BDC Q1’26 Review: Nontraded Large-Cap BDCs Turn to Debt as Q1 Redemptions Exceed New Equity; Publicly Traded BDCs Reduce Debt, Cut Dividends to Offset Fair Value Pressure

Credit Research: Mark Fischer Relevant Items:Octus’ BDC DatabaseLink to Financial Summary by BDC for Q1’26 Key Takeaways This article is a bottoms-up analysis of the business development company, or BDC, sector, covering approximately 170 BDCs, which, combined, have over $540 billion of mostly sponsor-backed private credit investments measured at cost. BDCs analyzed include funds that have both private and public equities. Types include publicly traded BDCs, non-traded BDCs and private BDCs. In this quarterly analysis, Octus focuses on BDC financials including capitalization and cash flow of the companies. Our analysis includes changes in debt and equity, changes in investing activities and cash flows of the existing portfolios, converting reported yields to cash flow yields and examining companies’ ability to pay cash dividends and means of financing new investments. Summary statistics for the BDC sector in both the three months ended March 31 and the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2025, are below: We discuss each of these in the article below, but some quick takeaways from the table above include: The full list of BDCs and cash flow calculations is below. The list can also be downloaded HERE. (Click HERE to enlarge.) Change in Assets Business development company assets under management, as measured by[...]