NASDAQ:RWAY Runway Growth Finance Q4 2024 Earnings Report $9.19 +0.26 (+2.91%) Closing price 04/17/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$9.19 0.00 (0.00%) As of 04/17/2025 05:30 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Runway Growth Finance EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.39Consensus EPS $0.42Beat/MissMissed by -$0.03One Year Ago EPSN/ARunway Growth Finance Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$33.78 millionExpected Revenue$36.10 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$2.32 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/ARunway Growth Finance Announcement DetailsQuarterQ4 2024Date3/20/2025TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateThursday, March 20, 2025Conference Call Time5:00PM ETUpcoming EarningsRunway Growth Finance's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 5:00 PM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Annual Report (10-K)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Runway Growth Finance Q4 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMarch 20, 2025 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 11 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Runway Growth Finance Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Ended twenty twenty four Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Quinlan Abel, Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations. You may begin. Speaker 100:00:19Thank you, operator. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Runway Growth Finance conference call for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended 12/31/2024. Joining us on the call today from Runway Growth Finance are David Sprang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Greg Greifeld, Chief Investment Officer of Runway Growth Capital LLC, our investment advisor and Tom Ratterman, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Runway Growth Finance's fourth quarter and fiscal year ended 2024 financial results were released just after today's market close and can be accessed from Runway Growth Finance's Investor Relations website at investors.runwaygrowth.com. We have arranged for a replay of the call to be available on the Runway Growth Finance webpage. Speaker 100:01:07During this call, I want to remind you that we may make forward looking statements based on current expectations. The statements on this call that are not purely historical are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements, including and without limitation, market conditions caused by uncertainties surrounding interest rates, changing economic conditions and other factors we identified in our filings with the SEC. Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions can prove to be inaccurate. And as a result, the forward looking statements based on those assumptions can be incorrect. Speaker 100:01:55You should not place undue reliance on these forward looking statements. The forward looking statements contained on this call are made as of the date hereof, and Runway Growth Finance assumes no obligation to update the forward looking statements or subsequent events. To obtain copies of SEC related filings, please visit our website. With that, I will turn the call over to David. Speaker 200:02:17Thank you, Quinlan, and thanks everyone for joining us this evening. On today's call, we will discuss our fourth quarter and full year twenty twenty four financial results, reflect on the recently closed acquisition of our advisor by BC Partners Credit and share our market outlook for the year ahead. We are pleased with the performance of the portfolio and our strategic execution in 2024. For the fourth quarter, Runway delivered total investment income of $33,800,000 and net investment income of $14,600,000 Against the evolving rate environment and macro backdrop, we focused on the health of our late and growth stage portfolio and maintained strong credit quality. The fourth quarter of twenty twenty four was transformative for Runway. Speaker 200:03:14We have enhanced our origination channels, expanded our product set and built infrastructure to accelerate pipeline growth as we seek to optimize our portfolio. As we previously announced, during the fourth quarter, Runway Growth Capital, our investment advisor, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by BC Partners Credit as a long term strategic investment. BC Partners Credit now has more than $10,000,000,000 in assets under management and is the credit arm of BC Partners, an alternative investment firm with over $40,000,000,000 in AUM. In January, we were pleased to announce the close of this transaction following a strong shareholder vote in favor of this path forward. To reiterate, Runway Growth Capital continues to operate with its full team intact and remains the investment advisor to Runway Growth Finance. Speaker 200:04:13The close of the BC Partners transaction ushers in a new era for our shareholders and borrowers, who we believe will benefit our combined scale and expertise. Looking ahead, Runway Growth Capital is seeking to grow originations in the total loan size of $30,000,000 to $150,000,000 That said, our ideal allocation to the BDC will remain $20,000,000 to $45,000,000 Greg will cover this in more momentarily, but we believe this range of check size is positioned to benefit both runway and BC in the long term. Additionally, we expect this focus will further diversify our BDCs portfolio. For example, a $50,000,000 investment pays back its loan. We may seek attractive opportunities in the $20,000,000 to $30,000,000 size to deploy that return capital. Speaker 200:05:14We view this as a win win for our investors. They gain a scaled platform that offers stronger deal flow and more solutions to attract prospective borrowers as well as a strategic focus that will further diversify our go forward portfolio and mitigate risk. We are just getting started. And as we embark on this new chapter with the support of BC Partners, we are confident that our platform is well positioned to maximize our portfolio, while maintaining disciplined underwriting practices. We remain focused on our long term vision of providing financing solutions to passionate entrepreneurs who are building innovative businesses. Speaker 200:05:59To that end, in the fourth quarter, we were pleased to execute on two investments with new companies and five investments with existing portfolio companies, representing 154,000,000 in funded loans. Our new positions during the quarter include the completion of a $43,000,000 loan to Pianos Software, a global leader in digital experience management. We also completed a $26,700,000 investment to Hurricane CleanCo Limited, an integrated merchant acquiring and payment processing platform. Our investments made in the quarter are reflective of our focus on the high growth sectors of technology, health care and consumer products and services. As I wrap up, I want to reiterate our excitement for the path forward. Speaker 200:06:57Our portfolio is positioned to perform, and we believe our borrowers will operate effectively against the macro backdrop taking shape in 2025. Looking ahead, Runway will continue to prioritize a credit first investment philosophy, maintain selectivity as we seek to optimize our portfolio. With that, I'll turn it over to Greg. Speaker 300:07:24Thanks, David, and good evening, everyone. Today, I will offer a little more detail on our capital deployment philosophy and then wrap with our view on the current venture debt landscape. To echo David's sentiment, with the close of the DC Partners transaction, we are starting 2025 with an expanded product set and we are already evaluating a growing pipeline of opportunities as a result. To begin, I want to drill down on a point David outlined earlier on our target allocation range of $20,000,000 to $45,000,000 to the BDC. As a part of the broader BC Partners credit ecosystem, we have the ability to take part in larger deals and allocate the ideal allotments to runway growth finance. Speaker 300:08:06A good example of this is our partnership with VertexOne, which closed in the fourth quarter. This transaction provided VertexOne with $131,000,000 of growth capital and $41,000,000 was allocated to the BDC. This is one of the many tools we have available to us to drive originations and strike deals that are favorable to our investors across the entire platform. We look forward to sharing additional opportunities that present multifaceted wins. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we saw a new administration take office and potential policies and new regulatory measures become a reality. Speaker 300:08:42While the economic impact of tariffs and the evolving government efficiencies initiatives represent a dynamic situation, we believe our focus on high growth sectors with loans that are senior in the capital structure provides additional security and allows our portfolio to perform across market backdrops. Further, we believe our pure play focus on venture debt, which experienced explosive growth in 2024, will continue to be a key value driver moving forward. According to recent pitch book data, venture debt deal value increased to more than $53,000,000,000 in 2024, a dramatic increase from approximately $27,000,000,000 in 2023. This increase can be attributed to several multi billion dollar deals completed as AI companies raise debt. And while some of these transactions may have been idiosyncratic, we view this growth as a green sheet for the venture debt space writ large. Speaker 300:09:38In our view, Runway is positioned to execute amidst the tailwinds in venture debt and our investors benefit from the following characteristics of the sector. First, our portfolio offers lower loan to value relative to middle market lenders, which provides a margin of safety for investors. Second, our loans offer predictable cash flows that enable differentiated return profiles for the shorter lifetime. Third, we underwrite our solutions with enhanced control through covenants and milestones outlined in our debt agreements. And lastly, our investors gain attractive exposure to the venture ecosystem through our portfolio of assets at the top of the capital stack. Speaker 300:10:19This offers strong risk mitigation compared to other venture investment solutions. In short, Runway has exhibited strong portfolio management with minimal losses since the inception and presents prospective investors with ample equity upside as we currently trade at a discount to our venture debt peers. The opportunity in front of us is clear and we have the backing of a world class platform to deliver for our shareholders. With that, I will now turn it over to Tom to discuss our financial results. Speaker 400:10:48Thank you, Greg, and good evening, everyone. During the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, Runway completed two investments in new companies and five investments in existing companies representing 154,000,000 in funded loans. Our weighted average portfolio risk rating decreased to 2.33 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four compared to 2.48 in the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Our rating system is based on a scale of one to five, where one represents the most favorable credit rating. I think it may be valuable to take a moment to dive deeper into our rating system. Speaker 400:11:27For reference, all new transactions begin as a category two. Several performance items as well as technical loan compliance matters could cause a loan to move from Category two to Category three. This might include a borrower deviating from its plan of record. I want to point out that the borrower's plan of record is generally not our underwriting plan and does not necessarily mean that the credit is now in trouble. In our experience, the majority of borrowers that move to Category three still pay their loan in full and on time. Speaker 400:12:01This risk rating helps us monitor our portfolio accurately, but we do want to clarify the companies in Category three are not necessarily exhibiting subpar or weak operating performance. Rather these companies simply have deviated from the company plan that was laid out at the beginning of our agreement. The full details of our rating system are included in our annual report on Form 10 ks. As with previous quarters, we calculated the loan to value for loans that were in our portfolio at the end of the third quarter and at the end of the fourth quarter. In comparing this consistent grouping of loans, we found that our dollar weighted loan to value ratio decreased from 29.3% to 26.6%. Speaker 400:12:47Our total investment portfolio excluding U. S. Treasury bills had a fair value of approximately $1,080,000,000 an increase from $1,070,000,000 in the third quarter of twenty twenty four and an increase of 5% from $1,030,000,000 for the comparable prior year period. Our loan portfolio continues to be comprised almost exclusively of first lien senior secured loans. At 12/31/2024, Runway had net assets of $514,900,000 increasing from $507,400,000 at the end of the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Speaker 400:13:24NAB per share was $13.79 at the end of the fourth quarter, an increase of 3% compared to $13.39 at the end of the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Our loan portfolio is comprised of 97% floating rate assets. All loans are currently earning interest at or above agreed upon interest rate floors, which generally reflect the base rate plus the credit spread set at the time of closing or signing of the term sheet. In the fourth quarter, we received $152,600,000 in principal prepayments, an increase from $75,000,000 in the third quarter of twenty twenty four. As previously stated, we believe elevated prepayments are an indicator of the strength in our approach to underwriting and the overall health of the portfolio and the ecosystem. Speaker 400:14:16We generated total investment income of $33,800,000 and net investment income of $14,660,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four compared to $36,700,000 and 15 point 9 million dollars in the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Our debt portfolio generated a dollar weighted average annualized yield of 14.7% for the fourth quarter as compared to 15.9% for the third quarter of twenty twenty four and sixteen point nine percent for the comparable period last year. Moving to our expenses, total operating expenses were $19,200,000 for the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, a decrease from $20,800,000 for the third quarter of twenty twenty four. We recorded a net realized loss on investments of $2,900,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four compared to no realized gains or losses in the third quarter of twenty twenty four. At 12/31/2024, we continue to have two loans on non accrual status, Mingle Healthcare and Snagajob. Speaker 400:15:20Our loan to Mingle Healthcare has a cost basis of $5,000,000 and fair market value of $2,100,000 or 43% of cost. Our loan to Snagajob has a cost basis of $3,800,000 and fair market value of $3,400,000 or 91% of cost. Together, these loans represent only 0.5% of the total investment portfolio at fair value as of 12/31/2024. At the end of the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, our leverage ratio and asset coverage remained at one point zero eight and one point nine two times respectively, consistent with the third quarter of twenty twenty four. As of 12/31/2024, our total available liquidity was $244,800,000 including unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, and we had borrowing capacity of $239,000,000 Subsequent to quarter end, we extended our credit facility with KeyBanc by three years, subject to the terms and conditions as reflected in the amended credit facility agreement. Speaker 400:16:28We believe the amended credit facility provides increased availability and additional lending verticals to support our business's growth. As of 12/31/2024, we had a total of $176,700,000 in unfunded commitments, which was comprised of $147,300,000 to provide debt financing to our portfolio companies and $29,400,000 to provide equity financing to Runway Cadmo One LLC. Approximately $24,800,000 of available unfunded commitments are eligible to be drawn based on achieved milestones. During the fourth quarter, we experienced five prepayments totaling $152,600,000 and scheduled amortization of $2,400,000 I'll now close with an update on our capital allocation strategy. Earlier today, our Board of Directors declared aggregate distributions of $0.36 per share for the first quarter of twenty twenty five, which is comprised of a $0.33 per share base dividend and a $0.03 per share supplemental dividend. Speaker 400:17:39Subject to board approval, we expect that going forward, the company will continue to pay a quarterly base dividend of $0.33 per share and a targeted supplemental dividend that we expect will be up to 50% of the delta that our NII per share exceeds the base dividend. As we focus on near term capital allocation strategy on building and preserving NAV, we believe our lower base dividend will enable us to deliver consistent yield to our shareholders even if we face rate environment volatility. Our Board will continue to evaluate and approve future distributions knowing how important consistency is to our fellow shareholders. With that, operator, please open the line for questions. Operator00:18:27Thank Our first question comes from the line of Casey Alexander with Compass Point Research and Trading. Your line is open. Speaker 500:18:54Yes. Good afternoon. First of all, I was a little surprised that there were not more new originations here in the first quarter. You gave some information up to this point in time, $2,000,000 and $13,000,000 coming off revolvers, I think it was. Now I do know that originations are generally very back ended. Speaker 500:19:22Would you expect that here in the next ten days before the quarter ends that there would be additional originations? Speaker 600:19:33Yes, I think you're completely correct, Casey, that the originations are typically back ended. And I wouldn't say that necessarily what we have done to this point is a sign for where the quarter will end up overall. We are working with a number of companies and could very easily have some originations closed this quarter, but they may also, as you pointed out, since there's just ten days left in the quarter, one might push to the next quarter. Speaker 700:20:03Okay. Speaker 500:20:04Secondly, do you know what percentage of your loan book is now trading at their interest rate floors as of December 31, of course? Speaker 400:20:22Casey, I think the majority and I'll look up the number specifically, but I think the majority are either at or above the floors. Most are would still continue to be above the floor. Certainly, the newer deals are at the floors. The older deals that have been on the books are trading above the floor. Speaker 500:20:48Okay. Thank you. That's it for me now. I'll follow-up later. Operator00:20:54Thank you. Please standby for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Finian O'Shea with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Speaker 700:21:07Hey, everyone. Sort of extending on that topic, can you talk about the sort of remaining impact on yield from the fed cuts. What drove the sort of additional I think there was a point that came off of your book accounting yield this quarter. So maybe some more of that was spread. I know there were low other fees as well, but what we could sort of think of as a first quarter rate given the portfolio movement and the decline in base rates? Speaker 400:21:47Yes. Thanks, Fin. Certainly a big chunk of the decline was a result of the decline in interest rates. We think that's pretty stable at least in the short term. The other change in the book accounting yield is a result of just fewer accelerations as a result of prepayments. Speaker 400:22:13So as deals take a little longer to prepay, there may be a smaller prepayment fee and there's less end of term payment and the like to accelerate. So as you see the variation in our portfolio yield over time, it typically spikes when we have a significant number of early terminations. Speaker 700:22:40Was there is the prep in Snagajob accruing interest or will it next was that to happen somewhere in the quarter? Speaker 600:22:56The Snagajon Press is a non interest bearing instrument. Speaker 700:23:01Okay. One more on the dividend. It looks like you guys just sort of thought about that. Earnings were sort of straddling it. I think you had some announcements, but new or expanded a new Board of Directors roster. Speaker 700:23:26Can you talk about sort of what the changes were if it goes beyond the base rates and new spreads. And this was more about I think you talked about capital allocation. Does this mean lower leverage as an is that sort of in the outlook? And then a base dividend cut that's fairly substantial, sort of second question, there's always a time when there's a discussion of a look back, a credit look back. So seeing your thoughts on that as well. Speaker 700:24:05Thanks. Speaker 400:24:06Yes. So as the Board of Directors looked at the dividend and keep in mind, we have new Board of Directors coming in, they certainly recognize the importance of a stable and consistent and predictable dividend. And so as they looked at it, they adopted wanted to adopt a base dividend like many on like the BDCs on the BC Partners platform that was clearly sustainable and wasn't necessarily going to be interrupted by fluctuations in interest rates, variability of prepayment fees and other income from early terminations. And then continue to maintain a payout with that target of 50% of the delta over NII. There's nothing in terms of a change of outlook with respect to lowering leverage. Speaker 400:25:09Our leverage target still remains at $1,200,000 to $1,300,000 and what will drive that is originations. I do think we have the Board has a little Speaker 500:25:26bit of a Speaker 400:25:26preference to build NAV, but that does not trump the desire for consistent and stable and predictable dividend. Okay. And the look back? The shareholders in the Board just approved the investment management agreement in January with the change of control. So they're confident that the current arrangement is market and no changes. Speaker 400:26:06Thanks so much. Operator00:26:09Thank you. Please standby for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Melissa Wedo with JPMorgan. Your line is open. Speaker 800:26:21Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Wanted to start with maybe just a broader understanding of the origination opportunity set now as part of BC Partners. Can you put some sort of framework around that for us? I know you gave the example of Vertex One as being something that was sourced through that platform. Speaker 800:26:44Going forward, how much broader do you expect the funnel to be for you? And then what type of asset yield should we be expecting versus your sort of legacy historical origination? Speaker 600:27:01Yes. No, definitely. I think this is a topic that we're really excited to talk about and to fill folks in on. VertexOne, I think, is one example of us bringing a legacy portfolio company and something from our pipeline and allowing us to access a broader set of products than we previously had the expertise to underwrite, where historically we had been exclusively first lien senior secured loans. As you'll see as you pour through our SOI, the new $131,000,000 facility of which we took $41,000,000 is bifurcated between a first lien deal as well as a second lien pick instrument with a convertible feature above a certain MOIC. Speaker 600:27:49We will, for the most part, lean in more heavily towards the first lien portion of a deal like that, but we think that it allows us to appropriately price risk and potentially participate in some greater upside for other opportunities that we previously had been able to. I'd say there's two parts of where the BC combination is really going to change our funnel. The first of which is being part of, as David said, a now greater than $10,000,000,000 platform just has more eyes out there looking at opportunities and brings more things across our desk, which we're greatly appreciative of. But then the second part about it is being part of a large diversified credit firm. It also provides us the expertise to help underwrite some different structures than we previously would have done. Speaker 600:28:44So as I said, we will look at some on a selected basis more junior things, but also it allows us to look at things like revolvers. We very frequently have gotten the question from folks, are we able to provide a revolver? And that's not something that we've been able to do, which has led those situations to provide other providers are able to do both. And we believe that now with this expertise, it's going to help us convert a greater amount of deals. And regarding your questions for returns, we don't expect there to be any material change to our return target. Speaker 600:29:23We expect it to be in line with where it has been historically. Speaker 800:29:29Okay. Thanks for that. And then just on size of the funnel? Speaker 600:29:34Yes. I do think the funnel will expand as we just are able to leverage a larger network of professionals who are out there in the market, meeting with companies, meeting with sponsors, meeting with brokers. Speaker 800:29:49Okay. A follow-up question for you is the I believe it was in the press release, there was a reference to expected sales of some equity and warrant positions in the first quarter. I'm curious if there are any gains or losses associated with that and are those currently reflected in Mark? Thank you. Speaker 400:30:10Yes. Thanks, Melissa. It's public that the Gynasonics there was a merger of Gynasonics. It was acquired by another entity. We had a preferred equity position that did have a gain on it. Speaker 400:30:29And so there will be a gain. That gain was for the most part reflected in the fair value at twelvethirty 1. Speaker 800:30:39Thank you. Operator00:30:41Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Doug Hodder with UBS. Your line is open. Speaker 900:30:52Hi. This is actually Corey Johnson on for Doug Carter. Just was trying to understand, I guess given the cut in the dividend, do you expect maybe to give any like capital return back in the form of share repurchases? I think you have the current plan might be coming towards the end of its life. So is there any discussion in regards to possibly starting up a new plan? Speaker 400:31:24Yes. So we repurchased close to $25,000,000 in shares during 2024. And the current plan is, you accurately stated, is nearing its expiration. It's something that the management team and the Board certainly frequently discuss And it's always a matter of which creates the better return, building the portfolio and increasing the leverage and potentially enhancing the supplemental or the base dividend or using share repurchases. We'll have to see where the equity trades. Speaker 400:32:06Whether we repurchase shares or not, we think we're significantly undervalued at this point. So we'll have to look at our bank availability in the pipeline and make an assessment as to what's best in terms of building long term value. Speaker 900:32:25Thanks. And then my last question, just in regards to like what you're seeing out there in the venture market and in regards to like capital markets activity and such. I guess how what are you kind of seeing currently? And maybe how has that how is what you're seeing now versus what you expected possibly a quarter ago? Speaker 600:32:54Yes. I think we are seeing, for selective companies activity continue. I think that in general, exits have remained slower than folks might have hoped or anticipated, which is seeing, I think, both a slowdown in recycling of capital as firms are not getting back maybe some of the dry powder to deploy that they might have expected. And similarly, that's leading to less M and A, which for some of the larger later stage companies such as ours is leading to less upsized opportunities than we might have otherwise seen. There is an expectation that at some point in the next quarters that will revert and you will see an uptick in not only new fundings, but also M and A volume. Speaker 900:33:47Great. Thank you. Operator00:33:50Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Eric Zwick with Lucid Capital Markets. Your line is open. Speaker 1000:34:02Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. Most of my questions have been answered, but maybe one or two more I can squeeze in here. The equity portfolio at fair value is now to about 10% of the total portfolio. I assume some of the quarter over quarter increase is due to the, this NAGA job sale. Speaker 1000:34:20But just curious how you think about the appropriate size for that and kind of maybe building a little bit on the last question if M and A does pick up that may give you some opportunity realize some gains or sell some of those. But just curious how you think about the appropriate size and how large you would let that get before you got maybe you took a more proactive stance to managing that? Speaker 400:34:42Yes. Thanks, Eric. So we are debt investors. Our job is not to be long term equity investors. In both the cases that we saw the tick up, It was above kind of that normal core of 2%, three %, four % that would arise from warrants or success fees that come attached to many of our deals. Speaker 400:35:07And it was driven largely by the Gynasonics restructure a number of years ago. We split our loan into two pieces so that the company could raise fresh capital. It was a very successful approach then we did follow on preferred investment because the company was performing. And then the other area where they will arise is in the event of a troubled situation or suboptimal performance, and that's the case of Snagajob where the sale that we were able to help facilitate with the company was executed as an equity sale. And the goal there was for us to protect the value of the asset. Speaker 400:36:00We expect that there'll be cash return on that at some point, not in the short term. So that's what drives fluctuations over the normal course. We're always looking at opportunities to realize on that equity portfolio where there's a liquid investment. Last year, we had a warrant position in a portfolio company. We went back to the existing investors. Speaker 400:36:30They had just done a new round and we were able to sell our position out and take a gain. So we're always on the lookout for opportunities like that. But and there may be opportunities going forward with BC Partners to look at some kind of structured equity pieces, but that's not going to move the needle in a significant way on what our core equity portfolio is intended to be. Speaker 1000:37:00I appreciate the color there. And in terms of the unrealized gain in the quarter, I think it was $16,500,000 Was Gynasonics, was that the primary driver of that or were there other factors as well? Speaker 400:37:13There were a mix, but the single largest was definitely Gynasonics. Speaker 1000:37:19And then last one for me. Are you able to update us on the amount of spillover you have now currently just in dollar terms or per share value? Speaker 400:37:29It's not something we published, but our goal is to maintain at least one quarter of spillover and over the course of this new dividend policy to grow that in the coming quarters. Speaker 1000:37:48Thanks for taking my questions this afternoon. I appreciate it. Speaker 400:37:50Thanks, Eric. Operator00:37:52Please stand by for our next question. We have a follow-up question from the line of Finian O'Shea with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Speaker 700:38:03Hey, everyone. Thanks for the follow-up. I was interested in some of the conversation on the BC Partners platform integration. How much is that the global deal flow expected to reshape your portfolio? I think in an earlier question, you talked about a lot the ability to do revolvers and then on the last question, less so. Speaker 700:38:36So if you could give us guidance there on sort of the run rate or future split between yours and theirs. And then I was also a second, a bonus one, interested in the last question on spillover. Were you guiding that you're going to ramp that from one quarter to all the way like three quarters? Speaker 600:39:05Thanks. Yes. So I'll take the first one about the combination. And I definitely don't want to give the impression that this will be any sort of wholesale change or anything like that. If anything, this is more a benefit in terms of it being additive to the pipeline and potential future portfolio rather than us saying, hey, we're going to get a meaningful portion of our flow and of our sourcing from BC going forward. Speaker 600:39:36I do think that the ability for us to invest in the sized loans that we like, the larger loans to later stage companies, while being confident that we can give a more appropriate allocation to the BDC, such that we can drive further diversification is one of the key points and takeaways that I hope you get from this rather than saying that we expect this to be just a wholesale change or acceleration of our origination efforts. And in terms of things like adding in revolvers or second liens or other types of things that differ from the traditional first lien senior secured that we've done, again, I expect that to be additive and for things to help us win opportunities that we otherwise wouldn't have rather than to go out and say, hey, this is a completely different strategy than what we've had historically. Speaker 400:40:34And then on this spillover question, Fin, I didn't intend to signal that we were going to grow to some specific number rather than just say with the math the way the target of up to 50% of the delta between the base dividend and NII works is it's likely to build. But I don't want you to read anything into that negative or positive in terms of our anticipated earnings. It's just a strategy. Thank Operator00:41:09you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm showing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the call back over to Tom for closing remarks. Speaker 400:41:21Thank you, operator. We're proud of the progress we achieved in 2024 that has laid the groundwork for the BDC to execute in 2025. Thank you all for joining us today and we look forward to speaking with you again in May to review our first quarter performance. Operator00:41:38Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallRunway Growth Finance Q4 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Annual report(10-K) Runway Growth Finance Earnings HeadlinesRunway Growth Finance price target lowered to $11 from $13 at UBSApril 18 at 7:40 PM | markets.businessinsider.comRunway Growth Finance Corp. Provides First Quarter 2025 Portfolio Update | RWAY Stock NewsApril 17 at 9:40 AM | gurufocus.comTrump Orders 'National Digital Asset Stockpile'‘Digital Asset Reserve’ for THIS Coin??? Get all the details before this story gains even more tractionApril 18, 2025 | Crypto 101 Media (Ad)Runway Growth Finance Corp. Provides First Quarter 2025 Portfolio UpdateApril 17 at 9:40 AM | gurufocus.comRunway Growth Finance Corp. Provides First Quarter 2025 Operational and Portfolio UpdateApril 17 at 9:08 AM | quiverquant.comRunway Growth Finance Corp. 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There are 11 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Runway Growth Finance Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Ended twenty twenty four Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Quinlan Abel, Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations. You may begin. Speaker 100:00:19Thank you, operator. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Runway Growth Finance conference call for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended 12/31/2024. Joining us on the call today from Runway Growth Finance are David Sprang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Greg Greifeld, Chief Investment Officer of Runway Growth Capital LLC, our investment advisor and Tom Ratterman, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Runway Growth Finance's fourth quarter and fiscal year ended 2024 financial results were released just after today's market close and can be accessed from Runway Growth Finance's Investor Relations website at investors.runwaygrowth.com. We have arranged for a replay of the call to be available on the Runway Growth Finance webpage. Speaker 100:01:07During this call, I want to remind you that we may make forward looking statements based on current expectations. The statements on this call that are not purely historical are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements, including and without limitation, market conditions caused by uncertainties surrounding interest rates, changing economic conditions and other factors we identified in our filings with the SEC. Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions can prove to be inaccurate. And as a result, the forward looking statements based on those assumptions can be incorrect. Speaker 100:01:55You should not place undue reliance on these forward looking statements. The forward looking statements contained on this call are made as of the date hereof, and Runway Growth Finance assumes no obligation to update the forward looking statements or subsequent events. To obtain copies of SEC related filings, please visit our website. With that, I will turn the call over to David. Speaker 200:02:17Thank you, Quinlan, and thanks everyone for joining us this evening. On today's call, we will discuss our fourth quarter and full year twenty twenty four financial results, reflect on the recently closed acquisition of our advisor by BC Partners Credit and share our market outlook for the year ahead. We are pleased with the performance of the portfolio and our strategic execution in 2024. For the fourth quarter, Runway delivered total investment income of $33,800,000 and net investment income of $14,600,000 Against the evolving rate environment and macro backdrop, we focused on the health of our late and growth stage portfolio and maintained strong credit quality. The fourth quarter of twenty twenty four was transformative for Runway. Speaker 200:03:14We have enhanced our origination channels, expanded our product set and built infrastructure to accelerate pipeline growth as we seek to optimize our portfolio. As we previously announced, during the fourth quarter, Runway Growth Capital, our investment advisor, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by BC Partners Credit as a long term strategic investment. BC Partners Credit now has more than $10,000,000,000 in assets under management and is the credit arm of BC Partners, an alternative investment firm with over $40,000,000,000 in AUM. In January, we were pleased to announce the close of this transaction following a strong shareholder vote in favor of this path forward. To reiterate, Runway Growth Capital continues to operate with its full team intact and remains the investment advisor to Runway Growth Finance. Speaker 200:04:13The close of the BC Partners transaction ushers in a new era for our shareholders and borrowers, who we believe will benefit our combined scale and expertise. Looking ahead, Runway Growth Capital is seeking to grow originations in the total loan size of $30,000,000 to $150,000,000 That said, our ideal allocation to the BDC will remain $20,000,000 to $45,000,000 Greg will cover this in more momentarily, but we believe this range of check size is positioned to benefit both runway and BC in the long term. Additionally, we expect this focus will further diversify our BDCs portfolio. For example, a $50,000,000 investment pays back its loan. We may seek attractive opportunities in the $20,000,000 to $30,000,000 size to deploy that return capital. Speaker 200:05:14We view this as a win win for our investors. They gain a scaled platform that offers stronger deal flow and more solutions to attract prospective borrowers as well as a strategic focus that will further diversify our go forward portfolio and mitigate risk. We are just getting started. And as we embark on this new chapter with the support of BC Partners, we are confident that our platform is well positioned to maximize our portfolio, while maintaining disciplined underwriting practices. We remain focused on our long term vision of providing financing solutions to passionate entrepreneurs who are building innovative businesses. Speaker 200:05:59To that end, in the fourth quarter, we were pleased to execute on two investments with new companies and five investments with existing portfolio companies, representing 154,000,000 in funded loans. Our new positions during the quarter include the completion of a $43,000,000 loan to Pianos Software, a global leader in digital experience management. We also completed a $26,700,000 investment to Hurricane CleanCo Limited, an integrated merchant acquiring and payment processing platform. Our investments made in the quarter are reflective of our focus on the high growth sectors of technology, health care and consumer products and services. As I wrap up, I want to reiterate our excitement for the path forward. Speaker 200:06:57Our portfolio is positioned to perform, and we believe our borrowers will operate effectively against the macro backdrop taking shape in 2025. Looking ahead, Runway will continue to prioritize a credit first investment philosophy, maintain selectivity as we seek to optimize our portfolio. With that, I'll turn it over to Greg. Speaker 300:07:24Thanks, David, and good evening, everyone. Today, I will offer a little more detail on our capital deployment philosophy and then wrap with our view on the current venture debt landscape. To echo David's sentiment, with the close of the DC Partners transaction, we are starting 2025 with an expanded product set and we are already evaluating a growing pipeline of opportunities as a result. To begin, I want to drill down on a point David outlined earlier on our target allocation range of $20,000,000 to $45,000,000 to the BDC. As a part of the broader BC Partners credit ecosystem, we have the ability to take part in larger deals and allocate the ideal allotments to runway growth finance. Speaker 300:08:06A good example of this is our partnership with VertexOne, which closed in the fourth quarter. This transaction provided VertexOne with $131,000,000 of growth capital and $41,000,000 was allocated to the BDC. This is one of the many tools we have available to us to drive originations and strike deals that are favorable to our investors across the entire platform. We look forward to sharing additional opportunities that present multifaceted wins. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we saw a new administration take office and potential policies and new regulatory measures become a reality. Speaker 300:08:42While the economic impact of tariffs and the evolving government efficiencies initiatives represent a dynamic situation, we believe our focus on high growth sectors with loans that are senior in the capital structure provides additional security and allows our portfolio to perform across market backdrops. Further, we believe our pure play focus on venture debt, which experienced explosive growth in 2024, will continue to be a key value driver moving forward. According to recent pitch book data, venture debt deal value increased to more than $53,000,000,000 in 2024, a dramatic increase from approximately $27,000,000,000 in 2023. This increase can be attributed to several multi billion dollar deals completed as AI companies raise debt. And while some of these transactions may have been idiosyncratic, we view this growth as a green sheet for the venture debt space writ large. Speaker 300:09:38In our view, Runway is positioned to execute amidst the tailwinds in venture debt and our investors benefit from the following characteristics of the sector. First, our portfolio offers lower loan to value relative to middle market lenders, which provides a margin of safety for investors. Second, our loans offer predictable cash flows that enable differentiated return profiles for the shorter lifetime. Third, we underwrite our solutions with enhanced control through covenants and milestones outlined in our debt agreements. And lastly, our investors gain attractive exposure to the venture ecosystem through our portfolio of assets at the top of the capital stack. Speaker 300:10:19This offers strong risk mitigation compared to other venture investment solutions. In short, Runway has exhibited strong portfolio management with minimal losses since the inception and presents prospective investors with ample equity upside as we currently trade at a discount to our venture debt peers. The opportunity in front of us is clear and we have the backing of a world class platform to deliver for our shareholders. With that, I will now turn it over to Tom to discuss our financial results. Speaker 400:10:48Thank you, Greg, and good evening, everyone. During the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, Runway completed two investments in new companies and five investments in existing companies representing 154,000,000 in funded loans. Our weighted average portfolio risk rating decreased to 2.33 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four compared to 2.48 in the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Our rating system is based on a scale of one to five, where one represents the most favorable credit rating. I think it may be valuable to take a moment to dive deeper into our rating system. Speaker 400:11:27For reference, all new transactions begin as a category two. Several performance items as well as technical loan compliance matters could cause a loan to move from Category two to Category three. This might include a borrower deviating from its plan of record. I want to point out that the borrower's plan of record is generally not our underwriting plan and does not necessarily mean that the credit is now in trouble. In our experience, the majority of borrowers that move to Category three still pay their loan in full and on time. Speaker 400:12:01This risk rating helps us monitor our portfolio accurately, but we do want to clarify the companies in Category three are not necessarily exhibiting subpar or weak operating performance. Rather these companies simply have deviated from the company plan that was laid out at the beginning of our agreement. The full details of our rating system are included in our annual report on Form 10 ks. As with previous quarters, we calculated the loan to value for loans that were in our portfolio at the end of the third quarter and at the end of the fourth quarter. In comparing this consistent grouping of loans, we found that our dollar weighted loan to value ratio decreased from 29.3% to 26.6%. Speaker 400:12:47Our total investment portfolio excluding U. S. Treasury bills had a fair value of approximately $1,080,000,000 an increase from $1,070,000,000 in the third quarter of twenty twenty four and an increase of 5% from $1,030,000,000 for the comparable prior year period. Our loan portfolio continues to be comprised almost exclusively of first lien senior secured loans. At 12/31/2024, Runway had net assets of $514,900,000 increasing from $507,400,000 at the end of the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Speaker 400:13:24NAB per share was $13.79 at the end of the fourth quarter, an increase of 3% compared to $13.39 at the end of the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Our loan portfolio is comprised of 97% floating rate assets. All loans are currently earning interest at or above agreed upon interest rate floors, which generally reflect the base rate plus the credit spread set at the time of closing or signing of the term sheet. In the fourth quarter, we received $152,600,000 in principal prepayments, an increase from $75,000,000 in the third quarter of twenty twenty four. As previously stated, we believe elevated prepayments are an indicator of the strength in our approach to underwriting and the overall health of the portfolio and the ecosystem. Speaker 400:14:16We generated total investment income of $33,800,000 and net investment income of $14,660,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four compared to $36,700,000 and 15 point 9 million dollars in the third quarter of twenty twenty four. Our debt portfolio generated a dollar weighted average annualized yield of 14.7% for the fourth quarter as compared to 15.9% for the third quarter of twenty twenty four and sixteen point nine percent for the comparable period last year. Moving to our expenses, total operating expenses were $19,200,000 for the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, a decrease from $20,800,000 for the third quarter of twenty twenty four. We recorded a net realized loss on investments of $2,900,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four compared to no realized gains or losses in the third quarter of twenty twenty four. At 12/31/2024, we continue to have two loans on non accrual status, Mingle Healthcare and Snagajob. Speaker 400:15:20Our loan to Mingle Healthcare has a cost basis of $5,000,000 and fair market value of $2,100,000 or 43% of cost. Our loan to Snagajob has a cost basis of $3,800,000 and fair market value of $3,400,000 or 91% of cost. Together, these loans represent only 0.5% of the total investment portfolio at fair value as of 12/31/2024. At the end of the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, our leverage ratio and asset coverage remained at one point zero eight and one point nine two times respectively, consistent with the third quarter of twenty twenty four. As of 12/31/2024, our total available liquidity was $244,800,000 including unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, and we had borrowing capacity of $239,000,000 Subsequent to quarter end, we extended our credit facility with KeyBanc by three years, subject to the terms and conditions as reflected in the amended credit facility agreement. Speaker 400:16:28We believe the amended credit facility provides increased availability and additional lending verticals to support our business's growth. As of 12/31/2024, we had a total of $176,700,000 in unfunded commitments, which was comprised of $147,300,000 to provide debt financing to our portfolio companies and $29,400,000 to provide equity financing to Runway Cadmo One LLC. Approximately $24,800,000 of available unfunded commitments are eligible to be drawn based on achieved milestones. During the fourth quarter, we experienced five prepayments totaling $152,600,000 and scheduled amortization of $2,400,000 I'll now close with an update on our capital allocation strategy. Earlier today, our Board of Directors declared aggregate distributions of $0.36 per share for the first quarter of twenty twenty five, which is comprised of a $0.33 per share base dividend and a $0.03 per share supplemental dividend. Speaker 400:17:39Subject to board approval, we expect that going forward, the company will continue to pay a quarterly base dividend of $0.33 per share and a targeted supplemental dividend that we expect will be up to 50% of the delta that our NII per share exceeds the base dividend. As we focus on near term capital allocation strategy on building and preserving NAV, we believe our lower base dividend will enable us to deliver consistent yield to our shareholders even if we face rate environment volatility. Our Board will continue to evaluate and approve future distributions knowing how important consistency is to our fellow shareholders. With that, operator, please open the line for questions. Operator00:18:27Thank Our first question comes from the line of Casey Alexander with Compass Point Research and Trading. Your line is open. Speaker 500:18:54Yes. Good afternoon. First of all, I was a little surprised that there were not more new originations here in the first quarter. You gave some information up to this point in time, $2,000,000 and $13,000,000 coming off revolvers, I think it was. Now I do know that originations are generally very back ended. Speaker 500:19:22Would you expect that here in the next ten days before the quarter ends that there would be additional originations? Speaker 600:19:33Yes, I think you're completely correct, Casey, that the originations are typically back ended. And I wouldn't say that necessarily what we have done to this point is a sign for where the quarter will end up overall. We are working with a number of companies and could very easily have some originations closed this quarter, but they may also, as you pointed out, since there's just ten days left in the quarter, one might push to the next quarter. Speaker 700:20:03Okay. Speaker 500:20:04Secondly, do you know what percentage of your loan book is now trading at their interest rate floors as of December 31, of course? Speaker 400:20:22Casey, I think the majority and I'll look up the number specifically, but I think the majority are either at or above the floors. Most are would still continue to be above the floor. Certainly, the newer deals are at the floors. The older deals that have been on the books are trading above the floor. Speaker 500:20:48Okay. Thank you. That's it for me now. I'll follow-up later. Operator00:20:54Thank you. Please standby for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Finian O'Shea with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Speaker 700:21:07Hey, everyone. Sort of extending on that topic, can you talk about the sort of remaining impact on yield from the fed cuts. What drove the sort of additional I think there was a point that came off of your book accounting yield this quarter. So maybe some more of that was spread. I know there were low other fees as well, but what we could sort of think of as a first quarter rate given the portfolio movement and the decline in base rates? Speaker 400:21:47Yes. Thanks, Fin. Certainly a big chunk of the decline was a result of the decline in interest rates. We think that's pretty stable at least in the short term. The other change in the book accounting yield is a result of just fewer accelerations as a result of prepayments. Speaker 400:22:13So as deals take a little longer to prepay, there may be a smaller prepayment fee and there's less end of term payment and the like to accelerate. So as you see the variation in our portfolio yield over time, it typically spikes when we have a significant number of early terminations. Speaker 700:22:40Was there is the prep in Snagajob accruing interest or will it next was that to happen somewhere in the quarter? Speaker 600:22:56The Snagajon Press is a non interest bearing instrument. Speaker 700:23:01Okay. One more on the dividend. It looks like you guys just sort of thought about that. Earnings were sort of straddling it. I think you had some announcements, but new or expanded a new Board of Directors roster. Speaker 700:23:26Can you talk about sort of what the changes were if it goes beyond the base rates and new spreads. And this was more about I think you talked about capital allocation. Does this mean lower leverage as an is that sort of in the outlook? And then a base dividend cut that's fairly substantial, sort of second question, there's always a time when there's a discussion of a look back, a credit look back. So seeing your thoughts on that as well. Speaker 700:24:05Thanks. Speaker 400:24:06Yes. So as the Board of Directors looked at the dividend and keep in mind, we have new Board of Directors coming in, they certainly recognize the importance of a stable and consistent and predictable dividend. And so as they looked at it, they adopted wanted to adopt a base dividend like many on like the BDCs on the BC Partners platform that was clearly sustainable and wasn't necessarily going to be interrupted by fluctuations in interest rates, variability of prepayment fees and other income from early terminations. And then continue to maintain a payout with that target of 50% of the delta over NII. There's nothing in terms of a change of outlook with respect to lowering leverage. Speaker 400:25:09Our leverage target still remains at $1,200,000 to $1,300,000 and what will drive that is originations. I do think we have the Board has a little Speaker 500:25:26bit of a Speaker 400:25:26preference to build NAV, but that does not trump the desire for consistent and stable and predictable dividend. Okay. And the look back? The shareholders in the Board just approved the investment management agreement in January with the change of control. So they're confident that the current arrangement is market and no changes. Speaker 400:26:06Thanks so much. Operator00:26:09Thank you. Please standby for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Melissa Wedo with JPMorgan. Your line is open. Speaker 800:26:21Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Wanted to start with maybe just a broader understanding of the origination opportunity set now as part of BC Partners. Can you put some sort of framework around that for us? I know you gave the example of Vertex One as being something that was sourced through that platform. Speaker 800:26:44Going forward, how much broader do you expect the funnel to be for you? And then what type of asset yield should we be expecting versus your sort of legacy historical origination? Speaker 600:27:01Yes. No, definitely. I think this is a topic that we're really excited to talk about and to fill folks in on. VertexOne, I think, is one example of us bringing a legacy portfolio company and something from our pipeline and allowing us to access a broader set of products than we previously had the expertise to underwrite, where historically we had been exclusively first lien senior secured loans. As you'll see as you pour through our SOI, the new $131,000,000 facility of which we took $41,000,000 is bifurcated between a first lien deal as well as a second lien pick instrument with a convertible feature above a certain MOIC. Speaker 600:27:49We will, for the most part, lean in more heavily towards the first lien portion of a deal like that, but we think that it allows us to appropriately price risk and potentially participate in some greater upside for other opportunities that we previously had been able to. I'd say there's two parts of where the BC combination is really going to change our funnel. The first of which is being part of, as David said, a now greater than $10,000,000,000 platform just has more eyes out there looking at opportunities and brings more things across our desk, which we're greatly appreciative of. But then the second part about it is being part of a large diversified credit firm. It also provides us the expertise to help underwrite some different structures than we previously would have done. Speaker 600:28:44So as I said, we will look at some on a selected basis more junior things, but also it allows us to look at things like revolvers. We very frequently have gotten the question from folks, are we able to provide a revolver? And that's not something that we've been able to do, which has led those situations to provide other providers are able to do both. And we believe that now with this expertise, it's going to help us convert a greater amount of deals. And regarding your questions for returns, we don't expect there to be any material change to our return target. Speaker 600:29:23We expect it to be in line with where it has been historically. Speaker 800:29:29Okay. Thanks for that. And then just on size of the funnel? Speaker 600:29:34Yes. I do think the funnel will expand as we just are able to leverage a larger network of professionals who are out there in the market, meeting with companies, meeting with sponsors, meeting with brokers. Speaker 800:29:49Okay. A follow-up question for you is the I believe it was in the press release, there was a reference to expected sales of some equity and warrant positions in the first quarter. I'm curious if there are any gains or losses associated with that and are those currently reflected in Mark? Thank you. Speaker 400:30:10Yes. Thanks, Melissa. It's public that the Gynasonics there was a merger of Gynasonics. It was acquired by another entity. We had a preferred equity position that did have a gain on it. Speaker 400:30:29And so there will be a gain. That gain was for the most part reflected in the fair value at twelvethirty 1. Speaker 800:30:39Thank you. Operator00:30:41Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Doug Hodder with UBS. Your line is open. Speaker 900:30:52Hi. This is actually Corey Johnson on for Doug Carter. Just was trying to understand, I guess given the cut in the dividend, do you expect maybe to give any like capital return back in the form of share repurchases? I think you have the current plan might be coming towards the end of its life. So is there any discussion in regards to possibly starting up a new plan? Speaker 400:31:24Yes. So we repurchased close to $25,000,000 in shares during 2024. And the current plan is, you accurately stated, is nearing its expiration. It's something that the management team and the Board certainly frequently discuss And it's always a matter of which creates the better return, building the portfolio and increasing the leverage and potentially enhancing the supplemental or the base dividend or using share repurchases. We'll have to see where the equity trades. Speaker 400:32:06Whether we repurchase shares or not, we think we're significantly undervalued at this point. So we'll have to look at our bank availability in the pipeline and make an assessment as to what's best in terms of building long term value. Speaker 900:32:25Thanks. And then my last question, just in regards to like what you're seeing out there in the venture market and in regards to like capital markets activity and such. I guess how what are you kind of seeing currently? And maybe how has that how is what you're seeing now versus what you expected possibly a quarter ago? Speaker 600:32:54Yes. I think we are seeing, for selective companies activity continue. I think that in general, exits have remained slower than folks might have hoped or anticipated, which is seeing, I think, both a slowdown in recycling of capital as firms are not getting back maybe some of the dry powder to deploy that they might have expected. And similarly, that's leading to less M and A, which for some of the larger later stage companies such as ours is leading to less upsized opportunities than we might have otherwise seen. There is an expectation that at some point in the next quarters that will revert and you will see an uptick in not only new fundings, but also M and A volume. Speaker 900:33:47Great. Thank you. Operator00:33:50Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Eric Zwick with Lucid Capital Markets. Your line is open. Speaker 1000:34:02Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone. Most of my questions have been answered, but maybe one or two more I can squeeze in here. The equity portfolio at fair value is now to about 10% of the total portfolio. I assume some of the quarter over quarter increase is due to the, this NAGA job sale. Speaker 1000:34:20But just curious how you think about the appropriate size for that and kind of maybe building a little bit on the last question if M and A does pick up that may give you some opportunity realize some gains or sell some of those. But just curious how you think about the appropriate size and how large you would let that get before you got maybe you took a more proactive stance to managing that? Speaker 400:34:42Yes. Thanks, Eric. So we are debt investors. Our job is not to be long term equity investors. In both the cases that we saw the tick up, It was above kind of that normal core of 2%, three %, four % that would arise from warrants or success fees that come attached to many of our deals. Speaker 400:35:07And it was driven largely by the Gynasonics restructure a number of years ago. We split our loan into two pieces so that the company could raise fresh capital. It was a very successful approach then we did follow on preferred investment because the company was performing. And then the other area where they will arise is in the event of a troubled situation or suboptimal performance, and that's the case of Snagajob where the sale that we were able to help facilitate with the company was executed as an equity sale. And the goal there was for us to protect the value of the asset. Speaker 400:36:00We expect that there'll be cash return on that at some point, not in the short term. So that's what drives fluctuations over the normal course. We're always looking at opportunities to realize on that equity portfolio where there's a liquid investment. Last year, we had a warrant position in a portfolio company. We went back to the existing investors. Speaker 400:36:30They had just done a new round and we were able to sell our position out and take a gain. So we're always on the lookout for opportunities like that. But and there may be opportunities going forward with BC Partners to look at some kind of structured equity pieces, but that's not going to move the needle in a significant way on what our core equity portfolio is intended to be. Speaker 1000:37:00I appreciate the color there. And in terms of the unrealized gain in the quarter, I think it was $16,500,000 Was Gynasonics, was that the primary driver of that or were there other factors as well? Speaker 400:37:13There were a mix, but the single largest was definitely Gynasonics. Speaker 1000:37:19And then last one for me. Are you able to update us on the amount of spillover you have now currently just in dollar terms or per share value? Speaker 400:37:29It's not something we published, but our goal is to maintain at least one quarter of spillover and over the course of this new dividend policy to grow that in the coming quarters. Speaker 1000:37:48Thanks for taking my questions this afternoon. I appreciate it. Speaker 400:37:50Thanks, Eric. Operator00:37:52Please stand by for our next question. We have a follow-up question from the line of Finian O'Shea with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Speaker 700:38:03Hey, everyone. Thanks for the follow-up. I was interested in some of the conversation on the BC Partners platform integration. How much is that the global deal flow expected to reshape your portfolio? I think in an earlier question, you talked about a lot the ability to do revolvers and then on the last question, less so. Speaker 700:38:36So if you could give us guidance there on sort of the run rate or future split between yours and theirs. And then I was also a second, a bonus one, interested in the last question on spillover. Were you guiding that you're going to ramp that from one quarter to all the way like three quarters? Speaker 600:39:05Thanks. Yes. So I'll take the first one about the combination. And I definitely don't want to give the impression that this will be any sort of wholesale change or anything like that. If anything, this is more a benefit in terms of it being additive to the pipeline and potential future portfolio rather than us saying, hey, we're going to get a meaningful portion of our flow and of our sourcing from BC going forward. Speaker 600:39:36I do think that the ability for us to invest in the sized loans that we like, the larger loans to later stage companies, while being confident that we can give a more appropriate allocation to the BDC, such that we can drive further diversification is one of the key points and takeaways that I hope you get from this rather than saying that we expect this to be just a wholesale change or acceleration of our origination efforts. And in terms of things like adding in revolvers or second liens or other types of things that differ from the traditional first lien senior secured that we've done, again, I expect that to be additive and for things to help us win opportunities that we otherwise wouldn't have rather than to go out and say, hey, this is a completely different strategy than what we've had historically. Speaker 400:40:34And then on this spillover question, Fin, I didn't intend to signal that we were going to grow to some specific number rather than just say with the math the way the target of up to 50% of the delta between the base dividend and NII works is it's likely to build. But I don't want you to read anything into that negative or positive in terms of our anticipated earnings. It's just a strategy. Thank Operator00:41:09you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm showing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the call back over to Tom for closing remarks. Speaker 400:41:21Thank you, operator. We're proud of the progress we achieved in 2024 that has laid the groundwork for the BDC to execute in 2025. Thank you all for joining us today and we look forward to speaking with you again in May to review our first quarter performance. Operator00:41:38Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read morePowered by