Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (BXSL) Raymond James 47th Annual Institutional Investors Conference summary

Macro environment and portfolio overview

• Economic backdrop remains healthy with resilient corporate earnings, strong consumer activity, and supportive fiscal and monetary conditions despite recent volatility.

• AI-driven investment cycle and lower inflation are driving stable performance, high single-digit EBITDA growth, and increased interest coverage ratios.

• Portfolio is diversified across 316 companies, with 98% first lien senior secured investments and a focus on larger, defensive businesses.

• Non-accruals are below market at 60 basis points versus over 3% for peers; fair market value exceeds $14 billion.

• Q4 was the second most active quarter since 2021, with $1 billion deployed and portfolio growth just under 10%.

Performance and earnings

• Q4 total return on NAV was 2.1%, bringing year-to-date return to 9.6%, outperforming leveraged loans by 360 basis points.

• Net investment income per share was $0.80, representing 11.8% annualized NII and fully covering the dividend.

• Over 91% of income is from cash sources, with payment in kind (PIK) income about 30% lower than peers.

• Dividend has been out-earned for 25 consecutive quarters; inception-to-date annualized return on NAV is 11.2%.

• Board approved a $250 million share repurchase plan for shares trading below NAV.

Sector and investment strategy

• Largest exposures are in professional services, healthcare, and software, focusing on less capital-intensive sectors with lower default rates.

• Software exposure is 21% of fair market value, diversified across subcategories and end markets, with high-performing sectors showing close to 10% EBITDA growth.

• Focus remains on vertical software, ERP, data infrastructure, and cybersecurity, which have seen over 40% EBITDA growth since underwrite.

• Horizontal software and content businesses represent less than 5% of exposure and are considered higher risk.

• AI lens is applied to all underwriting, with sector-specific risk assessments in healthcare, life sciences, and services.