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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors and undue reliance should not be placed thereon. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Blue Owl Credit Income Corp. (the “Company,” “we” or “our”), our current and prospective portfolio investments, our industry, our beliefs and opinions, and our assumptions. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “will,” “may,” “continue,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “targets,” “projects,” “outlook,” “potential,” “predicts” and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation:
•an economic downturn could impair our portfolio companies’ ability to continue to operate, which could lead to the loss of some or all of our investments in such portfolio companies;
•an economic downturn could disproportionately impact the companies that we intend to target for investment, potentially causing us to experience a decrease in investment opportunities and diminished demand for capital from these companies;
•the impact of elevated interest and inflation rates, ongoing supply chain and labor market disruptions, including those as a result of strikes, work stoppages or accidents, instability in the U.S. and international banking systems, and the risk of recession or a shutdown of government services could impact our business prospects and the prospects of our portfolio companies;
•an economic downturn could also impact availability and pricing of our financing and our ability to access the debt and equity capital markets;
•a contraction of available credit and/or an inability to access the equity markets could impair our lending and investment activities;
•interest rate volatility could adversely affect our results, particularly because we use leverage as part of our investment strategy;
•changes in base interest rates and significant market volatility on our business and our portfolio companies (including our business prospects and the prospects of our portfolio companies including the ability to achieve our and their business objectives), our industry and the global economy including as a result of ongoing supply chain disruptions;
•currency fluctuations could adversely affect the results of our investments in foreign companies, particularly to the extent that we receive payments denominated in foreign currency rather than U.S. dollars;
•our future operating results;
•the ability of our portfolio companies to achieve their objectives;
•competition with other entities and our affiliates for investment opportunities;
•risks related to the uncertainty of the value of our portfolio investments, particularly those having no liquid trading market;
•the use of borrowed money to finance a portion of our investments as well as any estimates regarding potential use of leverage;
•the adequacy of our financing sources and working capital;
•the loss of key personnel;
•the timing of cash flows, if any, from the operations of our portfolio companies;
•the ability of Blue Owl Credit Advisors LLC (“the Adviser” or “our Adviser”) to locate suitable investments for us and to monitor and administer our investments;
•the ability of the Adviser to attract and retain highly talented professionals;
•our ability to qualify for and maintain our tax treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and as a business development company (“BDC”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”)
•the impact that environmental, social and governance matters could have on our brand and reputation and our portfolio companies;
•the effect of legal, tax and regulatory changes;
•the impact of information technology system failures, data security breaches, data privacy compliance, network disruptions, and cybersecurity attacks, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology:
•the impact of geo-political conditions, including revolution, insurgency, terrorism or war, including those arising out of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the escalated conflict in the Middle-East, including the Israel-Hamas conflict, and general uncertainty surrounding the financial and political stability of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and China, on financial market volatility, global economic markets, and various markets for commodities globally such as oil and natural gas; and
•other risks, uncertainties and other factors previously identified in the reports and other documents we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate, and as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be inaccurate. In light of these and other uncertainties, the inclusion of a projection or forward-looking statement in this report should not be regarded as a representation by us that our plans and objectives will be achieved. These forward-looking statements apply only as of the date of this report. Moreover, we assume no duty and do not undertake to update the forward-looking statements. Because we are an investment company, the forward-looking statements and projections contained in this report are excluded from the safe harbor protection provided by Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).
Item 1. Business.
Our Company
Blue Owl Credit Income Corp. was formed on April 22, 2020 as a corporation under the laws of the State of Maryland. We are an externally managed, closed-end management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a BDC under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). We have elected to be treated, and intend to qualify annually, as a RIC under the Code for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a BDC and a RIC, we are required to comply with certain regulatory requirements. As a BDC, at least 70% of our assets must be assets of the type listed in Section 55(a) of the 1940 Act, as described herein. We will not invest more than 30% of our total assets in companies whose principal place of business is outside the United States. See “— Regulation as a Business Development Company” and “— Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.”
We are externally managed by the Adviser, which is a registered investment adviser with the SEC. The Adviser is an indirect affiliate of Blue Owl Capital Inc. (“Blue Owl”) (NYSE: OWL) and part of Blue Owl’s Credit platform, which focuses on direct lending. The Adviser is responsible for sourcing potential investments, conducting due diligence on prospective investments, analyzing investment opportunities, structuring investments and monitoring our portfolio on an ongoing basis. Since our Adviser’s affiliates began its investment activities in April 2016 through December 31, 2023, our Adviser or its affiliates have originated $90.6 billion aggregate principal amount of investments across multiple industries, of which $86.9 billion of aggregate principal amount of investments prior to any subsequent exits or repayments, was retained by either us or a corporation or fund advised by our Adviser or its affiliates.
Our investment objective is to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns. Our investment strategy focuses primarily on originating and making loans to, and making debt and equity investments in, U.S. middle market companies. We invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans and, to a lesser extent, equity and equity-related securities which includes common and preferred stock, securities convertible into common stock, and warrants. We define “middle market companies” to generally mean companies with earnings before interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) between $10 million and $250 million annually, and/or annual revenue of $50 million to $2.5 billion at the time of investment. We may on occasion invest in smaller or larger companies if an attractive opportunity presents itself, especially when there are dislocations in the capital markets, including the high yield and large syndicated loan markets. We generally invest in companies with a low loan-to-value ratio, which we consider to be 50% or below. We target portfolio companies where we can structure larger transactions that comprise 1-2% of our portfolio (with no individual portfolio company generally expected to comprise greater than 5% of our portfolio). We intend, under normal circumstances, to invest directly, or indirectly through our investments in Blue Owl Credit Income Senior Loan Fund (“OCIC SLF”) or any similarly situated companies, at least 80% of the value of our total assets in credit investments. We define “credit” to mean debt investments made in exchange for regular interest payments. Our target credit investments will typically have maturities between three and ten years and generally range in size between $10 million and $125 million, although the investment size will vary with the size of our capital base. As of December 31, 2023, excluding certain investments that fall outside our typical borrower profile, our portfolio companies representing 86.0% of our total debt portfolio based on fair value, had weighted average annual revenue of $1.0 billion and weighted average annual EBITDA of $239.6 million.
While our investment strategy focuses primarily on middle market companies in the United States, including senior secured loans, we also may invest up to 30% of our portfolio in investments of non-qualifying portfolio companies. Specifically, as part of this 30% basket, we may consider investments in investment funds that are operating pursuant to certain exceptions to the 1940 Act, as well as in debt and equity of companies located outside of the United States and debt and equity of public companies that do not meet the definition of eligible portfolio companies because their market capitalization of publicly traded equity securities exceeds the levels provided for in the 1940 Act. See “—Regulation as a Business Development Company.”
As of December 31, 2023, based on fair value, our portfolio consisted of 82.8% first lien debt investments (of which we consider 44.6% to be unitranche debt investments (including “last-out” portions of such loans)), 7.1% second-lien debt investments, 1.5% unsecured debt investments, 1.6% joint ventures, 4.3% preferred equity investments, and 2.7% common equity investments. Approximately 98.3% of our debt investments based on fair value as of December 31, 2023 are floating rate in nature, the majority of which are subject to an interest rate floor. As of December 31, 2023, we had investments in 280 portfolio companies, with an average investment size of approximately $59.5 million based on fair value.
As of December 31, 2023, our portfolio was invested across 30 different industries. The largest industry in our portfolio as of December 31, 2023 was healthcare providers and services, which represented, as a percentage of our portfolio, 14.8% based on fair value.