Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. (NYSE:NCDL) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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And I think by sticking to our core focus on the middle market, we’ve been able to continue to see excellent opportunities to invest without maybe some of the noise that you might see in the direct lenders that have been playing in that upper end of the market. That was a very good place to be 6, 9, 12 months ago when you had no BSL alternative. Now that BSL is back, I would say that world of larger direct loans tends to be a bit more challenged. We really haven’t gone there and as a result, we’re still very active in our core world. And as I look out over the next several quarters, we certainly see deal flow continuing to be very good and the quality very good for the kinds of deals that we’re investing in. I will say as a practical matter, you do the math and you want to stay invested in quality structures and quality companies and the right industries and the right dynamics around equity support.

It’s difficult to get your head around transactions with much more than 5 times leverage. And we have generally taken the approach. That’s our outer limits as we look at deals. We occasionally see deals that for good reasons may be slightly above that, but I would say overall we’re not seeing 6 times lever deals, we’re not seeing transactions certainly in our universe that would be pushing the envelope on leverage. So we feel very good about where we’re at. We’re seeing not only good quality from an industry perspective, but also structurally and from an equity support standpoint.

Mark Hughes: Yeah appreciate that detail. On the number of new deals, I think you did 23 this quarter, 13 last quarter. Is that partly a reflection of the investment in the upper middle market assets or is that something different?

Shai Vichness: Yeah, Hey, Mark, it’s Shai. Yes, that’s right. I would say in terms of quarter-over-quarter from a direct origination core middle market focus, it’s probably fairly flat. And the upside there is from the secondary purchases.

Mark Hughes: Understood. Thank you. No real themes in terms of volume.

Ken Kencel: Yes. One of the big drivers overall for us, which continues to be an important component, is our portfolio. And frankly, not just our senior lending portfolio, which is about 250, 300 names, but also our private equity investments, right. So all across the entire firm, we’ve got over 600 positions in our portfolio. So there’s a lot of activity that goes on that may be related to senior, but it also may be a situation where a co-investor on the equity side and that drives an investment or a financing opportunity as well. So having a large portfolio is a real advantage right now for us.

Operator: Thank you. We reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I’d like to turn the floor back over for any further closing comments.

Ken Kencel: Thank you, everyone for joining us on the call today. We appreciate all of your support. We certainly enjoy the dialogue and – both on the call and as we move through the quarter, we appreciate you all checking in and having those conversations and certainly look forward to providing our Q2 results in August. Thanks, again.

Operator: Thank you. That does conclude today’s teleconference webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

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