Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 23, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Joe Mazzoli - Head of Investor Relations

Eric Lloyd - Chief Executive Officer

Ian Fowler - Co-Head of Global Private Finance and President

Elizabeth Murray - Chief Financial Officer

Matt Freund - Co-Portfolio Manager

Bryan High - Co-Portfolio Managers

Conference Call Participants

Finian O’Shea - Wells Fargo Securities

Kyle Joseph - Jefferies

Robert Dodd - Raymond James

Casey Alexander - Compass Point

Operator

At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Barings BDC, Inc. Conference Call for the Quarter-Ended and Year-Ended December 31st, 2023. All participants are on a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the company’s formal remarks. [Operator Instructions] Today’s call is being recorded, and a replay will be available approximately 2 hours after the conclusion of the call on the company’s website at www.baringsbdc.com under the Investor Relations section.

At this time, I will turn the call over to Joe Mazzoli, Head of Investor Relations for Barings BDC.

Joe Mazzoli

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 these projected and 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 annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2023, 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’ll now turn the call over to Eric Lloyd, Chief Executive Officer of Barings BDC.

Eric Lloyd

Thanks, Joe and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for today’s call. Please note that throughout today’s call, we’ll be referring to our fourth quarter 2023 earnings presentation that was posted on the Investor Relations section of our website. On the call today, I’m joined by Barings’ Co-Head of Global Private Finance and President of Barings BDC, Ian Fowler; the BDC’s Chief Financial Officer, Elizabeth Murray; and BDC’s Co-Portfolio Managers, Bryan High; and Matt Freund.

We will dive into some quarterly results momentarily. But first, I would like to comment on some of the successes we experienced during the entirety of 2023. Investing in the illiquid assets is often poorly suited for short-term investors. Measuring performance in a single quarter really gives investors the appropriate lens to measure a manager’s performance. Net investment income, total dividends paid to shareholders and NAV for BBDC, all increased during 2023. While these items are important, we are equally focused on some developments not immediately captured in these metrics.