The state of the BDC universe, quarter by quarter.

Six metrics that define the credit profile of business development companies, tracked across the universe back to 2020. Median across all reporting funds, with an asset weighted toggle for capital weighted readings. Traded BDCs and perpetual non traded BDCs separated, because their portfolios behave differently and combining them hides the signal.

Methodology follows KBRA's quarterly compendium convention · Sources cited per chart · Loading coverage...
Analysis modules: 01 · Universe time series 02 · Borrower overlap 03 · Manager cohorts 04 · Dividend coverage 05 · Non traded liquidity 06 · Sector concentration
Aggregation
Segment
Period: Q1 2020 – Q4 2025
Credit stress
Non accrual rate
Fair value basis. Higher = more borrowers stopping interest payments. Cycle warning threshold per KBRA is 3% sustained.
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Latest quarter
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vs 4 quarters ago
Source: 10-Q / 10-K filings · N=...
Structure
Gross leverage
Debt divided by equity (NAV). BDCs have a 2.0× regulatory cap. Boston Fed flagged sector wide leverage rising from 0.7× to 1.0× since 2017.
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Latest quarter
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vs 4 quarters ago
Source: 10-Q / 10-K filings · N=...
Income
Weighted average yield
Portfolio yield on debt investments. Tracks SOFR cycle plus credit spread. Cliffwater Direct Lending Index showed 11.0% peak in 2024.
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Latest quarter
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vs 4 quarters ago
Source: 10-Q / 10-K filings · N=...
Quality
First lien senior secured %
Share of portfolio in first lien debt, by fair value. Higher = more defensively positioned. KBRA tracks ~70-75% as the universe range.
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Latest quarter
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vs 4 quarters ago
Source: 10-Q / 10-K filings · N=...
Concentration
Software exposure
Universe wide share of portfolio FV in software, SaaS, and IT services. Annual snapshots from 10-K SOIs. Morgan Stanley flagged 25% as a red line.
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Latest year
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vs 4 years ago
Source: 10-K SOI extraction · N=...
Cash quality
PIK income reliance
Paid in kind income as a share of total interest income. Rising PIK = borrowers conserving cash. Cliffwater CDLI reported 7.3% sector wide in 2025.
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Latest quarter
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vs 4 quarters ago
Source: 10-Q / 10-K filings · N=...

How these numbers are calculated

By default the chart shows the median value across all BDCs that report the metric in a given quarter, following KBRA's convention for cross sectional comparisons. Median is robust to outliers in a way that simple averaging is not. A single BDC with a 23% non accrual rate would distort an arithmetic mean, but the median tells you what the typical fund looks like.

The asset weighted toggle shows the same metric weighted by fund net assets. This answers a different question: where is investor capital actually exposed. Median and asset weighted often diverge, and that divergence is itself useful · it tells you whether the small funds and the big funds are behaving the same way.

Traded and non traded BDCs are reported separately because their portfolios differ structurally. Perpetual non traded BDCs are younger and unseasoned, with lower non accruals on average. Combining them dilutes the credit signal in the traded universe.

Coverage and honesty

Coverage varies by metric. Leverage, NAV per share, and net investment income are disclosed by virtually every BDC every quarter. Non accrual percentage is reported less consistently · many BDCs disclose it only in 10-K annual filings, or in footnotes that vary by fund. PIK income reporting is even sparser. The N= count next to each chart shows how many BDCs contributed to that median in the most recent quarter.

Software exposure is computed from Schedule of Investments data, which is only filed in 10-Ks. The full universe SOI coverage starts in Q4 2023 and improves over time. We show Q4 of each year as the cleanest annual series rather than padding intermediate quarters with thin samples.

The Q1 2026 reporting cycle is in flight. Most filings will land between mid May and mid June 2026. Today's chart endpoints are Q4 2025 to avoid showing partial coverage.