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Once again, one of the newest public BDCs – MSC Income Fund – has reached a new price low. Is this the bottom ? We have an opinion.

Gladstone Capital has tapped the Convertible market to raise funds to meet upcoming debt obligations. This has caused a big drop in the BDC’s stock price but the BDC Reporter believes this was an appropriate action which the BDC’s shareholders may learn to appreciate.

A month ago Kayne Anderson BDC promised a refinancing of its own debt stack was in the offing. Now that a private placement has occurred, we can begin to evaluate its impact on the BDC’s borrowings costs, earnings and balance sheet. We don’t have all the answers, but it seems like the BDC’s interest expense will be coming down, but there’s much else to consider.

Prospect Capital has promised to focus only on investing in “sponsor backed” middle market companies going forward. We have a look at whether this just announced transaction fits the bill.

Everywhere all at once BDCs seems to be raising unsecured debt in one form or another and on good terms. Goldman Sachs BDC is doing so as well. Unfortunately, in the short term, the BDC’s interest bill will continue to grow…

Very unexpectedly, we learn that Horizon Technology Finance is issuing a new Convertible loam, custom made for an institutional investor. This is just one of many moving parts where the BDC, and its shareholders, are concerned.

Great Elm Capital is redeeming one of its many Baby Bonds outstanding three years early. We discuss the motivation behind the move and the complex, two stage nature of the redemption.

All of a sudden we hear that PennantPark Floating Rate has struck a deal which will materially boost the size of its portfolio. We review the details and what we know and what we were not told.

In a just published SEC filing Ares Capital discloses recent investment commitments exited, including a huge “net realized gain”.

In a longer than we planned article, the BDC Reporter reviews how Crescent Capital’s stock price and fundamentals have deteriorated of late. We take a hard, long look at the most recent results to ascertain if credit performance has improved and whether to be optimistic about what might lie ahead.

Great Elm Capital may be one of the smaller Business Development Companies but is regularly raising new equity capital. A new capital inflow has just been announced. We review how much new equity is coming in, from whom and on what terms. We also wonder aloud what the use of the new funds might be. There are many strings in the BDC’s bow…

We’ve been concerned about OFS Capital’s liquidity for some time. We recently concluded that any challenges might have been kicked down the road following two new debt raises. However, a new 8-K filing about the BDC’s Revolver has alarmed us all over again. We may very well be wrong, but we wanted to share our findings, thoughts and conclusions with our readers.

MSC Income Fund became public in January full of promise but has just reached a new 52 week price low. just 8 months later. We review the stock’s short – but bumpy path – and assess why investors are fleeing. We go on to explain how the falling price might also impact its external manager – Main Street Capital.

We were closing up shop for the week when we noticed a new filing from OFS Capital, which led us to learn a great deal more about how the troubled BDC has chosen to address a pressing upcoming debt maturity that previously had is worried about a potential liquidity crisis. Much is now clearer but OFS is not out of the woods in the medium term.

We take a long term look at Morgan Stanley Direct Lending’s earnings, both historically and prospectively in the context of the BDC’s strategic positioning and fundamental performance. Our conclusions serve as a useful insight not only for this BDC but for the sector as a whole.

Palmer Square BDC is unique in the sector because of its ability to publish its net book value per share on a monthly basis. We’ve just learned the result for July and this key metric is headed upward. However, if we look back over the recent history of book value changes, the picture is more mixed.

Two BDCs are at opposite ends of the price spectrum. Guessing who is not difficult given the recent financial performance of both.

Should an external BDC manager get paid a bonus/incentive even when performance is not up to snuff? Most externally managed BDCs think so, and here’s just one more example. For our part, we believe the sector could do better.

Many years ago the SEC adopted a rule regarding acquired fund fees and expenses (AFFE) that put a crimp on BDC investing, depressing optimal prices. Is that about to change ?

IAt the tail end of BDC earnings season and sector market prices mostly in “good enough” territory, three BDCs reached new price lows on Monday. What gives? We look at each BDC in turn to try and determine why this might be happening.