Crescent Capital BDC, Inc.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Q3 2023 Crescent Capital Incorporated earnings conference call. At this time all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday November 9th 2023. I go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to Crescent Capital BDC Inc's third quarter ended September 30th 2023 earnings conference call. Please note that Crescent Capital BDC Inc may be referred to as CCAP, Crescent BDC or the company throughout the call. Before we begin I'll start with some important reminders. Comments made over the course of this conference call and webcast may contain forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements for any reason including those listed in its SEC filings. The company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Please also note that past performance or market information is not a guarantee of future results. During this conference call we may discuss certain non-GAAP measures as defined by SEC regulation G such as adjusted net investment income or NII per share. The company believes that adjusted NII per share provides useful information to investors regarding financial performance because it's one method the company uses to measure its financial condition and results of operations. The reconciliation of adjusted NII per share to NII per share the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure can be found in the accompanying slide presentation for this call. In addition a reconciliation of this measure may also be found in our earnings release. Yesterday after the market closed the company issued its earnings press release for the third quarter ended September 30th 2023 and posted a presentation to the investor relations section of its website at .crescentbdc.com. The presentation should be reviewed in conjunction with companies formed 10q filed yesterday with the SEC. As a reminder this call is being recorded for replay purposes. Speaking on today's call will be CCAP's president and chief executive officer Jason Brough, chief financial officer Gerhard Lombard and managing director Henry Chung. With that I'd now like to turn it over to Jason.

Thank you Dan. Hello everyone and thank you for joining our earnings call. We appreciate your continued interest in CCAP. I'll begin the call by providing a brief overview of our third quarter results before discussing the current market environment in more detail. I'll then turn it over to Henry to review our recent investing activity and portfolio performance. Gerhard will then review our financial performance for the third quarter. Before we begin you will note the presentation format has changed. We trust the content remains helpful in providing an overview of CCAP's performance. The revised format is Crescent's brand refresh which reflects the growth and consistency of our firm investing in private and tradable corporate credit over the past 30 plus years. Let's begin. Please turn to slide six where you'll see a summary of our results. For the third quarter we reported record net investment income of 59 cents per share up from 56 cents per share in the prior quarter. This quarter's net investment income continues to reflect the strength and the core earnings power of our portfolio as we over earned our regular dividend by 44%. We also paid our first supplemental dividend in September which was 8 cents per share and announced on last quarter's call. CCAP's over earned of the combined dividend payments coupled with unrealized appreciation in the portfolio on a net basis resulted in net asset value per share of $19.70 as a quarter end up .6% as compared to the prior quarter. For the third quarter we are pleased to declare a supplemental dividend of 9 cents per share one penny higher than last quarter's supplemental dividend payable on December 15th. As a reminder these supplemental dividends are calculated as 50% of net investment income in excess of our regular 41 cent per share dividend subject to a measurement test. Our board also declared a regular dividend of 41 cents per share for the fourth quarter payable on January 16 2024 which represents the 20th consecutive quarter of CCAP paying a regular dividend of 41 cents. Please turn to slides 13 and 14 of the presentation which highlights certain characteristics of our portfolio. We ended the quarter with approximately 1.6 billion of investments at fair value across a highly diversified portfolio of 185 companies with an average investment size of approximately .5% of the total portfolio. Our investment portfolio continues to consist primarily of senior secured first lane and unit tranche first lane loans collectively representing 89% of the portfolio at fair value at quarter end unchanged from the prior quarter. This speaks to our continued focus on maintaining a defensively positioned portfolio with greater downside protection and lower risk of loss compared to second lane and subordinated debt focused portfolios. We remain well diversified across 20 industries and continue to lend almost exclusively to private equity backed companies with 98% of our debt portfolio in sponsored backed companies as of a quarter end. In terms of industry composition you can see on the right hand side of slide 14 that the majority of our investments continue to be in with a particular focus on healthcare, software, and commercial and professional services. This is by design as Crescent's private credit team has always focused on underwriting free cash flow generative businesses in what we deem to be more recession resilient industries. A few more credit trends to review. Performance ratings and non accrual levels. Our weighted average portfolio grade of 2.1 remains stable quarter over quarter and on page 17 you will see that the percentage of risk rated one and two investments, the highest ratings our portfolio companies can receive accounted for 89% of the portfolio at fair value up from 87% last quarter. As a quarter end we had investments in nine portfolio companies on non accrual status representing .3% and .8% of our total debt investments at cost and fair value respectively. Moving to the current market backdrop activity levels have picked up in the second half of 2023 with new issuance in the third quarter hitting its highest mark since the rate hike onset in Q1 2022. During the third quarter market pricing and terms continue to be attractive for new transactions. Credit spreads on new loans are above historical averages leverage levels are lower and equity contributions are at historical highs. We've continued to see private credit take share from the broadly syndicated market which we believe to some extent is a more permanent structural shift. Looking ahead to the remainder of this year and 2024 we expect to see a continued uptick in M&A activity. On the hand side private equity dry powder is at record levels and on the supply side an increasing number of private companies are looking for potential exit opportunities with many backed by sponsors that may be seeking to monetize longer held investments. While these dynamics should lead to an acceleration of sponsor to sponsor portfolio company transactions the current geopolitical situation perceptions around a slowing economy and potential recession and a higher for longer rate environment continue to weigh on the deal environment. When activity does pick up further we do believe that Crescent's focus on sponsor backed opportunities and our deep relationships in the space position us well to benefit. I'd now like to turn it over to Henry to discuss our Q3 investment activity. Henry. Thanks Jason.

Please turn to slide 15 where we highlight a recent activity. Gross deployment in the second quarter totaled 45 million. As you can see on the left hand side of the page 99% was in senior secured first lien and unitronch investments. During the quarter we closed on three new investments totaling 20 million with the remaining 25 million coming from incremental investments in our existing portfolio companies. The new investments during the third quarter were loans to private equity backed companies with Zofar floors, attractive fees and a weighted average spread of approximately 590 basis points. Underscoring Jason's earlier point about historically attractive relative value we were able to achieve in the current market the weighted average loan of value of our new investments for the quarter was below 30%. The 45 million in gross deployment compares to approximately 62 million in aggregate exits sales and repayments. We continue to remain highly selective from a credit and risk-adjusted return perspective and maintain a long-term strategic view on capital deployment that is insulated by our orientation of first lien credit risk and non-cyclical industries. We remain focused on the continued rotation of the acquired first Eagle BDC assets and maintaining stable leverage levels and have progressed on both of these fronts during the third quarter. Balance sheet leverage is down quarter over quarter and as of last Friday we have realized approximately 26% of the acquired first Eagle portfolio since closing in March. 100% of the aforementioned 62 million in aggregate exits during the third quarter were first Eagle names. Turning to slide 16 you can see that the weighted average yield of our income producing securities at cost increased quarter over quarter from .7% to .9% and is up 240 basis points year over year driven by the increase in the respective base rates. As of September 30th 99% of our debt investments at fair value were floating rate with a weighted average floor of 80 basis points which compares to our 66% floating rate liability structure based on debt drawn with 0% floors. Overall our investment portfolio continues to perform well with strong -over-year weighted average revenue and EBITDA growth. That being said we have continued to closely monitor the impact of rising borrowing costs on our portfolio companies. The weighted average interest coverage of the companies in our investment portfolio at quarter end held stable at 1.7 times. It is important to note that we calculate our interest coverage ratio using annual interest expense that reflects the latest respective base rates in contrast to a trailing 12 months interest expense calculation which would have resulted in interest coverage ratio of two times. We believe this provides a more relevant metric when evaluating the ability of our portfolio companies to continue to service their respective interest obligations. We also continue to closely monitor how our portfolio companies are managing fixed operating charges in this environment. Our analysis demonstrates that our portfolio companies in the aggregate are well positioned to address fixed charges with operating cash flows and available balance sheet liquidity. At the quarter end approximately 64% of aggregate revolver capacity was available across the portfolio. An increase from 60% in the prior quarter and we have not seen an increase in aggregate revolver utilization during the third quarter. Our private equity partners have been active in managing costs particularly SG&A in this environment and we are starting to see operating results that demonstrate the effectiveness of the actions that have been taken. A significant majority of our portfolio companies have grown both revenue and EBITDA on a -over-year basis. Additionally we have seen some improvement in margin pressures at our portfolio companies that resulted from COVID related economic pressures particularly supply chain issues and elevated employee turnover. While the current rate environment and economic outlook present a challenging environment for our companies to navigate we are encouraged by the results of the early actions our sponsors and manager teams have taken to date. The strength of our portfolio continues to benefit from the substantial amount of equity invested in our companies. Most of it supplied by large and well established private equity firms with whom we have long-standing relationships and have partnered with in multiple transactions. The weighted average loan of value in the portfolio at time of underwrite is approximately 41% which provides us a margin of safety from an enterprise value coverage perspective. Pressing the track record of successfully managing through multiple economic and market cycles provides us a significant and relevant experience to navigate the challenges that the current environment brings with it. With that I will now turn it over to Gerhard.

Thanks Henry and hello everyone. Our net investment income per share of 59 cents for the second quarter of 2023 compares to 56 cents per share for the prior quarter. Total investment income of 48.2 million for the second quarter compares to 46.7 million for the prior quarter representing an increase of approximately 3%. Occurring yield related investment income comprised of interest income, PIC income, amortization and unused fees and dividend income from the Logan JV was up 2% quarter of a quarter from 45.7 million to 46.7 million. Ultimately accounting for 97% of this quarter's total investment income. PIC income continues to represent a modest portion of our revenue at 2% of total investment income which based on our analysis is one of the lowest levels in the space given our focus on market leading companies with strong margins and high free cash flow generation. Our gap earnings per share or net increase in net assets resulting from operations for the second quarter of 23 with 61 cents unchanged from the prior quarter. At September 30 our stockholders agree with 730 million resulting in net asset value per share of $19.70 as compared to 726 million or $19.58 per share last quarter. Net investment exits of 17 million offset by net portfolio appreciation contributed to total portfolio value of 1.6 billion as of September 30 down approximately 16 million quarter over quarter. Now let's shift to our capitalization and liquidity. I'm on slide 19. As of September 30 our debt to equity ratio was 1.18 times down from 1.19 times in the prior quarter. The weighted average interest rate on our borrowings was .01% as of quarter end. As we've highlighted on the right hand side of the slide there are no debt maturity until 2026. Our liquidity position remains strong with 317 million of undrawn capacity subject to leverage borrowing base and other restrictions and 22.8 million dollars of cash and cash equivalents as of quarter end. We believe this level of drive out our positions as well to selectively invest in new opportunities while continuing to support our existing portfolio company commitments. Finally for the fourth quarter of 2023 our board declared a 41 cent per share quarterly cash dividend which will be paid on January 16 2024 to stockholders of record as of December 29 2023. Additionally as Jason discussed our board declared a supplemental cash dividend of 9 cents per share which will be paid on December 15 2023 to stockholders of record as of November 30 2023. And with that I'd like to turn it back to Jason for closing remarks. Thanks Gerhard. In closing we're

pleased with our strong financial results for the quarter and believe CCAP remains well positioned to continue to deliver strong results going forward. Our portfolio is diverse and healthy and we are in excellent financial condition to selectively capitalize on the current investment environment. On an annualized basis we're currently delivering two dollars per share and total dividends which translates into a 10.2 percent yield on CCAP's current NAV and an over 12 percent yield on CCAP's current stock price which we view as highly attractive given our predominantly first-link focus and track record of NAV stability. As always we appreciate you all joining us today and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter and with that operator we can open the line for questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen we will now conduct the question and answer session. If you have a question please press star followed by the number one on your touchstone phone. You will hear a three tone prompt acknowledging your request. If you would like to cancel your request please press star two. Please ensure you lift the handset if you're using a speakerphone before pressing any One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Robert Dodd from Raymond James. Your line is now open.

Hi guys and congratulations on the quarter. Some questions on the first... you talk about obviously you realize 26 percent of the assets from that so a quarter gone three quarters left to go. Can you give us any color on kind of the mix? Obviously you know it's the ones that are easiest to refinance usually the performers and then the strugglers tend to get dealt with later. I mean OEMs still there, loadbusters still there etc. You know some historic problem names that aren't a big piece of your portfolio but could represent a headache. Can you give us any update on how the rotation of the more troubled names in that portfolio has gone?

Hey Robert it's Jason thanks for the question. You're right I would say the non-core bucket of the portfolio that we identified when we acquired the book is still in place. I think we feel comfortable about where we've generally marked those positions and underwrote those positions. Those are not positions that we need to rush to exit and it was our expectation that those might take some time to further develop and ultimately monetize. So I think your observation is accurate. We have fully realized 20 names out of that 26 percent but they all fall within the bucket. I wouldn't say that they are just all natural realizations. I think there has been some proactive sort of movement on our part to try to rotate some of those names.

I appreciate that. Then on the LTV for the quarter was about 30 percent and you mentioned in your remarks you know it leverages down, equity checks are up. I mean on that 30 percent can you give us some I mean obviously if you know for example if they are ARR loans we expect them to be low anyway. Is it you know is that mix the type of businesses or is it just PE firms writing bigger checks in order to you know underwrite to get lower interest or better interest coverage than the current market would imply otherwise.

Yeah thanks for the question. This is Henry. I'll take that one. On the first part of your question, no none of these are ARR loans. That's just not an area that we focus on historically nor one that we intend to focus on in the near term. They're all your typical vanilla cash flow based loans. I think you hit the nail on the head on the second point. We are seeing especially in the base rate environment, sponsors are very focused on capitalizing the businesses in a way that can withstand the current rate environment that we're in and oftentimes especially with base rates where they are today that's going to be much more moderate leverage than what we saw in a zero rate environment just a couple years ago. So I think part of it is certainly the you know I think thoughtful approach to capitalization from sponsors. I think the other side of that is also really disciplined on our end. You know there are certainly other sponsors that are out there that are still kind of trying to pursue what I would say very full capital structures and for us you know credit is quite binary in terms of whether or not it fits our box and if it doesn't fit the profile that we're looking for with respect to the amount of cash flow the business generates and its ability to coverage that service that's just something that's not going to work for our portfolio and ones that will we just look to pass on versus you know stretch on and or price that risk.

The other thing I'd add that everything Henry said is that as you know we've talked in the past Robert about pick interest and that percentage of our of our of our top line which is something we really try hard to to minimize and and so as Henry mentioned when when buyers private equity firms or other buyers are looking to put in place more full aggressive cash structures there's you know you'll oftentimes find in this environment a pick component in those cash structures given where base rates are and those are those are the types of deals that I think we will we obviously see them we evaluate them will participate on a very selective basis but we we overall are trying to keep our pick income as a at a very modest level in our in our top line.

Got it got it I appreciate that Kelly if I can ask you to stretch the timeline a little bit more make your sponsors are going to look to monetize more assets in 2024 right it looks like currently rates are still going to be pretty high in 2024 so do you expect the the kind of structures we see in 2024 to be more reminiscent of what you're doing in in the third quarter here or do you think there's going to be some different evolution as we go through 2024 if monetization for PE funds do does increase but rates remain high same kind of like does Q3 apply to next year I guess is the question.

I think that's a great question it's something we're thinking a lot about and I think we're going to see segments of the depending on I would say the risk profile of the buyers and the lenders attached to those buyers in a in a very low rate environment which we experienced for several years you saw secured debt continue to grow as a wasn't necessarily surprising now we're in a different reality and with where base rates where they're at I think what you'll start to see more of are these conservative structures as as Henry outlined for Q3 activity or you know potentially more aggressive leverage levels but with maybe a a more traditional first lien loan that's cash pay and a more junior oriented piece of paper that might have you know a pick toggle option or a portion of it as as pick to help owners manage their their fixed charge burden in these acquisitions so I do think it's something that we're going to start to more of in 24 that then we've seen in some time

I appreciate that thank you for the color yeah

thank you

your next question comes from the line of Ryan Lynch from KBW your line is now open

hey good morning first question I had kind of following up on the previous line of question with the loan the value you know 30% you know below 30% loan about value on kind of the on the investments made this quarter it seems like that in combination with if I look at your overall weighted average spread on new investments which was 5.9 percent versus 6.7 percent the prior quarter it feels like you guys are purposely sort of de-risking on on the new investments or your willingness on on the level of safety you guys want on new investments is that fair to assume that that's what's happening or are the terms and structures on these new investments coming to market or are these just representative of kind of what what's coming in the market today

hey Ryan it's Jason thanks for the question I think it's a little bit of both I think we are certainly trying to be selective in our underwriting in this environment not to mention we're sort of at a leverage level on the overall fund that we're comfortable at and so we're not looking to meaningfully lever up from where we are that the second point I would say is that because we are in a slower volume environment albeit certainly a take up from q2 that that slower deal full deal flow combined with significant capital that's been raised targeting private credit has forced pricing to tighten a bit so I would say we're you know we're generally probably you know 25 to 50 basis points inside of where we were a quarter or so ago where you know unis now are in the I would say 550 575 range and and first liens you know not stretch are in the 500 to five and a quarter range today so so I think you've got a little bit of our our conservative bias but in addition to that just a supply demand and balance which we hope to to to to even out and become more rational in 24

okay that makes sense that's helpful the other question I had was I think you said 26% of the fcred portfolio has been realized at this point I'm just curious from an aggregate level of those investments exited do you know what sort of value you guys got versus what you guys purchased those investments for and then separately on that point it sounds like some of them were kind of accident of normal course and maybe sounds like you're proactive and some of those exits if the M&A environment does pick up over the next you know going into 2024 which it seems to be do you think that that would result in a higher correlation or some correlation of you being able to and actually exiting the fcred portfolio at a faster clip or do you think a more active M&A environment doesn't really have a high correlation with your your ability and speed of exiting those investments

thanks for the question Ryan's Henry I'll take that one the first question that you had on the fair value or the the realized value relative to onboard cost basis so we exited all the investments that we've realized either at or above cost the respective cost basis that applies to the 20 investments that Jason referenced in earlier question with respect to where those shook out at on the second point I think it's an interesting one because we did see a similar dynamic with Alcentra you know we called Alcentra right before the onset of COVID-19 so we we closed that portfolio or that acquisition into an environment where there was no deal activity and then obviously as we all recall in 2021 and in the early part of 2022 M&A activity you know picked up quite dramatically and we saw a very I'd say fast acceleration in the rotation of that portfolio during that time frame as well it's a little analogous to what we're seeing with first eagle where you know we closed first eagle right before Silicon Valley Bank got taken over by the FDIC and you know I think we all know that the deal environment was quite anemic shortly thereafter and we are starting to see activity pick up all being modestly and I think my expectation would be that as we see just M&A volumes pick up given that almost all these businesses that we have in the portfolio are sponsor backed and you know there's an attractive opportunity for sponsors to be able to monetize assets there's certainly nothing to be shy about doing so I can certainly see that potentially happening again here

okay makes sense I appreciate the color that's all for me today thanks Ryan

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thank you operator well once again I'd like to thank you all for joining our earnings call today and appreciate the questions and we look forward to speaking with you again soon