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spk07: Good afternoon. Welcome everyone to BlackRock TCP Capital Corp's fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings conference call. Today's conference call is being recorded for replay purposes. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the company's formal remarks. To ask a question, please press the star key followed by the digit 1. I will repeat these instructions before we begin the Q&A session. And now I would like to turn the call over to Katie McGlynn, Director of the BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. Investor Relations Team. Katie, please proceed.
spk06: Thank you, Emily. Before we begin, I'll note that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements based on the estimates and assumptions of management at the time of such statements and are not guaranteed a future performance. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those projected. Any forward-looking statements made on this call are made as of today and are subject to change without notice. Additionally, certain information discussed and presented may have been derived from third-party sources and has not been independently verified. Accordingly, we make no representation or warranty with respect to such information. Earlier today, we issued our earnings release for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31st, 2023. We also posted a supplemental earnings presentation to our website at www.tcpcapitals.com. To view the slide presentation, which we will refer to on today's call, please click on the investor relations link and select events and presentations. These documents should be reviewed in conjunction with the company's Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC earlier today. I will now turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Raj Vig.
spk02: Thanks, Katie, and thank you all for joining us for TCPC's fourth quarter and year-end 2023 earnings call. I will begin the call with an overview of our fourth quarter and full year results, and then provide an update on our proposed merger with our affiliate BDC, BlackRock Capital Investment Corporation, or BCIC. Bill Tseng, our President and Chief Operating Officer, will then review the investment environment and our portfolio activity. Eric Cuellar, our Chief Financial Officer, will review our financial results, as well as our capital and liquidity in greater detail. Finally, I will wrap up with a few comments on the outlook and opportunities we see ahead before taking your questions. Let's begin with a review of highlights of our fourth quarter and full year results. I am pleased to report that for the full year 2023, TCPC delivered net investment income of $1.84 per share, an increase of 20% over 2022. Our annualized net investment income return on equity for the year was 14.5%. Given our predominantly floating rate portfolio and higher proportion of fixed rate liabilities, Our net investment income for the period benefited from strong credit performance, higher base rates, and marginally wider spreads. Net investment income for the fourth quarter was $0.44 per share, and our run rate NII at the end of the quarter again remained among the highest in TCPC's history as a public company. During the fourth quarter, our NAV declined 6.4%, reflecting in part the special dividend of $0.25 we paid on December 31st, in addition to our regular dividend. Excluding this special dividend, NAV declined 4.5%, primarily due to net unrealized losses on three portfolio companies, Edmentum, Thrasio, and Securus. We will discuss each of these companies in more detail, but I would like to emphasize that the write-downs in the fourth quarter are mostly the result of unique circumstances impacting the aforementioned portfolio companies. and in the case of Thrasio, the subsector in which it operates, versus any indication of broader credit or macroeconomic related challenges to our portfolio. Despite concerns in the market about how higher interest rates and the recession might be pressuring middle market borrowers, we believe that in general, our portfolio companies are successfully navigating the current environment given the proven resiliency of the sectors and companies we focus on. In fact, as of the most recent quarter, the majority of our portfolio companies continue to report revenue and margin growth in their businesses. Now, turning back to the three primary contributors to net unrealized losses in the quarter. I'll begin with Admentum, which has been a long-term beneficiary of the shift to online learning, which accelerated during COVID, but is now experiencing a reversion to a more normalized but still positive demand environment. As a reminder, our current investment in Admentum is a residual equity position after receiving full repayment of our original debt investment. While we remain confident in the prospects for this well-positioned business, given overall positive secular trends, we reversed a portion of the unrealized gains we had previously recognized on our investment to reflect current demand and performance expectations. Second is Thrazia, an Amazon aggregator that, along with much of the sector, had initially been impacted by COVID-related supply chain issues and then by slowing growth in online consumer spending. The combination has generally left the industry participants, including Thrasio, with temporary excess inventories and many with over-leveraged balance sheets relative to their current operations. While we placed this loan on non-accrual during the beginning of the most recent quarter, we have actually been working closely for some time now with the management team and other lenders to improve liquidity and position the company for long-term success. As of yesterday, this involved the company formally filing for bankruptcy to accelerate achievement of a number of these objectives, as well as to incorporate a protected lender-led financing. I'd like to highlight that our team began reviewing and ultimately investing in the aggregator space relatively early, and we believe we have selected the ultimate winners in this growing space. Generally, these will be scaled players that have management teams with the experience, funding, and ability to navigate these temporary industry challenges. Third is Securus, a traded loan that has faced mark-to-market volatility over the last several quarters, reflecting broad market conditions as well as some company-specific issues. While 2023 performance has tracked ahead of prior years, Securus has faced liquidity tightness due to an elevated cost structure and CapEx requirements as part of a large 2022 product tablet rollout and upcoming debt maturities. We are in active discussions with key stakeholders regarding next steps and the path forward. As a reminder, our team has unique expertise and a proven track record of success working through challenging credits such as these. We are leveraging this expertise and proactively working with the management teams, owners, and lenders of these businesses to drive performance improvements at the companies and ultimately a positive outcome for our investments. Importantly, outside of these idiosyncratic situations, the credit quality of our portfolio remains solid. Now, turning to our dividend. Today, our board of directors declared a first quarter dividend of 34 cents per share, which is consistent with our fourth quarter regular dividend. This first quarter dividend is payable on March 29th to shareholders of record of March 14th. We have always taken a disciplined approach to the dividend with an emphasis on stability and strong coverage from our recurring net investment income. Throughout TCPC's history, we have consistently covered our dividends with recurring NII and have also paid several special dividends, including in recent quarters. Before handing it over to Phil, I'd also like to give a quick update on the proposed merger of TCPC with BCIC. As we approach the shareholder vote, we look forward to closing the transaction as promptly as possible after the successful vote of each BDC. We remain excited about the potential for the transaction, which will bring together two very similar portfolios that we know well with substantial overlap and which we expect to create meaningful value for all shareholders. We hope that any of our shareholders who have not yet voted on the transaction will vote today or in the near future. Now I will turn it over to Phil to discuss our investment activity and portfolio.
spk00: Thanks, Raj. I'll start with a few comments on the investment environment before providing an update on the portfolio and highlights from our investment activity during the fourth quarter. Starting with the investment environment, while economic uncertainty resulted in a slowdown in private credit transactions in the first half of 2023, we saw a modest take-up in the fourth quarter. This was driven by pockets of activity in both sponsor and non-sponsor opportunities, refinancing, and follow-on financing to support existing portfolio companies. Over the past nine months or so, we've seen an increased bifurcation of the direct lending market. Many have observed more borrower-friendly trends, such as tightening pricing and covenant-like deal structures. These are especially prevalent in the upper middle market, given the robust return of banks. However, the core middle market, where we focus, has been less impacted by this trend, but we continue to leverage our industry expertise to opportunistically source and invest in bespoke deals that present attractive risk-reward opportunities. We remain disciplined and continue to pass on a substantial number of less attractive opportunities, particularly when we believe that pricing does not appropriately reflect the corresponding risk or terms don't provide adequate lending protections. In the fourth quarter of 2023, we invested $40 million, primarily in senior security loans. Deployment of the quarter included loans to five new and one existing portfolio company. Consistent with our strategy, our emphasis remains on companies with established business models and proven core customer bases that make them more resilient. In reviewing new opportunities, we emphasize transactions where we are positioned as a lender of influence. That is, where we have a direct relationship with the borrower and the ability to leverage our more than two decades of experience in negotiating deal terms and conditions that we believe provide meaningful downside protection. We believe this has been a key driver of the low realized loss rates we've experienced over our history. Our industry specialization continues to be an advantage as it provides two key benefits for us in this environment. First, it enhances our ability to assess and effectively mitigate risk in our underwriting when we negotiate terms and credit documentation. And two, it expands our deal sourcing capabilities with sponsors and non-sponsors who value that industry expertise, which lends itself to more reliable execution in their eyes. Follow-on investments in existing holdings continue to be an important source of opportunity. About half of the dollars we deployed over the last 12 months were with existing portfolio companies. Our largest new investment during the fourth quarter was a $25 million senior secured first-name term loan to support the acquisition of Mesquite Gaming. Mesquite owns and operates two of the three casinos and hotels in the Mesquite, Nevada market, the Casablanca Resort and the Virgin River Hotel and Casino. We view Mesquite as an attractive investment opportunity as the company stands to benefit from strong, ongoing customer demand, given its position in a growing market, as well as favorable competitive dynamics and high barriers to entry. New investments in the fourth quarter were offset by disposition and payoffs of $42 million. As part of our ongoing portfolio management, we closely monitor and directly engage with our existing portfolio companies proactively assessing both current and projected performance relative to our original underwriting assumptions. In the limited situations where performance is below our expectations, we are engaged with the management teams and owners to proactively drive performance improvement and ensure our capital remains well protected. Managing situations where our capital may be at risk is a key priority for us, and we believe our 20-plus years of experience managing portfolios through cycles will lead to improved outcomes. The majority of our portfolio companies are successfully navigating the higher rate market, the lingering inflation, and the general uncertainty in this economy, and continue to deliver revenue growth and margin expansion. This reflects the durability of companies in the middle market, as well as our ability to pick the right industries and the right companies. Now turning to our portfolio, At quarter end, our portfolio had a fair market value of approximately $1.6 billion. Eighty-nine percent of our investments were senior secured debt spread across a wide range of industries, providing portfolio diversity and minimizing concentration risk. We also continue to emphasize companies in less cyclical industries. At quarter end, the portfolio consisted of investments in company investment was $11 million. As the chart on slide seven of the presentation illustrates, our recurring income is distributed broadly across our portfolio and is not reliant on income from any one company. In fact, more than 90% of our portfolio companies each contribute less than 2% to our recurring income. 83% of our debt investments are first lien, provide a significant downside protection, and 96% of our debt investments are floating rate. The overall effective yield on our debt portfolio increased to 14.1% from 12.7% at the end of 2022, reflecting the benefit of both higher base rates and wider spread on the investments. Investments in new portfolio companies during the quarter had a weighted average effective yield of 13.4%, exceeding the 12.5% weighted average effective yield on exited positions. Post-quarter end, we've seen a pickup in activity driven by pent-up demand as borrowers and private equity sponsors adjust to the current rate environment. Our pipeline is growing, and the projected yields in our pipeline are generally in line with our current portfolio. To date, we have had no prepayment income in the first quarter. We continue to invest selectively. maintaining our underwriting discipline while being mindful of the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. We emphasize companies that provide a necessary service or product to their customers such that they are more resilient across cycles. It's also important to note that we do not underwrite through perfection. Instead, we seek to build in sufficient buffers to ensure companies can withstand changes in the macro environment without impairing their ability to service our loan. Looking forward, We believe we are well positioned to continue to deliver attractive returns given that our team has one of the longest track records in direct lending any of the publicly traded BDCs. While we do not have an explicit forward view on rates, we do believe we will be in a slower growth and elevated rate environment for the foreseeable future and could see a range of macroeconomic scenarios. In periods like these, our experience combined with our deep industry knowledge provides an advantage that has resulted in strong results through various cycles. Now let me turn it over to Eric to walk through our financial results, as well as our capital and liquidity positioning.
spk01: Thank you, Phil. As Rash noted, our net investment income in the fourth quarter benefited from the increase in base rates over the last 18 months, as well as wider spreads on new investments. Net investment income of 44 cents was up 10% versus the fourth quarter of 2022. On an annual basis, net investment income was $1.84 per share, an increase of approximately 20% over 2022. Today, we declared a first quarter dividend of $0.34 per share. We remain committed to paying a sustainable dividend that is fully covered by our net investment income. regardless of the interest rate environment, as we have done consistently over the last 12 years. Investment income for the fourth quarter was $0.88 per share. This included recurring cash interest of $0.76, recurring discount and fee amortization of $0.03, and PIC income of $0.06. PIC income remains in line with the average over our history. Investment income also included $0.02 per share of dividend income. Operating expenses for the fourth quarter were $0.35 per share and included $0.20 of interest and other debt expenses. Incentive fees in the quarter totaled $5.3 million or $0.09 per share. Net realized losses for the quarter were $16,000 or less than a penny per share. Net unrealized losses in the fourth quarter totaled $38 million, or 66 cents per share, primarily reflecting unrealized markdowns on three investments, which Raj discussed earlier. The net decrease in net assets for the quarter was $13.3 million, or 23 cents per share. As Raj noted, the credit quality of our overall portfolio remains strong. As of December 31st, We had four portfolio companies on non-accrual, representing 2.0% of the portfolio at fair value and 3.7% at cost. Turning to our liquidity, our balance sheet positioning remains solid, and our total liquidity increased to $349 million at the end of the quarter, relative to our total investments of $1.6 billion. This included available leverage of $247 million and cash of $112 million. Unfunded loan commitments to portfolio companies at year end equals 4% of total investments or approximately $55 million, of which only $35 million were revolver commitments. Our diverse and flexible leverage program includes two low-cost credit facilities two unsecured no issuances, and an SBA program. Our unsecured debt continues to be investment-grade rated by both Fitch and Lease. Given the modest size of each of our debt issuances, we are not overly reliant on any single source of financing, and our debt maturities remain well-adhered. Additionally, we are comfortable with our current mix of secured and unsecured financing, and do not have any immediate financing needs. Combined, the weighted average interest rate on our outstanding borrowings modestly increased during the quarter to 4.29%. That is also up only 138 basis points since March of 2022, while base rates have increased more than 500 basis points during this period. This is the result of having over 73% of our borrowings from fixed rate sources. Now I'll turn the call back over to Raj.
spk02: Thanks, Eric. Reflecting on our historical performance since we took TCPC public in 2012, we've delivered a 10.1% annualized return on invested assets and an annualized cash return of 9.7%. We are very proud of these results, which include performance during periods when base rates were substantially lower than they are today. We believe this performance remains at the high end of our peer group and speaks to our ability to consistently identify attractive middle market opportunities at premium yields and to deliver exceptional returns to our shareholders across market and economic cycles. Looking ahead, we see significant opportunity to continue to build upon our track record of success. Traditional lenders continue to retreat from lending to the middle market. At the same time, more borrowers view private credit as an attractive and stable source of long-term capital. Middle market borrowers are increasingly turning to private credit for their financing needs, given certainty of execution, flexibility, and close partnerships that can provide value beyond what bank financing has historically offered. As a pioneer in direct lending, we believe TCPC is uniquely positioned to benefit from growing demand for private credit. Additionally, we are excited about our combination with VCIC and the opportunity we see ahead to deliver solutions to our borrowers and to structured transactions for delivering tractor returns to our shareholders. And with that, operator, please open the call for questions.
spk07: We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, you may do so now by pressing start, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Our first question today comes from Christopher Nolan with Leidenberg Thalmann. Please go ahead.
spk04: Hey, guys. I guess turning on to new investments in the quarter, was most of these investments for sponsors who are investing in new companies or just support a sponsor's existing portfolio company?
spk00: Yeah, thanks, Chris. This is Phil. It's both. It's about, I'd say, close to about half and half. We did support some new platforms. I mentioned this heat in the prepared remarks this evening that there are a number of add-ons to existing portfolio companies.
spk04: Okay. And then are you seeing a decrease in dividend income from portfolio companies in general?
spk02: Sorry, do you mean in terms of our NII, Chris?
spk04: Yeah, the dividend income that you guys would receive from a portfolio company, are you seeing that decrease?
spk02: No, we've seen it go the other direction. We've had, if I'm understanding the question correctly, keep in mind our you know our spreads are fixed and the base rate is the reference rate uh that you know generally through 23 has has been quite positive um i think we you know and we've seen obviously enough to give results that drive a couple of specials on top of a couple of dividend increases um i think the only company i can not even company but know investment that i can highlight that has had a little bit of a different experience has been our jv and 36th street uh in part because unlike the majority the rest of our portfolio they are doing you know fixed rate uh leases with some duration that that you know uh i think a bit higher on average on a return on asset level but also have the ability to get some quite good advance rate uh you know at the jv level but I wouldn't call it material. I just think that's the one area I'd carve out. But other than that, as the results highlight, there's been quite positive sustained dividend improvements, increases, and I think we've really tried our best to send that out to shareholders in a responsible manner.
spk04: All right. I'll follow that offline. Last question. The 2024 notes, how are you guys thinking about refinancing that, giving your comments higher for longer. Is your inclination to finance that with bank borrowings or to do another fixed rate issue?
spk01: Thanks, Chris. I'll take that question. We're definitely keeping a close eye on the market. We're very happy with the way the market has opened up for the BDC sector, and we like what we're seeing. We also are happy that we have flexibility in our credit facilities, but certainly we're going to be looking to address that need in the next couple of quarters.
spk04: Okay. Thanks, guys.
spk02: Thank you.
spk07: As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question today, please do so now by pressing start followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from Paul Johnson with KBW. Please go ahead, Paul.
spk00: Good morning, or sorry, afternoon, everyone. Taking my question. On the new non-of-cool Thrasio, I know that's a non-of-cool that's been in a couple of other BDC's portfolios, but I'm just wondering if you can kind of give some color as to the Kind of, you know, the storyline there maybe, and then, you know, how much approximately would you say, you know, you mentioned that you've had other winners in that space. How much of your portfolio are these, you know, e-retailer or e-commerce roll-up companies?
spk02: Yeah, thanks for the question. I'll try to, there's several questions. I'll try to parse those and answer them. Just to remind everyone the Exposure at Thrasio in the portfolio is approximately 1%. So by no means material, but every company is important. We'll come back to you on the broader exposure, but it won't be significantly more than that. The history here is, you know, I think maybe not that different in other areas of high growth. You have seen an industry or a sub-industry, I would say, emerge from a dramatic decline movement to online spending and, you know, I would call it the Amazonization of the world where people have moved from buying things in stores to online with significant spend and the ability to support several winners of scale with a dramatically exciting long-term equity opportunity. As in other areas of fast growth, the companies, I think, the valuations got a little bit ahead of the companies, and then you had a series of incidents coming with COVID where supply chains and supplies were a little constrained due to COVID, then ordered in a little bit of excess to provide for buffer for anticipated spend, and then spend being a little bit compressed because of recessionary issues. So the way I would describe it is good businesses but stretched balance sheets as a result, but a sector that will absolutely support several companies and leaders of scale and long-term winners. I think my comment of our exposure here, as we do in every other industry, we spend a lot of time thinking about the industry dynamics and ultimately the types of players you want to finance, and I would call the current period a little bit of indigestion stemming from those issues. indigestion in the context of a long-term set of successful businesses that can exist here that may have needed a little bit of a push, in some cases lender-led, to fix the balance sheet, provide some financing or consolidation for both, which is happening. And I think we're fortunate that we're in a position of being able to do that with both knowledge and a skill set. that we have many prior examples of in this portfolio and others that we manage. So I'll pause there. The aggregate across the sector is closer to 7%, but in Zacharias' case, just to reiterate, it's 1%.
spk00: Gotcha. That's 7%, you said, for sort of that retail roll-up strategy.
spk02: across the participants in that sector. And there are other, by no means is this the only activity around addressing those issues. I think some other specifics will be released in other companies in the next, maybe this week, earlier this week. Stay tuned. Got it.
spk00: Okay. Okay. That is very good, Keller. Thanks for that. And then, you know, if you kind of take out And perhaps, you know, Securus or Securus, you know, the names that sort of, you know, in that decline, you can take those three out. What were the marks on the rest of the portfolio? Was it stable? Was it, you know, was there any sort of broad markdown elsewhere in the portfolio or any kind of therapy that's helpful?
spk02: Yeah, I would say I would characterize it as generally stable. There are a lot of companies that have movement. I don't want to put any numbers without being accurate. But I think you can see from the general performance that it's pretty stable. And to put the NAV movement in context, 75% of it is tied to these three businesses. Some of it is tied to the dividends going out the door. And then the remainder, I would say, is pretty de minimis, tied to a very stable, you know, well-performing portfolio.
spk00: Great. Thanks for that. And then last question, just on the pipeline, bigger picture, you know, activity picking up, but I'm curious to kind of get your thoughts, you know, where the pipeline sort of stands today, you know, versus, you know, maybe six months ago and, you know, is it high quality deals or is the market still sort of waiting on this return of the M&A market? Yeah, that's a good question, Paul. So I would say that the pipeline is seeing a pickup and we started seeing a pickup in activity last quarter and Q4 of last year. I would say that the pickup can seem to be gradual rather than step function higher. So I think that there's still more to come in terms of buyers and sellers willing to transact, more refinancing activity and so on. I think we're still early days on that resurgence. But I'd say based on what we're hearing and talking to market participants, both intermediaries, business owners, sponsors, and so on, I think we do expect that activity to be meaningfully higher this year than last year. And whether that's more weighted toward the back half, it's still TBD, but we're hopeful. Okay. Thanks. That's all from me. Thanks, Paul.
spk07: Our next question comes from Robert Dodd with Raymond James. Robert, please go ahead.
spk03: Hi. Hi, guys. Going back to Paul's question with Thrasio, from your comments, the file bankruptcy, lender-led financing, can we presume that there will be incremental capital deployed to Thrasio, maybe Q1, Q2, but in kind of the first half of the year that there will be additional financial support provided to that business to work it through?
spk02: Correct. And just to be specific, you know, look, when we go through these things, which means these types of challenge credits, you know, you have a, I guess I'll add some more color, you have an array of tools to facilitate, you know, a fix. When it's a good business, the challenge balance sheet and a good sector, you know, I would say that's something that's workable. And then you just decide what is the best way within which to facilitate the changes or the fundings that you're providing as a lender. In the case of a bankruptcy, lender-led bankruptcy, I should say, that provides benefits that you want to offset to what does it do to the company, if anything. And here, the benefits of this process were felt to outweigh any challenges of a bankruptcy. And I would call it one that can be done very efficiently including protecting the nature and the terms of any financing provided, particularly because there were other discussions being had around this and, you know, given interest in the company and the sector, and this was felt to be something that, you know, I think we will net that benefit from. But to answer your question, you know, succinctly, yes, there will be additional funding support, as the bankruptcy filing will highlight, which is a public document now.
spk03: Got it, got it. Thank you. And, I mean, Perch, I believe, is another one of those. It's not a call now. Their value has deteriorated over a few quarters. Is it looking likely to be following the same kind of path to Thrasio, or is that one being handled differently by you and the sponsor?
spk02: Yes and no, and I wish I could be specific, but I can probably be specific in another year. So the answer is many of these will need to just think about scaling and consolidating and addressing balance sheet issues that are a result of some macro issues. So I think ultimately all of them will look at and maybe utilize a set of these tools, whether it's funding you know, cleaning up balance sheets and maybe even consolidating, I would include PERCH, you know, in that context. And I think stay tuned for something, you know, for clarity around those comments. But the answer is essentially yes.
spk03: Got it. Thank you.
spk07: As a final reminder, if you would like to ask a question today, please do so now by pressing Start, followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. We have no further questions registered, so I will hand back to the management team for any closing comments.
spk02: Thank you. We appreciate your participation on today's call. I would like to thank our team for all their hard work and dedication and our shareholders and capital partners for their confidence and continued support. Thanks for joining us. This concludes today's call.
spk07: Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This concludes our call, and you may now disconnect your lines.
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