BDC earnings season is underway, with funds that have filed to date posting positive performance overall in 4Q21, topping off a strong year for the asset class. BDC earnings climbed in 2021 against a backdrop of robust portfolio company performance and record origination activity.
BDC origination activity was bolstered by buoyant M&A activity, while portfolio companies saw earnings grow markedly as the economy rebounded from COVID hit 2020. On top of this, nonaccrual metrics improved over the course of the year and the majority of funds posted higher realized and unrealized gains.
Based on the universe of 17 BDCs that have released 4Q21 earnings so far, 12 have seen NAVs climb, 2 are unchanged and only 3 have posted a decline. Across these 17 funds, NAVs increased by an average of 0.85% in 4Q21. More impressively when looking at this sample of BDCs, NAVs climbed by an average of 7.2% over the course of 2021.
(Past performance is no guarantee of future results.)
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