Palmer Square Capital BDC Inc.

Welcome to today's Palmer Square Capital's BDC second quarter 2024 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please know a question and answer session will follow the prepared remarks. And as a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Andrew Wedderburn-Maxwell, Investor Relations. Andrew, you may begin.

Welcome to Palmer Square Capital BDC's second quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me this afternoon are Chris Long, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Angie Long, Chief Investment Officer, Matt Bloomfield, President, and Jeff Fox, Chief Financial Officer and Director. Palmer Square Capital BDC's second quarter 2024 financial results were released earlier today and can be accessed on Palmer Square's Investor Relations website at palmersquarebdc.com. We have also arranged for a replay of today's event that can be accessed on our website for the next six months. During this call, I want to remind you that the forward-looking statements we make are 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 caused by uncertainty surrounding interest rates, changing economic conditions, and other factors we identified in our filings with the SEC. Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based on 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 made during this call are made as of the date hereof, and Palmer Square Capital BDC assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements unless required by law. To obtain copies of SEC-related filings, please visit our website at palmersquarebdc.com. With that, I will now turn the call over to Chris Long.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Palmer Square Capital BDC's second quarter 2024 conference call. Today I will begin by providing an overview of the quarterly highlights, then turn the call to the team to discuss our market outlook, portfolio, and financial performance. I am pleased to report another quarter of strong earning results, driven by solid credit performance and continued portfolio expansion. During the second quarter, our team deployed $189 million of capital and generated total and net investment income of $36,500,000 and $15,800,000, marking 33% and 11% year-over-year growth, respectively. We delivered net investment income of $0.48 per share and paid a $0.47 per share second quarter total dividend. including a $0.05 supplemental distribution. As a reminder, PFPD is the only publicly traded BDC that discloses monthly NAV to the investment community, providing real-time visibility into the health and value of the portfolio. In line with our commitment to industry-leading transparency, we recently announced our June 30th NAV per share of $16.85. Our operating results for the second quarter demonstrate PSBD's focus for 2024 to deliver shareholder value while maintaining the exceptional credit quality of the portfolio that we established before entering the public markets. At the core of Palmer Square Capital BDC is our opportunistic credit investment strategy, which allows our team to invest and react swiftly across market cycles and volatile periods, maximizing upside while minimizing downside scenarios. Our opportunistic credit investment strategy, which invests across liquid and private markets, is a key differentiator that we believe will separate PSBD from other managers due to most being limited to illiquid assets, which may be a headwind as idiosyncratic credit issues arise and as opportunities to buy high-quality loans at a discount present themselves. The trend of tighter spreads and low dispersion that emerged at the end of last year has accelerated into the first half of 2024. It is important to remember that in a tight spread and low dispersion environment, we are rewarded for avoiding losing investments versus trying to time the market and pick winners. Our conservative positioning and prudent relative value framework leave us well prepared to capitalize on opportunities when they inevitably arise. Palmer Square Capital Management, which just celebrated its 15th anniversary, was purposely constructed to deliver superior relative value opportunities across corporate and structured credit. Notably, Palmer Square has established its reputation in the global corporate and structured credit market as the top-ranked CLO issuer by deal volume. Year-to-date, Palmer Square issued approximately $7.7 billion in CLOs, including nine new issue CLOs, four reset CLOs, and one refinanced CLO. As of July 31st, 2024, it's been a banner year for the CLO market with $243 billion issued in the U.S. and 41 billion issued in Europe. For comparison, these year-to-date figures already exceed the yearly total amount issued each year since 2021. In May, PSBD, along with Bank of America as a ranging partner, closed its inaugural $400 million CLO. This is the first CLO transaction to be issued out of PSBD and it provides an attractive form of term-based financing to accelerate our strong growth trajectory. The CLL has a reinvestment period through 2029 and does not mature until 2037 with additional flexibility to refinance if spreads continue to tighten in the future. We remain confident that Palmer Square Capital BDC is well positioned for upside in this current dynamic operating environment And we are excited to demonstrate the true power of PSBD's liquid strategy to the investment community over the years to come. I will now hand the call over to Andy to discuss our outlook for the year.