我們的知識基礎也更好。世界變得更好。我認為有更多的工具可以應用於目前更好理解的東西。

Chris, let me just jump in a little bit to help augment that. The one thing to think about, Casey, less of a reaction to the COVID environment and having a game plan around it, most of the success that we're having recently in deploying capital at a greater pace is really just a reflection of investments that we've made in the franchise over the years.

克里斯，讓我稍微插一下以幫助增強它。要考慮的一件事，凱西，對 COVID 環境的反應較少，並圍繞它制定遊戲計劃，我們最近在以更快的速度部署資本方面取得的大部分成功實際上只是投資的反映多年來，我們一直在特許經營。

One of the things that we've done, and we're very proud of is we've built some very deep relationships with groups that we invest capital with and support their portfolio companies. So much of what we've done really well is getting that repeat business from existing relationships. And you can see that, especially in our follow-on activity where we find good businesses to support and then the owners of those businesses come back to us for more capital. And that really is a great underpinning of support for our balance sheet, and it's been an avenue for growth for us.

我們已經完成並且非常自豪的一件事是，我們已經與我們投資並支持他們的投資組合公司的集團建立了一些非常深厚的關係。我們做得非常好的大部分是從現有關係中獲得重複業務。你可以看到這一點，尤其是在我們的後續活動中，我們找到了好的企業來支持，然後這些企業的所有者回到我們這里以獲得更多資金。這確實是支持我們資產負債表的重要基礎，也是我們增長的途徑。

What's especially exciting about what we're doing now and there's still work to do, and that also excites us because we think the upside is quite substantial is that in this environment, vis-à-vis going back a few years ago, we've really been successful in growing our relationship set. And that takes quite a while. We do a lot of vetting of these relationships, many of them we've been courting for years. And so I think just to reiterate, I think we've had 12 new portfolio companies this past calendar year and 7 of them are with new relationships. And so if you were to go back a few years, separate and apart from anything related to COVID, et cetera, we wouldn't have had 7 new portfolio companies with new relationships. And that's just a reflection of the investments that we've been making in building the franchise and are continuing to do.

我們現在正在做的事情特別令人興奮，還有工作要做，這也讓我們興奮，因為我們認為好處是相當大的，在這種環境下，相對於幾年前，我們在發展我們的關係方面真的很成功。這需要相當長的時間。我們對這些關係進行了大量審查，其中許多關係我們多年來一直在追求。因此，我想重申一下，我認為在過去的日曆年中，我們有 12 家新的投資組合公司，其中 7 家正在建立新的關係。因此，如果您回到幾年前，將與 COVID 等相關的任何事情分開，我們將不會有 7 家新的投資組合公司與新的關係。這只是我們在建立特許經營權方面所做的投資的反映，並將繼續這樣做。

I apologize to the other analysts for having so many questions, but in this case, this was stuff that I just really, really wanted to know about. So thank you very much.

對於有這麼多問題，我向其他分析師道歉，但在這種情況下，這是我非常非常想知道的事情。所以非常感謝。

Our next question comes from Sarkis Sherbetchyan with B. Riley Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Sarkis Sherbetchyan。

Just wanted to kind of get an understanding and maybe a balance between your comments on this being essentially a borrower's market, the tighter spreads, the aggressive leverage multiples and it being pretty competitive out there relative to if we kind of look at the comments on the $130 million in new originations after quarter end. I just want to kind of get a sense for how are you underwriting in this environment, given that you mentioned that your bar remains high and balancing that with the comments in just kind of the environment in general?

只是想在您對這本質上是一個借款人市場的評論、更小的利差、激進的槓桿倍數以及相對於我們看一下關於季度末後的新發行額為 1.3 億美元。我只是想了解一下您在這種環境下如何承保，因為您提到您的標準仍然很高，並且與一般環境中的評論保持平衡？

Well, it's the challenge that we face all the time in our business. And I sort of use the term that we've always got one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake as opposed to one on the gas and then taking it off the gas and on the brakes. You're always trying to manage growth, but trying to keep your underwriting bar really high. And I think we've done a really good job of it over the years. It's one of the reasons our growth has been candidly slow and steady over the years. We continue to turn down far, far more deals than we do, and many of the other players in the marketplace that you know are going ahead and doing some of those deals. It doesn't mean that we always make the right decision, but we think our track record speaks for itself.

嗯，這是我們在業務中一直面臨的挑戰。我有點用這個詞，我們總是一隻腳踩油門，一隻腳踩剎車，而不是一隻腳踩油門，然後把它從油門上取下來，然後踩剎車。你總是試圖管理增長，但試圖保持你的承保門檻真的很高。而且我認為這些年來我們在這方面做得非常好。這是我們多年來增長緩慢而穩定的原因之一。我們繼續拒絕比我們做的多得多的交易，而且你知道市場上的許多其他參與者正在繼續進行其中一些交易。這並不意味著我們總是做出正確的決定，但我們認為我們的業績不言而喻。

So we have remained disciplined. We have not changed our underwriting bar at all. We certainly are seeing more deals in this marketplace, and we're seeing more quality deals in this marketplace. But I think most importantly, we're seeing deals from relationships that we didn't have before. And so that now has enabled us to cast a wider net, if you will, or a higher quality net. And as a result, it's enabled us to deploy more capital while keeping our underwriting bar the same as it has been.

所以我們一直保持紀律。我們根本沒有改變我們的承保範圍。我們當然在這個市場上看到了更多的交易，我們在這個市場上看到了更多的優質交易。但我認為最重要的是，我們看到了以前沒有的關係交易。因此，如果您願意，我們現在可以撒下更大的網，或者更高質量的網。因此，它使我們能夠部署更多資金，同時保持我們的承銷門檻與以往相同。

Now if you look at -- just to put a finer point on the post quarter end production, most of that was with follow-ons with existing portfolio companies. And that really has been a recipe for success for us. I do want to make a point there. We'll do a number of deals that are sub $10 million or $15 million initial investments. Many of our competitors won't bother with deals that size. But we'll do the extra work to get that capital deployed in really good businesses, and that's been an avenue for us to deploy more capital over time.

現在，如果您看一下 - 只是為了更好地說明季度末的生產，其中大部分是與現有投資組合公司的後續行動。這確實是我們成功的秘訣。我確實想在那裡說明一點。我們將進行一些初始投資低於 1000 萬美元或 1500 萬美元的交易。我們的許多競爭對手都不會為這種規模的交易而煩惱。但我們會做額外的工作，將這些資本部署到真正優秀的企業中，這是我們隨著時間的推移部署更多資本的途徑。

Many of our larger deals were ones that started off quite a bit smaller. So that's a little -- a lot of even that post quarter end production is a little less reflective of super active M&A market, which there certainly is one and more reflective of us deploying capital in existing portfolio companies.

我們的許多大宗交易都是從規模較小的交易開始的。所以這有點——即使是季後結束的生產也很少反映超級活躍的併購市場，這肯定有一個和更多的反映我們在現有的投資組合公司中部署資金。

Yes. If I could just add a little to that. I think -- and I've got you principle from the very beginning in our credit process has been, as Mike said, underwriting first and price second. And we recognize there's a correlation, there's a risk-adjusted return equation, but in the weighting of that risk adjusted, you have price and risk. And I think one of the things that we've been very careful about is making sure that we're -- we will -- we would rather underwrite a super solid credit for less price than less credit for more price. And I think that principal has been guiding us throughout this.

是的。如果我可以添加一點。我認為 - 正如邁克所說，我從一開始就在我們的信貸流程中得到了你的原則，首先是承保，其次是價格。我們認識到存在相關性，存在風險調整後的回報方程，但在調整風險的權重中，你有價格和風險。而且我認為我們一直非常小心的一件事是確保我們 - 我們將 - 我們寧願以更低的價格承保超級可靠的信用，而不是以更高的價格獲得更少的信用。我認為校長一直在指導我們。

So even though it's "a borrower's market", I think, as Mike articulated, there's a number of companies that we finance that don't have quite as many they're not auctioning the whole process. There's a lot of value add to our partnership with them in terms of helping them execute on their deals that's not pure price. So it's a relationship, it's service, it's confidence, it's a lot of things like that.

因此，即使這是“借款人的市場”，我認為，正如邁克所說，我們資助的許多公司沒有那麼多，他們沒有拍賣整個過程。在幫助他們執行並非純價格的交易方面，我們與他們的合作夥伴關係有很多附加值。所以這是一種關係，它的服務，它的信心，這是很多類似的事情。

So we're able to have sort of a value-added pricing, if you will, in what we do with quite -- most of what we do for that matter. So yes, we have to reflect a larger market, but we also reflect the quality and nature of what we're providing within the circumstances and the deals that we're looking at. But again, I think the thought to leave you with is that even in sort of "a borrower's market," there is a lot of selection going on in our shop towards the credit quality side of it.

因此，如果您願意的話，我們能夠在我們所做的事情中進行某種增值定價——我們為此所做的大部分事情。所以，是的，我們必須反映更大的市場，但我們也反映了我們在這種情況下提供的產品的質量和性質以及我們正在考慮的交易。但同樣，我認為留給你的想法是，即使在某種“借款人市場”中，我們的商店也有很多關於信用質量方面的選擇。

That's very helpful. And one final one from my perspective. I think if I look at Slide 11 and the industry snapshot, I think you mentioned 34 industries in that table. If we look at the industries and sectors today that you're looking at and/or underwriting in, has anything shifted in where you're willing to invest or go or maybe take on more size in certain industries versus where you've historically been? Any comments around that?

這很有幫助。從我的角度來看，最後一個。我想如果我看一下幻燈片 11 和行業快照，我想你在該表中提到了 34 個行業。如果我們看看今天你正在關注和/或承保的行業和部門，你願意投資或去的地方有什麼變化，或者在某些行業中可能會擴大規模，而不是你過去去過的地方?對此有何評論？

Well, I think you'll notice in that slide that there's one, a lot of diversity, but -- and it's across a number of industries. And the common credit characteristics across them are still the same. We're looking for businesses that really offer a compelling value proposition to their customers in a way that we think is sticky, they're leaders in their fields. The end markets that they're operating in have good positive dynamics that are led by really strong management teams. And so they can be in a lot of different industries, but they have those common characteristics.

好吧，我想你會在這張幻燈片中註意到，有一個，很多多樣性，但是 - 它涉及許多行業。它們之間的共同信用特徵仍然相同。我們正在尋找能夠真正以我們認為具有粘性的方式向客戶提供令人信服的價值主張的企業，他們是各自領域的領導者。他們經營的終端市場具有良好的積極動態，由真正強大的管理團隊領導。所以他們可以在很多不同的行業，但他們有這些共同的特點。

We have always -- I shouldn't say always, but over sort of the last 5 years, let's say, we made a distinct effort to develop expertise in 3 particular areas. We still are generalists, and we want to see businesses that have all the elements that I just described. But in addition to that, we've developed expertise in health care, education and then more broadly investing in SaaS business models. And those are areas that we feel we have very, very strong underwriting capabilities in.

我們一直——我不應該一直這麼說，但是在過去的 5 年裡，我們可以說，我們做出了明顯的努力來發展 3 個特定領域的專業知識。我們仍然是通才，我們希望看到擁有我剛才描述的所有要素的企業。但除此之外，我們還積累了醫療保健、教育方面的專業知識，然後更廣泛地投資於 SaaS 商業模式。這些是我們認為我們擁有非常非常強大的承保能力的領域。

You'll see us continue to deploy capital in those areas because, one, those industries generally and a SaaS is more of a business model than an industry, but nonetheless, they're less cyclical for one. And if you have a business that can bring a greater level of productivity or a greater outcome to those end markets, you're generally going to take share in those end markets because they are notoriously unproductive and not -- there are industries that have been underinvested in that respect.

你會看到我們繼續在這些領域部署資本，因為，一個，這些行業一般來說，SaaS 更像是一種商業模式，而不是一個行業，但儘管如此，它們對一個行業來說的周期性較小。如果您的企業可以為這些終端市場帶來更高水平的生產力或更大的成果，那麼您通常會在這些終端市場中佔有一席之地，因為它們是出了名的低效，而且並非如此——有些行業已經在這方面投資不足。

And so if you're a business that's coming to market in a way that is helping take costs out of the system or driving greater productivity in those particular end markets. And SaaS, I would say that's true just in general, that's a lot of what that business model is offering. You're going to do well generally regardless of the direction the economy takes. So hopefully, that gives you a sense of how we think about it as well.

因此，如果您是一家以有助於降低系統成本或在這些特定終端市場提高生產力的方式進入市場的企業。 SaaS，我想說的是，總的來說，這就是商業模式提供的很多東西。無論經濟走向何方，你都會做得很好。因此，希望這也能讓您了解我們是如何看待它的。

Our next question comes from Bryce Rowe with Hovde Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Hovde Group 的 Bryce Rowe。

I wanted to kind of follow up and maybe ask the question around post quarter end activity a little bit differently and wanted to get a feel for if you think about that activity having already been closed or booked here in the period post quarter end. Mike, maybe you could speak to kind of what the pipeline building process might be from this point forward?

我想跟進一下，也許會問一些關於季度末活動的問題，並想了解一下您是否認為該活動在季度末期間已經關閉或預訂。邁克，也許你可以談談從現在開始的管道建設過程可能是什麼？

And then how to think about more broadly, you mentioned a more broad-based growth trends given the business development you have done over the last several years. How does that kind of translate into what you think from a portfolio activity or origination activity going forward, maybe on an annual type basis as opposed to [taking your balance] quarterly?

然後如何更廣泛地思考，鑑於您在過去幾年中所做的業務發展，您提到了更廣泛的增長趨勢。這種情況如何轉化為您對未來投資組合活動或發起活動的看法，可能是每年一次，而不是每季度一次？

Yes. No, I'm glad you -- go ahead.

是的。不，我很高興你——繼續。

Let me just jump -- go in before at a high level, and then I'll pass it on to the team here. I think that obviously, doing the level of net originations we did at the end of the quarter was extraordinary in our history. I think it's a testament to our team that both they were able to originate all that and that they were able to execute all that in such a short period of time. So I think that's something that we are very proud of having gotten to the level of being able to generate that and execute that. So I think that's a very important sort of proof of capability, if you will, of our franchise. So I think that shows what we're capable of doing.

讓我跳一下——先進入高水平，然後我會把它傳遞給這裡的團隊。我認為，很明顯，我們在本季度末所做的淨創始水平在我們的歷史上是非同尋常的。我認為這是對我們團隊的證明，他們能夠發起所有這些，並且能夠在如此短的時間內執行所有這些。所以我認為這是我們非常自豪的事情，因為我們已經達到了能夠生成並執行它的水平。所以我認為這是我們特許經營權的一種非常重要的能力證明，如果你願意的話。所以我認為這表明了我們的能力。

Now one of the things we're not able to do is to predict what's coming our way. And so looking at any given quarter or any given month or any given week, one of our weeks was $50 million a week. Are we going to do 52 of those? We'd love to do 52 of those. But that's probably not in the cards right now. So what we need to do from the market standpoint is we need to be ready, willing and able to react and address and proactively go after what fits our criteria when it's available. And so it happens to be a very robust time. Why is it so robust right now?

現在我們無法做的一件事就是預測我們會發生什麼。因此，看看任何給定的季度、任何給定的月份或任何給定的一周，我們的一周是每週 5000 萬美元。我們要做其中的52個嗎？我們很想做其中的 52 個。但這可能不是現在的卡片。因此，從市場的角度來看，我們需要做好準備，願意並且能夠做出反應，解決並主動追求符合我們標準的東西。因此，這恰好是一個非常強勁的時期。為什麼它現在如此強大？

There's a lot of theories out there and you're in the investment business, you've heard tons of them, right? Part of it is pent-up demand from '20 because there wasn't very much that happened then. And so there's some pent-up demand. There's the threat of tax changes in Washington. There's a robust economy. There's antitrust, let's get our deals done now before -- I mean there's just so many things going on that have sort of lift the fire under sort of M&A fever, if you will. And there's tremendous records being set in M&A from the smallest of companies all the way to the most senior.

那裡有很多理論，而您從事投資業務，您聽說過很多，對嗎？部分原因是 20 世紀被壓抑的需求，因為當時並沒有發生太多這種情況。所以有一些被壓抑的需求。華盛頓存在稅收變化的威脅。有一個強勁的經濟。有反壟斷，讓我們現在先完成交易——我的意思是，如果你願意的話，在併購熱潮下，有太多事情正在發生。從最小的公司一直到最高級的公司，併購領域都創造了巨大的記錄。

There's demographic trends with baby boomers saying, okay, this is a good time. I'm 65 years old, I want to take some money off the table. I mean there's just so many factors contributing to why people might be wanting to sell right now. And then in a changed environment, maybe next year, that kind of can dissipate. That's not something that we're in a position to predict. But what we try and do is be in a position to handle what comes at us. And if it does continue, we're going to be there to be able to execute on that. And if it doesn't, we're going to be prepared for that as well. And so that's kind of our broad look.

嬰兒潮一代的人口統計趨勢說，好吧，這是個好時機。我今年 65 歲，我想從桌子上拿些錢。我的意思是有很多因素導致人們現在可能想要出售。然後在一個變化的環境中，也許明年，這種情況就會消失。這不是我們能夠預測的。但我們嘗試和做的是能夠處理髮生在我們身上的事情。如果它繼續下去，我們將在那裡執行。如果沒有，我們也會為此做好準備。這就是我們廣泛的看法。

And Mike, I'm sorry if we're cutting you off. I think you had something to say as well.

邁克，如果我們打斷你的話，我很抱歉。我想你也有話要說。

No, no, no, that's -- it's a terrific way to describe the macro perspective. And so all else equal, if the macro environment stays where it is, we feel good about our pipeline. We feel good about the investments that we've made in our infrastructure and relationships.

不，不，不，那是 - 這是描述宏觀視角的絕佳方式。所以在其他條件相同的情況下，如果宏觀環境保持不變，我們對我們的管道感覺良好。我們對我們在基礎設施和關係方面所做的投資感覺良好。

So we feel that our capacity to invest capital barring any changes in the macro trends is very solid and probably greater than what it has been historically. We, as you know, don't put a -- I'm glad to hear you ask the question more on an annual basis because we certainly don't think about investing quarter-to-quarter ever. That's the first way you get into trouble. I think as you know, I can't remember how many years ago, but there was 1 quarter where we did -- actually did no deals. And that's kind of what you want from an investor, right? Somebody who just says, if I'm not seeing a good deal opportunity, I'm not going to do it just because that's what we do for a living. So we feel good about our ability to deploy capital.

因此，我們認為，除非宏觀趨勢發生任何變化，否則我們的資本投資能力非常穩固，並且可能比歷史上的水平更高。如您所知，我們不會提出 - 我很高興聽到您每年更多地提出這個問題，因為我們當然不會考慮按季度進行投資。這是你遇到麻煩的第一種方式。我想如你所知，我不記得多少年前了，但有一個季度我們做了——實際上沒有交易。這就是你想從投資者那裡得到的，對吧？有人只是說，如果我沒有看到好的交易機會，我就不會這樣做，因為那是我們的謀生之道。因此，我們對自己部署資本的能力感到滿意。

And probably given the investments that we've made at a bit greater pace than we have historically, but we're always going to be watchful market trends, and we're certainly not going to make any decisions that would be related to where we lower our underwriting borrower. We're going to be just as disciplined in that respect.

並且可能考慮到我們的投資速度比歷史上要快一些，但我們總是會密切關注市場趨勢，我們當然不會做出任何與我們在哪里相關的決定降低我們的承銷借款人。在這方面，我們將同樣自律。

Okay. That's helpful. And certainly appreciate the approach and the perspective. Maybe a question here for Henri on the revenue side of things on the income statement. Henri, it looks like you guys booked some more dividend income here in the quarter. I'm assuming that's related to the preferred equity investments that were made earlier in the year. It looks like both of those now have been repaid.

好的。這很有幫助。當然也很欣賞這種方法和觀點。也許亨利的一個問題是關於損益表中收入方面的問題。亨利，看起來你們本季度在這裡預訂了更多的股息收入。我假設這與今年早些時候進行的優先股投資有關。現在看來，這兩個都已經還清了。

Just kind of curious how you think about that line item going forward. Is there another source of dividend income that you're seeing right now? And then also wanted to just get any level of commentary you have around the CLO, the CLO yield, given your comment about market volatility and seeing that yield kind of move around as much as it has over the last year, 1.5 years?

只是有點好奇您如何看待該訂單項的未來發展。您現在看到的還有其他股息收入來源嗎？然後還想獲得您對 CLO 的任何級別的評論，CLO 收益率，考慮到您對市場波動的評論，並看到收益率與去年（1.5 年）一樣多？

Sure, Bryce. So to your first question, yes, we had 3 investments that had preferred equity that was paying a dividend income. And 2 of them have been repaid during the I think on this quarter on the previous quarter. So we're down to 1 investment. Artemis Wax investment that has still preferred equity that pays dividends. So you're going to see that dividend income line come down, but there is still 1 investment that you will see dividend income from. For the rest and for the most part, other dividend income comes in at occasions from some other investments, but not that material or significant as you had on the preferred equity side. So that will simplify that line because I know that's a little bit more complicated.

當然，布萊斯。所以對於你的第一個問題，是的，我們有 3 項投資具有支付股息收入的優先股。其中有 2 筆在我認為上一季度的本季度已償還。所以我們減少到 1 項投資。 Artemis Wax 投資仍然擁有支付股息的優先股。因此，您將看到股息收入線下降，但仍有 1 項投資可以從中獲得股息收入。在其餘部分和大部分情況下，其他股息收入有時來自其他一些投資，但不像您在優先股方面那樣重要或重要。所以這將簡化那條線，因為我知道這有點複雜。

And then secondly, the second question was on -- sorry, Bryce, second question was on?

其次，第二個問題打開了——抱歉，布萊斯，第二個問題打開了？

CLO.

克洛。

CLO, Sorry, yes. So as you know, the CLO valuation has a lot of different variables that go into it. And one of the variables that impact the valuation and then also impacts the weighted average effective interest rate that drives our interest income on the CLO equity is market performance.

克洛，對不起，是的。如您所知，CLO 估值包含許多不同的變量。影響估值並進而影響推動我們對 CLO 股票利息收入的加權平均有效利率的變量之一是市場表現。

And there were really 2 changes that impacted our cash flows this quarter from market perspective. One was the change in the LIBOR curve. LIBOR effectively increased 35 basis points through the quarter. And it creates a timing difference between the time period that our assets reset at the LIBOR resets for the assets, which is more on a quarterly basis versus where on our liability side it resets on a monthly basis.

從市場角度來看，本季度確實有 2 個變化影響了我們的現金流。一是LIBOR曲線的變化。 LIBOR 在本季度有效地增加了 35 個基點。並且它在我們的資產在 LIBOR 重置資產的時間段之間產生了時間差異，該時間段更多地是按季度進行，而在我們的負債方面則按月進行重置。

So that created a reduction in our cash flows because of the LIBOR curve change. And then secondly, we also saw a couple more investments that were deemed in default because we deem investments that are trading below -- I think it's 80 as being in default just for valuation purposes, doesn't mean they are in default, just for valuation purposes. And so we saw an increase in those assets during the quarter, again, from a market perspective and a marketing perspective.

因此，由於 LIBOR 曲線的變化，我們的現金流量減少了。其次，我們還看到了更多被視為違約的投資，因為我們認為交易價格低於 80 的投資——我認為 80 只是出於估值目的而違約，並不意味著它們違約，只是為了估值目的。因此，從市場和營銷的角度來看，我們在本季度再次看到這些資產有所增加。

So the combination of those 2 decreased the cash -- the projected cash flows over the life of the CLO, which then drives the weighted average effective interest rate down. So obviously, depending on what the market does over the next 2 months through the end of February, that could drive a change in the interest rate again. And obviously, as you know, the test is as of quarter end. So it's sort of not really relevant to what the market is doing now, it's really where the market is at the point in time at the end of February.

因此，這兩者的結合減少了現金——在 CLO 的整個生命週期內的預計現金流量，從而推動加權平均有效利率下降。很明顯，根據市場在接下來的 2 個月到 2 月底的表現，這可能會再次推動利率的變化。顯然，如您所知，測試是在季度末進行的。因此，這與市場現在的走勢並不真正相關，它實際上是市場在 2 月底的時間點。

Our next question comes from Mickey Schleien with Ladenburg.

我們的下一個問題來自 Mickey Schleien 和 Ladenburg。

Perhaps a question for Mike. One of your new investments this quarter was in LFR, which is in the restaurant sector. And as we all know, that can be very difficult to underwrite. So could you describe what attracted you to LFR? And in particular, how much leverage is there in this deal?

也許是邁克的一個問題。您本季度的一項新投資是在餐飲業的 LFR。眾所周知，這可能很難承保。那麼你能描述一下 LFR 是什麼吸引你的嗎？特別是，這筆交易有多少槓桿作用？

Mickey, thanks for the questions. Obviously, these are private companies, so we don't get into too much of the details -- on the great details in particular, of the business. But I can say that in this case, we obviously have a good experience in the restaurant space. And the underwriting bar was quite high. This is a business that drives the majority of its cash flow as a franchisor. It's a business that's been around successfully since the '60s. It's unit economics for its underlying franchisees are stronger than most of its competitors in the space. And we did an awful lot of diligence to get very comfortable that we're in a good spot, a very good spot in the balance sheet relative to our debt. So -- and it's generally in the scheme of looking at the deal relative to franchisor leverage multiples. It's very much on the low side of where you typically see a franchisor get leveraged.

米奇，謝謝你的提問。顯然，這些都是私人公司，所以我們不會涉及太多細節 - 特別是關於業務的重要細節。但我可以說，在這種情況下，我們顯然在餐廳空間有很好的體驗。而且承保門檻很高。這是一項作為特許人推動其大部分現金流的業務。這是一項自 60 年代以來就成功開展的業務。它的基礎特許經營商的單位經濟比該領域的大多數競爭對手都要強。我們做了很多努力，讓我們感到非常舒服，我們處於一個好位置，相對於我們的債務，資產負債表中的一個非常好的位置。所以 - 它通常是在考慮與特許人槓桿倍數相關的交易的計劃中。它非常低，您通常會看到特許人獲得槓桿作用。

Appreciate that, Mike. Henri, just curious, I suspect that may be due to timing, but why did you fund some of your investments this quarter with SBA debentures when you have so much cash on the balance sheet?

欣賞這一點，邁克。 Henri，只是好奇，我懷疑這可能是由於時間問題，但是當您的資產負債表上有這麼多現金時，為什麼您在本季度用 SBA 債券為您的一些投資提供資金？

That's a good question. Mickey, it's always a balance. We tend to try to sort of balance funding in the SBIC versus outside the SBIC when we have excess cash, like we had this quarter. But at the same time, once you fund outside the SBIC, you can't later put the investment into the SBIC. And so we try to never make decisions on funding with just a short-term view or short-term lens, we try to focus on sort of where we're going to get the highest return over the long term. And so in this quarter, where we had excess cash, we sort of balance that, whereas normally, if you're -- if you don't have so much efficient cash, it will just automatically always go into the SBIC because that's the highest return.

這是個好問題。米奇，這總是一種平衡。當我們有多餘的現金時，我們傾向於嘗試平衡 SBIC 與 SBIC 之外的資金，就像我們本季度一樣。但同時，一旦您在 SBIC 之外投資，您以後就不能將投資投入到 SBIC。因此，我們嘗試從不僅以短期觀點或短期視角來決定融資，我們嘗試專注於我們將在長期內獲得最高回報的地方。因此，在本季度，我們有多餘的現金，我們在某種程度上平衡了這一點，而通常情況下，如果你 - 如果你沒有這麼多有效的現金，它會自動總是進入 SBIC，因為那是最高回報。

Right. I understand. And Henri, what -- if I'm not mistaken, there was a reversal for professional fee accruals. Can you just clarify that? And what's the outlook for that line item?

對。我明白。還有亨利，什麼——如果我沒記錯的話，專業費用應計發生了逆轉。你能澄清一下嗎？該訂單項的前景如何？

Sure. Yes. We've always tried to optimize costs. And this year, as we have been growing, we've actually been growing and building not just on the sort of the origination side but also on the expense line item side and the actual back office side. And so we've optimized some of our processes and optimize some of our vendors in a way where some of our accruals were higher than they were needed to.

當然。是的。我們一直試圖優化成本。今年，隨著我們的發展，我們實際上一直在發展和建設，不僅在發起方面，而且在費用項目方面和實際後台辦公室方面。因此，我們優化了我們的一些流程並優化了我們的一些供應商，以使我們的一些應計費用高於他們的需要。

And so we had a release of some of the expenses reflecting the activity sort of over the first 9 months or so of the year. I think sort of going forward, definitely this quarter's not a run rate to be used going forward. It's probably more appropriate to use sort of the run rate from a quarterly perspective than we had in prior quarters. But our sort of optimization has allowed us to release some of the accruals we had, and it was really across accounting, legal and valuation.

因此，我們發布了一些反映今年前 9 個月左右活動的費用。我認為有點向前發展，這個季度絕對不是未來使用的運行速度。從季度的角度來看，使用某種運行率可能比我們之前幾個季度更合適。但是我們的優化使我們能夠釋放我們擁有的一些應計項目，而且它確實涉及會計、法律和估值。

I appreciate that, Henri. And my last question. A lot of moving parts. So difficult for us to triangulate what -- where you stand undistributed taxable income. Can you give us a sense of where that number is and how you intend to manage that?

我很感激，亨利。還有我的最後一個問題。很多活動部件。我們很難對什麼進行三角測量——你的未分配應稅收入在哪裡。你能告訴我們這個數字在哪里以及你打算如何管理它嗎？

Yes. I think on the -- I haven't run the latest rig calc as of right now, but I think we went into the year, if you recall, with about quarter and a half spillover. That's obviously been covered completely. We most likely based on our current dividend rate and our earnings rate will have a spillover, I think, going into the end of February and I guess, into March into next year. But we'll sort of say that the biggest set of that is during our year-end period. But you can expect it to be a spillover at the end of February.

是的。我認為 - 我現在還沒有運行最新的鑽機計算，但我認為我們進入了這一年，如果你還記得的話，大約有四分之一半的溢出。這顯然已經被完全覆蓋了。根據我們目前的股息率和收益率，我們很可能會在 2 月底和明年 3 月底出現溢出效應。但我們會說最大的一組是在我們的年終期間。但你可以預期它會在 2 月底產生溢出效應。

Our next question comes from Robert Dodd with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自 Robert Dodd 和 Raymond James。

A question about origination mix, I'm more interested in the future, obviously. I mean you've done a lot of follow on investments. I mean those are great, right, because you know the company as well, the underwriting comfort is probably higher. But can you give us any idea? Is -- given you've done so many and I think something approaching 2/3 or 3/4 of your portfolio companies and follow-on in the last 12 months, something like that. Should we expect there to be any less follow-ons in '22? Or do you expect that pace to stay elevated in those portfolio companies maybe to be serial acquirers?

關於起源組合的問題，顯然我對未來更感興趣。我的意思是你在投資方面做了很多跟進。我的意思是那些很棒，對，因為你也了解這家公司，承保的舒適度可能更高。但是你能給我們一些想法嗎？是 - 考慮到你做了這麼多，我認為你的投資組合公司的 2/3 或 3/4 以及過去 12 個月的後續行動，類似的事情。我們是否應該期望在 22 年會有更少的後續行動？或者您是否預計這些投資組合公司可能會成為連續收購者？

And on that, I mean, if there is a change in mix, would that change the dynamics of spread compression or yield conversion? Are you getting the same spreads on a follow-on as the existing loan to that business and lower spreads on new investments? Or is there any dynamic at play there?

就此而言，我的意思是，如果組合發生變化，那會改變價差壓縮或收益轉換的動態嗎？您是否在後續貸款中獲得與該企業現有貸款相同的利差，而新投資的利差是否較低？或者那裡有什麼動態在起作用？

Maybe I'll take that on a high level. To begin with, I think what you're touching on is a really important part of our investment strategy. I think a lot of our investments, I think, as Mike was mentioning in his portion, we do a lot of small deals. We start out with sometimes as low as $5 million or $10 million of initial investment, but we're often investing in growing companies and companies that grow through acquisition. And so that's a very important part of what we do. And we think it's very helpful for us on pricing as a matter of fact, because we get in and we establish pricing when the companies are smaller. And then as they grow, we are better able to maintain perhaps some of our pricing than we would have if they were kind of going out to market de novo.

也許我會把它放在一個高水平上。首先，我認為您所談到的是我們投資策略中非常重要的一部分。我認為我們的很多投資，正如邁克在他的部分中提到的那樣，我們做了很多小交易。我們最初的初始投資有時低至 500 萬美元或 1000 萬美元，但我們經常投資於成長型公司和通過收購實現增長的公司。所以這是我們工作中非常重要的一部分。事實上，我們認為這對我們定價非常有幫助，因為我們進入並在公司規模較小時制定定價。然後隨著他們的成長，我們可能比他們從頭上市時更好地維持我們的一些定價。

So we think it's a helpful strategy, but it's also really what we do. I mean that's part of what our appeal is that we'll get involved with a company that's got growth plans that are coming into fruition, sometimes growth by acquisitions, sometimes it's internal funding, sometimes it's more aggressive internal funding. And so we are the type of partner where we're kind of in an active dialogue with our growth investments on what they need and when they need it.

所以我們認為這是一個有用的策略，但這也是我們所做的。我的意思是，我們的部分吸引力在於，我們將與一家擁有正在實現的增長計劃的公司合作，有時通過收購實現增長，有時是內部資金，有時是更積極的內部資金。因此，我們是那種與我們的增長投資就他們需要什麼以及何時需要進行積極對話的合作夥伴。

And then from their standpoint, they don't want to take down more money on the front end than they need to. They don't want to pay more interest and fees et cetera. So there's kind of sort of a partnership exercise going on between the investee and us as to when to fund, what they need when. And so they want some just-in-time funding. And so there's kind of a combination of things, but it's much more a reflection of our investment strategy and the types of companies we're investing in, than some -- than sort of a market phenomenon, if you will.

然後從他們的角度來看，他們不想在前端花費比他們需要的更多的錢。他們不想支付更多的利息和費用等等。因此，被投資方和我們之間就何時資助、何時需要什麼進行了某種合作。所以他們想要一些及時的資金。所以有一些事情的組合，但它更多地反映了我們的投資策略和我們正在投資的公司類型，而不是一些 - 如果你願意的話，而不是某種市場現象。

And now in terms of what proportions will have, I think our objective -- our growth objective is to have more new platforms because new platforms then lead to more follow-on investments in those platforms. And so -- and then more investment opportunities with the sponsors of those new platforms. So we're very interested in the new platforms, and we're also very interested in supporting our existing portfolio.

現在就比例而言，我認為我們的目標 - 我們的增長目標是擁有更多新平台，因為新平台會導致對這些平台的更多後續投資。所以 - 然後與這些新平台的讚助商有更多的投資機會。所以我們對新平台非常感興趣，我們也對支持我們現有的產品組合非常感興趣。

Mike, do you have something to add to that?

邁克，你有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. I think you covered it, by and large, but it's a very good question. There's a sequence that you may -- and a bit of a pattern that you may see in our portfolio over time along those lines, where we'll make an initial investment and many of our initial platform investments are on the smaller side. And we intentionally are looking for opportunities to invest in some of these smaller companies where we know we're going to do the hard work at the front end, and then we'll have -- there's nothing better than getting a call from the owner of a company that's doing really well, and they're looking for more capital to execute on an acquisition that makes sense or to fuel their further growth. And so there's a pattern there.

是的。我認為你基本上涵蓋了它，但這是一個非常好的問題。隨著時間的推移，您可能會在我們的投資組合中看到一些模式，我們將在這些方面進行初始投資，而我們的許多初始平台投資都在較小的方面。我們有意尋找機會投資一些較小的公司，我們知道我們將在前端做艱苦的工作，然後我們將擁有 - 沒有什麼比接到老闆的電話更好的了一家表現非常好的公司，他們正在尋找更多的資金來執行有意義的收購或推動他們的進一步發展。所以那裡有一個模式。

Now you're right, at some point, especially for the private equity owned platforms, they're going to look to exit and you've seen that pattern as well where we get to a certain size. And oftentimes, at some point, they exit that deal. It's one of the reasons why we are anxious to try to co-invest in the equity when we get that chance. But reloading our balance sheet with new platform opportunities is a key to making that game plan work. And we've been successful so far and expect that we're going to continue to do that.

現在你是對的，在某些時候，特別是對於私募股權擁有的平台，他們會尋求退出，你已經看到了這種模式，以及我們達到一定規模的情況。通常，在某個時候，他們會退出該交易。當我們有機會時，這也是我們急於嘗試共同投資股票的原因之一。但是，用新的平台機會重新加載我們的資產負債表是使該遊戲計劃奏效的關鍵。到目前為止，我們已經取得了成功，並期望我們將繼續這樣做。

Got it. I appreciate that color. One more I got to ask, I mean you increased the dividend this quarter, $0.53, earned that dividend this quarter, even in a quarter where prepay and activity was quite low. So clearly, that dividend is -- looks very solid to me.

知道了。我很欣賞那種顏色。我還要再問一個問題，我的意思是您在本季度增加了 0.53 美元的股息，即使在預付和活動非常低的季度也獲得了本季度的股息。很明顯，紅利對我來說非常可靠。

Looking to December, obviously, significant AUM growth, much more activity so we should see income. I mean I would expect -- the dividend coverage is not going to be a question. The question is, so what's the framework, Christian, as a member of the Board. You said the Board evaluates the dividend at least quarterly. Can you give us any color on what lead -- what -- expectations might be the long word for it. But what the framework is for another dividend increase, given what appears to be continuing to -- continued expansion in earnings power...

展望 12 月，顯然，AUM 顯著增長，更多活動，所以我們應該看到收入。我的意思是我希望 - 股息覆蓋率不會成為問題。問題是，Christian 作為董事會成員，框架是什麼。你說董事會至少每季度評估一次股息。你能告訴我們什麼線索 - 什麼 - 期望可能是它的長詞。但是，考慮到似乎仍在繼續的情況，再次增加股息的框架是什麼——盈利能力的持續擴張……

Yes. Yes. I mean I think that's an excellent question. That's something that we are constantly evaluating ourselves. I think probably the base level principle here is as a BDC registered investment company, we have requirements for dividends, they don't always have to be cash dividends, but there's a dividend requirement that -- and I think Henri touched on it, we have our year-end in February and then we've got tax filing in November. And so we need to be in compliance. There's some flexibility around spillover amount, so you can, in effect, push forward some of your tax obligation. But there's a limit to how far you can push it forward.

是的。是的。我的意思是我認為這是一個很好的問題。這是我們不斷評估自己的事情。我認為這裡的基本原則可能是作為 BDC 註冊的投資公司，我們對股息有要求，它們並不總是必須是現金股息，但有一個股息要求——我認為 Henri 談到了它，我們我們在二月結束年終，然後在十一月報稅。所以我們需要遵守。溢出金額有一定的靈活性，因此您實際上可以推進您的一些納稅義務。但是你能推動它前進多遠是有限度的。

So our first principle here is what are our underlying requirements for payout. And so we look at that. And then the second is liquidity. And then as you may recall, back in March of '20 when the impact of COVID was so heavily felt both in the markets and in the country and the world, we had 0 spillover at that moment. And so that was a store of liquidity, if you will, that we could have gone to sort of 4 quarters worth of liquidity from that source had we needed it.

所以我們這裡的第一個原則是我們對支付的基本要求是什麼。所以我們來看看。其次是流動性。然後您可能還記得，早在 20 年 3 月，當 COVID 的影響在市場、國家和世界上都受到如此強烈的影響時，我們當時的溢出效應為 0。因此，如果您願意的話，這是一種流動性存儲，如果我們需要的話，我們可以從該來源獲得大約 4 個季度的流動性。

We did avail ourselves of some of that liquidity, which created some of the spillover. So we look at spillover, we look at our cost, spillover is like a 4% cost of capital. You got an excise tax of 4% on anything you have in spillover. So there's a cost to spillover and then we have a cost to all of our other financing. So we look at it in that context. And we also look at it as our -- what are our sources of liquidity if things go against us or go against the marketplace in general. And then we also want to have a dividend rate that is sustainable in the future barring crazy events. And so what we're trying to do is establish a trajectory and a level of our dividends that our investors can have confidence that are sustainable.

我們確實利用了一些流動性，從而產生了一些溢出效應。所以我們看溢出，我們看我們的成本，溢出就像4%的資本成本。你對溢出的任何東西都要徵收 4% 的消費稅。所以溢出是有成本的，然後我們所有其他融資都有成本。所以我們在這種情況下看待它。我們還將其視為我們的——如果事情對我們不利或對整個市場不利，我們的流動性來源是什麼。然後我們還希望在未來有一個可持續的股息率，除非發生瘋狂事件。因此，我們試圖做的是建立一個軌跡和我們的股息水平，讓我們的投資者有信心是可持續的。

So those are kind of the main factors that go into it. And as you can well imagine, every quarter is a slightly different picture when it comes time to make that declaration. And so that's what goes into it. And we do a fresh relook at everything certainly every quarter and actually more often than that.

所以這些是影響它的主要因素。正如您可以想像的那樣，每個季度在做出該聲明時都會略有不同。這就是它的內容。我們每個季度都會重新審視一切，實際上比這更頻繁。

That concludes today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the call back to Mr. Oberbeck for closing remarks.

今天的問答環節到此結束。我想把電話轉回奧伯貝克先生的閉幕詞。

Well, we appreciate everyone's time and attention to Saratoga. And I want to thank everyone for joining us today, and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

好吧，我們感謝大家對薩拉託加的時間和關注。我要感謝大家今天加入我們，我們期待在下個季度與您交談。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。