Barings BDC, Inc.

Greetings. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Barings BDC, Inc. conference call for the quarter ended March 31st, 2026. All participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the company's formal remarks. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Today's call is being recorded and a replay will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the call on the company's website at www.barringsbdc.com under the investor relations section. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Albert Purley, head of investor relations for Barrings BDC.

Please note that this call may contain forward-looking statements that include statements regarding the company's goals, beliefs, strategies, future operating results, and cash flows. Although the company believes these statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. These statements are based on various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous uncertainties and risks, including those disclosed under the sections titled Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Statements in the company's quarterly report on Form 10Q for the quarter ended March 31st as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Barings BDC undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements unless required by law. I will now turn the call over to Tom McDonald, Chief Executive Officer of Barings BDC.

Thanks, Albert, and good morning, everyone. On the call today, I'm joined by Barings BDC's President, Matt Freund, Chief Financial Officer, Elizabeth Murray, Barings Head of Global Private Finance and BBDC Portfolio Manager, Ryan High. Before turning to the quarter, I'll offer a brief perspective as we move through 2026 following the leadership transition earlier this year. As you know, I assumed the role of CEO on January 1st. With nearly 30 years in the credit business across multiple cycles, my background is in fundamental credit underwriting, portfolio management, and leading leverage credit platforms. That experience reinforces my conviction in the durability of BBDC's investment process and the importance of rigorous underwriting discipline as dispersion across credit markets becomes more pronounced. Indeed, we saw evidence of that dispersion in the past quarter, and we believe it will be a clear differentiator for BBDC going forward. Our best-in-class direct origination platform focused on the core middle market is a key factor behind this differentiation. Our sourcing strength, conservative deal structures, and strong alignment with shareholders remain central to BBDC's ability to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through the cycle. Our strategy, process, and philosophy remain firmly intact. My focus is on execution, optimization of asset-level yields, and enhancing returns on equity without compromising credit quality. Now turning to the quarter. Despite an onslaught of negative headlines in the private credit sector during the first quarter, BBDC delivered solid net investment income and maintained good credit performance, particularly within the bearings originated portion of our portfolio. Net deployment in Q1 was slightly negative. We originated 109 million of investments against 126 million of repayments for net repayments of roughly $17 million. As a result, our total portfolio size and leverage remained essentially unchanged quarter over quarter. Our portfolio remains highly diversified and defensively positioned, and we continue to benefit from a benign credit environment. Our focus on top of the capital structure, senior secured investments, and core middle market issuers, which tend to have lower leverage and stronger risk-adjusted returns, has served us well. In addition, our emphasis on defensive, non-cyclical sectors and Bering's global footprint provides a level of stability to our portfolio across all market environments. We believe this combination of senior secured lending, a core middle market focus, defensive non-cyclical sectors, and a global origination offers our investors strong relative value and meaningful differentiation within the broader BDC landscape. Overall, BBDC's portfolio performed largely as designed this quarter. Our diversified issuer base and disciplined credit approach have built an all-weather portfolio that we expect to hold up well through various macro conditions, which, as Matt will touch on in a moment, we view as broadly favorable at present. We are, however, beginning to see increased dispersion and performance across the BDC space, underscoring the importance of our disciplined credit selection and proactive credit management. Turning to our results. Net asset value per share was $11.02 as of March 31, 2026, slightly lower than $11.09 at the end of 2025. This modest decline was primarily driven by the write-down and a legacy MVC asset. The core Barings portfolio continued to perform well. Net investment income for the first quarter was $0.25 per share compared to $0.27 per share in the fourth quarter of 2025. Digging a bit deeper into the portfolio, we continue to actively maximize the value in legacy holdings acquired from MVC Capital and Sierra. During the first quarter, we continued the rotation out of the Sierra portfolio, exiting approximately $19 million of legacy positions on a combined basis between directly owned assets and assets held in the Sierra JV, as Elizabeth will comment on shortly. The benefits of active portfolio rotation are coming into sharper focus. Today, BBDC shareholders are benefiting from a nearly fully repositioned portfolio that can selectively deploy capital into the most attractive middle market opportunities across the bearings platform. Turning to the earnings power of the portfolio, the weighted average yield on debt and other income-producing securities at fair value was 10.1%. With the stabilization of base rates and spreads in private credit, We believe that portfolio yields are supportive of recent dividend declarations. Our board declared a second quarter dividend of 26 cents per share consistent with the prior quarter. On an annualized basis, the dividend level equates to a 9.4% yield on our net asset value of $11.02. As Matt will discuss momentarily, we believe BBDC is well positioned to navigate the current market volatility and to deliver consistent risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders in the quarters ahead. I'll now turn the call over to Matt.