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 and geopolitical uncertainty.

• 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 on cost, and fair market value of the portfolio exceeds $14 billion.

• Portfolio growth was just under 10% last year, with Q4 being the second most active quarter since 2021.

Performance and earnings

• Q4 total return on NAV was 2.1%, bringing the 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 and less than 2% from assets marked below 85.

• Dividend has been out-earned for 25 consecutive quarters, with an inception-to-date annualized return on NAV of 11.2%.

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

Sector and AI 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 a focus on verticals like ERP, data infrastructure, and cybersecurity.

• AI is integrated into underwriting, with specialized teams and a focus on businesses with high retention and domain expertise.

• Only 5% of software exposure is in horizontal or content businesses, which are more at risk from AI disruption.

• Healthcare IT and life sciences are seen as well-positioned for AI, while exposure to commoditized services is deprioritized.