Ares Capital Corporation
Inside Ares Capital Corporation’s $29.3B private-credit portfolio — 1,439 holdings disclosed in SEC filings. The portfolio is 60% first-lien by fair value, concentrated in Financial Services (42%).
Jul 29 · SEC EDGAR
Credit Snapshot
How the market and the balance sheet read ARCC as a credit: NAV per share is the Q1 FY2026 book value ($19.59) from its SEC quarterly filing — for a BDC, book value is NAV. Fair values underneath are the manager’s own estimates. Price as of 2026-08-26.
| Metric | Value | What healthy looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Price-to-NAV | 1.02x (par) | Quality BDCs tend to trade near NAV; a deep discount often signals credit concern — or opportunity to investigate. |
| Dividend Yield (FY2025 paid) | 9.1% | A trailing all-in yield (full-year dividends paid, including any specials) — not a forward run-rate. BDC regular yields typically run 8–12%; treat an outlier as a question about dividend sustainability. |
| Dividend Coverage (GAAP NII) | 1.15x GAAP NII ÷ FY2025 distributions | Above 1.0x, the year’s distributions were earned by investment income; below 1.0x they exceeded it — watch for a cut or return-of-capital funding. GAAP NII, not the manager’s adjusted “core NII”. |
| NII Return on Equity | 10.2% GAAP NII on FY2025 FY-end NAV | What the portfolio EARNED on book value, before mark swings — steadier than mark-driven ROE. BDCs typically land high single digits to low teens; internally managed books keep more of it. |
| NAV Total Return | +4.2% FY2025: ΔNAV/share + distributions 3-yr ≈+12.7%/yr compound | NAV change plus distributions, per share — what the book earned independent of market sentiment. Sustained positive NAV total return means the credit book is creating value, not just distributing it back. |
| Leverage (Gross Debt/Equity) | 1.12x 44% headroom to the 2.0x regulatory ceiling | Most BDCs run 0.8x–1.25x debt-to-equity; the regulatory ceiling is 2.0x. |
| Asset Coverage | 190% | A gross total-debt coverage read; the statutory ratio excludes SBA debentures, so an SBIC’s 10-K figure can differ. Healthy BDCs sit well above the 150% floor. |
| Top-5 Borrower Concentration | 17% of portfolio FV ≈ 36% of Q1 FY2026 NAV largest: Ivy Hill Asset Management, L.P. (9.7% of FV) | Measured against NAV, not just portfolio value: leverage means one borrower’s writedown hits book value harder than its portfolio share suggests. Diversified BDCs typically keep any single name to a low single-digit share of the portfolio. |
| Debt Marked Below 90 | 7.0% (3.4% below 80) of marked debt FV (94% coverage) | Loans marked below 90 cents on the dollar are the book’s watchlist; a growing tail often precedes non-accrual. |
| PIK Income Share | 18.5% of debt FV carries a PIK component 65th pct of 23 upper-MM peers | Interest paid “in kind” adds to the loan instead of paying cash; a rising PIK share is the classic early sign of borrower stress. |
| Floating-Rate Mix | 79% floating, mostly SOFR of rate-classified debt (97% coverage); the rest fixed | Floating-rate loans reprice with their benchmark (mostly SOFR), so a high floating share means portfolio income rises when the Fed hikes and falls when it cuts — the book’s rate sensitivity in one number. |
| Non-Accruals | — not yet parsed | 1–3% of debt fair value is normal; 5%+ is a warning sign. We don’t parse this yet — check the latest 10-Q. |
| Fee Structure — manager economics, from the same annual filing | ||
| Base Management Fee | $425.0M ≈1.36% of FY2025 FY-end total assets, our calculation — contractual fees accrue on average gross assets as filed, gross of any fee waivers | External BDC base fees typically run 1.0–1.75% of assets — charged on ASSETS, not equity, so leverage raises the fee bill on the same NAV. |
| Incentive Fee | $325.0M ≈19.5% of pre-fee investment income as filed, gross of any fee waivers | Income incentive fees typically take 17.5–20% of pre-fee investment income over a hurdle. A capital-gains fee in an up-mark year is not recurring income economics — watch the split. |
Portfolio Composition
Portfolio-wide breakdown by fair value across this BDC’s full Schedule of Investments. Source: SEC EDGAR (public). As of the 2026-07-29 filing.
Maturity Wall
Debt fair value by each loan’s stated maturity year (94% of debt FV carries a parsed maturity). The refinancing question: 5% of the maturity-dated book comes due by end-2027 — debt that must be repaid, refinanced, or extended. As of the 2026-07-29 filing.
| Maturing | Debt FV | % of dated debt |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 or earlier | $232M | 1.0% |
| 2027 | $987M | 4.3% |
| 2028 | $2.1B | 9.4% |
| 2029 | $3.0B | 13.3% |
| 2030 | $4.7B | 20.5% |
| 2031+ | $11.7B | 51.4% |
Manager Track Record
Through-the-cycle indicators computed from filed schedule-of-investments data: the non-accrual level and its four-quarter direction, the fleet standing among BDCs whose latest filing clears the 90% determinate-coverage gate, and the average debt mark against a year earlier. A track record, not a verdict — each row is coverage-gated and omitted when the data doesn’t support it. As of the 2026-07-29 filing.
| Avg debt mark vs 4q ago | 96.4 vs 97.5 (-1.1 pts) |
Where this book is marked differently
1 of this BDC’s borrowers is marked 10+ points away from another BDC’s mark on the same borrower and seniority, as of the same quarter. Level-3 fair values are model-based — each manager marks to its own model, so dispersion is information about assumptions, not proof either mark is wrong.
- Vertex Service Partners, LLC and Vertex Service Partners Holdings, LLC — marked 85.8 here (filed 2026-07-29) vs 96.1 at MSDL (filed 2026-08-06) — a 10.3pt gap, same seniority, period 2026-06-30.
Marks reflect each BDC’s own fair-value estimates as reported to the SEC, not traded prices. Private-credit loans are predominantly Level 3 under ASC 820 — valued from unobservable inputs and determined in good faith by each BDC’s board, so figures are estimates as of the filing date and are not directly comparable across managers. Informational only; not investment advice or a valuation.
Quarter-over-quarter changes
Borrowers added to and dropped from the book between the 2026-04-28 and 2026-07-29 filings, and the largest weighted-mark moves on borrowers held across both. Aggregated to the borrower so a company’s exposure is counted once even when its loan tranches are re-cut quarter to quarter; entries and exits under $0.5M are omitted as parse noise.
New this quarter 27
- Invited, Inc. And Ksl Longdrive Co-Invest, L.P.$184M
- Clearwater Analytics, Llc And Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc.$130M
- Elemica, Inc. And Ez Elemica Holdings, Inc.$117M
- Edgeconnex Mcn Us Finance Co 1, Llc$84M
- 365Rm Holdco, Llc$68M
- Arxis, Inc. (Fka Qnnect, Llc And Connector Topco, Lp)$58M
Exited 14
- Elemica Parent, Inc. & Ez Elemica Holdings, Inc.$161M
- Global Medical Response, Inc. And Gmr Buyer Corp., Warrant To Purchase Units Of$136M
- Investors, L.P., Leaf Home, Llc And Gc Fund Iv Blocker Llc, Limited Partnership Units$72M
- Gnz Energy Bidco Limited And Galileo Co-Investment Trust I, Common Units$42M
- Clubcorp Holdings, Inc.$40M
- Qnnect, Llc And Connector Topco, Lp, Limited$22M
Biggest mark moves
- Amerivet Partners Management, Inc. And Ave Holdings Lp↓ 81→62
- Avalign Holdings, Inc. And Avalign Technologies, Inc.↓ 72→56
- Vprop Operating, Llc And V Sandco, Llc↑ 82→97
- Otg Concessions Management, Llc And Octa Parent Holdings, Llc | Participation Rights↓ 90→75
- Nas, Llc And Nationwide Marketing Group, Llc↓ 99→85
- Team Acquisition Corporation↓ 61→47
Top Portfolio Holdings
| # | Company | Type | Sector | Coupon | Maturity | Fair Value | % of FV | % of Net Assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivy Hill Asset Management, L.P.2 reporting lines · Equity + Subordinated Debt Subordinated | Equity2L / Mezz | Financial Services | SOFR + 6.50% | — | $2.8B | 9.7% | 20.2% |
| 2 | Senior Direct Lending Program, LLC | 2L / Mezz | Capital Goods | SOFR + 8.00% | Dec 2036 | $1.2B | 3.9% | 8.2% |
| 3 | Denali Intermediate Holdings, Inc. and Denali Parent Holdings, L.P. | 1L Sr Secured | Financial Services | SOFR + 5.50% | Aug 2032 | $360M | 1.2% | 2.6% |
| 4 | AthenaHealth Group Inc., Minerva Holdco, Inc. and BCPE Co-Invest (A), LP | EquityPIK 10.75% | Financial Services | — | — | $318M | 1.1% | 2.3% |
| 5 | FEH Group, LLC. | Equity | Capital Goods | — | — | $266M | 0.9% | 1.9% |
| 6 | High Street Insurance PartnersHigh Street Buyer, Inc. and High Street Holdco LLC | EquityPIK 10.00% | Insurance | — | — | $260M | 0.9% | 1.9% |
| 7 | Plaskolite PPC Intermediate II LLC and Plaskolite PPC Blocker LLC | 1L Sr SecuredPIK 4.00% | Materials | SOFR + 8.00% | May 2030 | $249M | 0.8% | 1.8% |
| 8 | Auctane, Inc. | 1L Sr Secured | SOFR + 5.75% | Jun 2033 | $242M | 0.8% | 1.7% | |
| 9 | HealthEdgeHimalaya TopCo LLC and BCPE Hyperlink Holdings, LP | 1L Sr SecuredPIK 2.25% | Financial Services | SOFR + 5.25% | Jun 2032 | $232M | 0.8% | 1.7% |
| 10 | Adonis Bidco Inc. | 1L Sr SecuredPIK 2.88% | SOFR + 5.75% | Feb 2032 | $227M | 0.8% | 1.6% | |
| Full schedule — all 1,439 holdings, sortable and screenable → | ||||||||
% of net assets reads each position against stockholders’ equity as of Q1 FY2026 — on a levered book, a position is a larger share of the equity that absorbs losses than of portfolio fair value.
This page is the public file — the Ledge adds
Borrower cross-reference
Search any borrower, see every BDC exposed to it — Ares Capital Corporation shares 422 borrowers with other managers we track.
Quarterly diffs
What entered and exited the book each quarter.
Book-structure risk
Senior-secured, floating-rate and PIK share — how the book is built.
Loan-Pricing Trend
Fair-value-weighted average credit spread and average mark across this BDC’s Schedule-of-Investments debt holdings, by filing quarter. Mark is fair value as a percent of par (100 = par). Spread is in basis points over each loan’s own benchmark, normalized from the filing’s as-reported units. Source: SEC EDGAR (public). Spreads have compressed from 691 to 570 bps over 13 quarters while marks held near 97.
| Quarter | Borrowers | Priced Positions | Wtd-Avg cash spread (bps) | Avg Mark (% of par) | Debt Fair Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | 428 | 858 | 590 | 97.8 | $22.5B |
| Q2 2025 | 438 | 894 | 583 | 97.5 | $23.3B |
| Q3 2025 | 450 | 886 | 576 | 97.4 | $24.2B |
| Q4 2025 | 460 | 902 | 570 | 97.5 | $25.3B |
| Q1 2026 | 455 | 913 | 568 | 96.6 | $24.9B |
| Q2 2026 | 470 | 932 | 570 | 96.4 | $24.1B |
3 quarters omitted — filing not parsed.
Marks reflect each BDC’s own fair-value estimates as reported to the SEC, not traded prices. Private-credit loans are predominantly Level 3 under ASC 820 — valued from unobservable inputs and determined in good faith by each BDC’s board, so figures are estimates as of the filing date and are not directly comparable across managers. Informational only; not investment advice or a valuation.
Questions this page answers
What does Ares Capital Corporation invest in?
Ares Capital Corporation's portfolio breaks down by total portfolio fair value into approximately 61% first-lien senior secured, 18% second-lien or mezzanine, 2% other or unclassified debt, and 19% equity or other, with its largest sector exposure in Financial Services (~42% of the holdings that disclose a sector) as of its 2026-07-29 SEC filing.
How large is Ares Capital Corporation's portfolio?
Ares Capital Corporation reported $29.3B in portfolio fair value across 1,439 holdings and 605 unique borrowers as of its 2026-07-29 SEC filing.
What do Ares Capital Corporation's fixed-rate loans yield?
The fair-value-weighted average all-in coupon across Ares Capital Corporation's fixed-rate income-producing holdings is approximately 10.4%, measured over the fixed-rate holdings representing 6% of portfolio fair value (floating-rate loans, quoted as a spread over a benchmark, are excluded) as of its 2026-07-29 SEC filing.
Where does this data come from?
This data is parsed by Oxford Ledge from Ares Capital Corporation's Schedule of Investments in its SEC EDGAR filings. Fair values are the manager's own estimates as of the 2026-07-29 filing date.
About Ares Capital Corporation
Ares Capital Corporation (ARCC) is a publicly traded Business Development Company (BDC) — essentially a publicly listed fund that lends money to mid-sized private companies. In plain English: BDCs raise money from public investors and lend it to businesses that are too small for Wall Street banks. To qualify for pass-through tax treatment, they distribute at least 90% of their taxable investment income to shareholders, which is why BDC yields are often 8–12%. Ares Capital Corporation discloses its full loan portfolio through SEC filings.