Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund

Welcome to the Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's second quarter 2024 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the prepared remarks. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Michael Osi, Head of Investor Relations and Chief Administrative Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's second quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me are Jeff Levin, President and Chief Executive Officer, David Passa, Chief Financial Officer, and Rebecca Shaul, Head of Portfolio Management. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's second quarter 2024 financial results were released yesterday after market close and can be accessed on the investor relations section of our website at www.msdl.com. We have arranged for a replay of today's event that will be accessible from the Morgan Stanley Direct Letting Front website. During this call, I want to remind you that we may make forward-looking statements based on current expectations. The statements on this call that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. including and without limitation market conditions, uncertainty surrounding rising interest rates, changing economic conditions, and other factors we have identified in our filings with the SEC. Although we believe that these assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions can prove to be inaccurate, and as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions can be incorrect. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained on this call are made as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or subsequent events. To obtain copies of SEC-related filings, please visit our website. With that, I will now turn the call over to Jeff Levin.

Thank you, Michael, and thank you for joining us today for Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's second quarter 2024 conference call. We are proud of the strong results that we generated during the second quarter. I'll first begin with an overview of our second quarter 2024 performance, before discussing our market outlook. Dave will then provide updates on our portfolio and comment on the financial results. Our team delivered portfolio growth and solid operating results for the second quarter, supported by strong credit performance. Net asset value per share increased by 16 cents to $20.83 per share, and we generated net investment income of 63 cents per share, consistent with the first quarter results and well in excess of the 50 cent per share regular dividend we declared for the quarter. For the second quarter, new investment commitments totaled approximately $673.9 million in 46 portfolio companies. Net funded deployment for the quarter was $210 million, as compared with $97 million in the first quarter. We remain confident in our ability to deploy our excess capital, and the second quarter results are evidence of that. During the quarter, MSDL's debt to NAV increased to 0.9 times from 0.81 times, and given the strength of our origination platform, we expect to achieve our target leverage of 1 to 1.25 in the second half of the year without stretching on credit. We demonstrated another strong quarter of driving quality originations through our investment framework, leading or co-leading 100% of the new borrowers added to our portfolio in the second quarter. In our view, these deals were favorable from a credit perspective when you consider the leverage and loan-to-value profiles, among other attributes. We believe we have differentiated ourselves in the direct lending ecosystem with the power of the Morgan Stanley brand driving performance through both scale and longstanding partnerships. Sponsors are drawn to the quality of our team and our ability to be a value-add partner given the broad platform we are a part of. Our top priority is delivering shareholder value. We're confident that our combination of relatively low expenses, a thoughtful fee structure, and our defensive investment strategy will continue to deliver value to our shareholders in the coming quarters. Turning now to market outlook. Resilience defined the first half of 2024 marked by economic outperformance against the backdrop of potential soft landing and anticipated policy easing. Clearly, some of that narrative has been up for debate over the past week the market evaluates the economic trajectory that being said the risk appetite for private credit as an asset class remains strong with highly attractive returns and downside protection gross asset yields have persisted at elevated levels and credit performance has been solid deal flow has been resilient and we continue to believe it is poised to accelerate regarding deal activity We view the capital market rebound as on track with sponsor M&A likely to accelerate. Recent market activity serves as a reminder that this is not likely to happen in a straight line. However, we see a growing desire for private equity firms and other asset owners to transact due to LP dynamics and generally more conducive private and public financing markets. Net-net, we expect that sponsors are likely to deploy capital which we believe will create lending opportunities for us. It's important to note that both the direct and public lending markets will continue to coexist. We believe Morgan Stanley Direct Lending's nimble approach to investing up and down the size spectrum enhances our ability to find attractive lending opportunities in an always-changing market, while remaining selective, positioning us well to capitalize on quality opportunities for the foreseeable future. With that, I would like to hand the call over to David, who will provide details on Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund's portfolio, investment activity, and financial results.