Sound Point Meridian Capital, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SoundPoint Meridian Capital Inc. First Fiscal Quarter Ended June 30, 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in 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 Tuesday, August 12, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Julie Smith. Please, go ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. SoundPoint Meridian Capital refers participants on this call to the investor webpage at .soundpointmeridiancap.com for the press release, investor information and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and for a discussion of the risks that can affect the business. SoundPoint Meridian Capital specifically refers participants to the presentation furnished today on the Form 8K with the SEC and to remind listeners that some of the comments today may contain forward-looking statements and, as such, will be subject to risks and uncertainties which, if they materialize, could materially affect results. References made to the section titled, Forward-Looking Statements in the Company's Earnings Press period ended June 30, 2025, which is incorporated herein by reference. We note forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, include, but are not limited to, SoundPoint Meridian Capital's expectation or prediction of financial and business performance and conditions, as well as its competitive and industry outlook. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions which, if they materialize, could materially affect results. And such forward-looking statements do not guarantee performance, and SoundPoint Meridian Capital gives no such assurances. SoundPoint Meridian Capital is under no obligation and expressly disclaims any obligation to update, alter, or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, historical data pertaining to the operating results and other performance indicators applicable to SoundPoint Meridian Capital are not necessarily indicative of results to be achieved in succeeding periods. I will now turn the call over to Ujjwal Desai, Chief Executive Officer of SoundPoint Meridian Capital.

Thank you to everyone joining us today and welcome to the SoundPoint Meridian Capital earnings call for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, 2025. We'd like to invite you to download our investor presentation from our website, which provides additional information about the company and our portfolio. With me today is our Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Gurlitz, and after our prepared remarks, we'll open it up to your questions. We're happy to report results for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2025. For the quarter, we generated net investment income, or NII, of $10.8 million, or $0.53 per share. The net realized loss on exited investments of $0.01 per common share. While we paid distributions during the quarter of $0.75 per share. The shortfall in NII relative to common distributions was primarily driven by continued spread compression within the CLO collateral portfolios, the delay of certain reset transactions in the face of tariff induced volatility in April and May, and lower participation in loan accumulation facilities during the quarter. Net asset value per share ended the quarter at $18.5, down from where it stood on March 31 at $18.78. During the quarter, we deployed approximately $18.6 million in four CLO warehouse investments. We purchased three CLO equity investments in the primary market with an amortized cost and weighted average gap yield of $22 million and .2% respectively. In the secondary market, we purchased six CLO equity investments with an amortized cost and weighted average gap yield of $13.3 million and .8% respectively. We refinanced the liabilities of seven CLO equity investments in the portfolio and had one outstanding warehouse investment as of June 30, with two unfunded commitments to purchase CLO equity with a cost of $2.9 million. As of June 30, the weighted average gap yield on our CLO equity portfolio was .9% versus .0% as of March 31. As mentioned above, the decrease in gap yield was a result of continued loan repricing activity within the CLO collateral portfolios and the delay of certain reset transactions in the CLO equity portfolio. Our portfolio as of June 30 was diversified across 86 unique CLOs managed by 26 different CLO managers. The underlying loan portfolio consisted of over 1,500 loan issuers across 30 plus industries on a look-through basis. We believe this strategy of broad diversification enables us to manage risk efficiently, providing us with dividend sustainability and downside protection through changing market conditions. Given the speed of loan repricing activity seen since our IPO in June 24, we believe it is increasingly important to be diversified across non-call periods in our CLO equity portfolio. Recall that once the CLO's non-call period ends, the CLO is able to refinance its debt at the direction of the equity holder. As of June 30, 2025, we estimate that 49% of our portfolio is currently in the money for a CLO refinancing based on today's market clearing levels. Should these refinancings occur, we estimate our overall CLO portfolio could save 25 basis points on its weighted average liability cost. This would substantially offset the 38 basis points of weighted average spread loss that we have experienced in the underlying portfolio since our IPO in June 2024. Any savings from refinancing CLO debt would increase the difference between asset yield and liability cost, what we commonly call the CLO equity arbitrage. All this equal, this would also increase the gap yield of our equity investments. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Kevin for a more detailed review of our financial highlights for the quarter.