Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
Portfolio Commentary
Portfolio Update
(All data as of March 31, 2024, unless otherwise noted)
We are pleased to report that Blackstone Private Credit Fund (“BCRED” or the “Fund”) delivered another strong quarterly total net return of 3.1% for Class I shares,1 driven primarily by robust income coupled with capital appreciation on its loan portfolio. BCRED had a 10.4% annualized distribution rate2 and generated a 10.4% annualized inception to date total return for Class I shares, outperforming leveraged loans, high yield and investment grade bonds.3
Despite elevated interest rates, the first quarter was characterized by a resilient U.S. economy, which supported a constructive backdrop for private credit. Loan-to-values (“LTV”) remained low and while private credit spreads tightened, all-in yields remained high with healthy premiums of nearly 300bps on average over liquid loans. We believe the growth and performance prospects for private credit remain bright. However, emerging trends indicate that not all private credit is created equal. In recent months, some private credit managers have seen: i) increases in non-performing loans, ii) returns driven by larger portfolio allocations to liquid credit markets which rallied and iii) an increase in capital raising activity potentially overwhelming deployment capabilities. It is important for shareholders to identify instances where managers may reach for risk to drive returns or deploy capital.4 In our view, BCRED continues to maintain its disciplined defensive strategy, which we believe will serve shareholders over the long term.
Increasing dispersion has raised a simple question among our clients: “Does my private credit manager have both the experience and the platform to meet the needs of today?” We believe Blackstone Credit & Insurance’s (“BXCI”) scale offers advantages that may provide shareholders with confidence when answering this question, based on the following:
• | | BCRED’s Ability To Selectively Deploy: Tightening credit spreads (of ~50-100bps) often serve as a precursor to increased deal flow/M&A activity,4 which is reflected in the substantial growth in our investment pipeline.5 Since Q1’23, the total number of deals in BXCI’s pipeline has increased over 2x and the number of deals over $1 billion has increased over 3x. Yet, while some managers may remain reactive to the market, BXCI remains decidedly proactive, sourcing deal flow through its proprietary channels. In Q1’24, BCRED deployed $3 billion.6 Of our deployments into new private investments, nearly 50% were deals with incumbent relationships,7 nearly 80% were deals where BXCI was sole or lead lender,8 and investments were completed at what we believe is a conservative average LTV of 43%.9,10 |
• | | BCRED’s Ability To Protect: We believe BCRED’s focus on larger, senior secured assets in attractive sectors has created a healthy, defensively positioned portfolio.11,36 BCRED’s portfolio has 0.2% of investments on non-accrual at cost,12 a metric commonly viewed as an indicator of potential defaults, which remains well below the 2.2% average, at cost, for our peer set.13 This quarter, BCRED had an average LTV of 44%14 and across the portfolio, over the past year, our companies earned approximately 50% more than their cash interest paid — an interest coverage ratio of 1.5x,15 which we view as ample cushion. We remain hyper-focused on documentation with ~100% of BXCI-led deals16 containing certain protections against collateral release (compared to 16% for the broadly syndicated market17). |
• | | BCRED’s Ability To Generate High Quality Distributions: BCRED’s weighted average yield on new investments was 11.5% during the first quarter (compared to 11.8% last quarter).18 BCRED continued to outearn its distribution with an earnings yield of 11.5%19 (compared to a 10.4% annualized distribution rate for Class I shares2), which has allowed excess earnings to accrue to the Fund’s net asset value. |
In our view, these attributes set BXCI apart from other private credit managers and all tie to a common theme of a manager working from the scale of its platform, and not simply working for it. As the world’s largest BDC, backed by one of the world’s largest alternative credit managers,20 we believe BCRED is able to use its scale to distinguish itself from peers.
To illustrate, we believe we have the ability to make companies we lend to better through the BXCI Value Creation Program, which BCRED’s portfolio companies have full access to. Companies and sponsors view this as a valuable tool with over 90% of BXCI portfolio companies introduced to the program becoming active participants.21 Since its inception, the BXCI Value Creation Program has identified $339 million in total cost reduction,22 generated over $225 million in revenue,23 and created over $5 billion in illustrative value for BXCI portfolio companies.24
BXCI is invested in over 4,500 issuers across portfolios globally, which allows BCRED to leverage data from across the platform to identify trends early.25 Additionally, we believe scale is reflected in the strength of BCRED’s underlying portfolio. BCRED has focused on lending to larger companies with an average last-twelve-month issuer EBITDA, or operating profit, of $225 million,26 over 2x higher than the broader private credit market.27 The average enterprise value of our companies is over $4 billion.28 BCRED’s focus on larger companies is informed by empirical data in the private