NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KBRA publishes and assigns issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings of BBB for AG Twin Brook Capital Income Fund ("TCAP" or "the company"). On January 30, 2024, these ratings were assigned on an unpublished basis. The rating Outlook is Stable.
The ratings and Outlook are supported by TCAP’s ties to TPG Angelo Gordon’s $78 billion investment platform, with $20 billion of direct lending within the TPG Twin Brook Capital Partners middle market lending platform, that allows for SEC exemptive relief to co-invest with TPG Angelo Gordon affiliated funds. TPG Angelo Gordon provides the company with robust deal sourcing, a strong sponsor network, and extensive banking relationships. More recently, TPG Inc., a global alternative asset manager, acquired TPG Angelo Gordon, resulting in an aggregate of $222 billion of AUM and further strengthening the company’s support base. TCAP has a solid management team, which has a long track record working with the private debt markets with each member of senior management having 15 or more years of experience in the industry. The ratings are also supported by TCAP’s growing and well-diversified $1.2 billion investment portfolio comprised largely of senior secured first lien loans (96%) to 184 portfolio companies across 37 sectors in primarily the lower middle market. As of September 30, 2023, the portfolio companies had a weighted average EBITDA of $23.8 million, were largely sponsor backed with meaningful equity cushions with low LTVs, had net leverage of 4.73x and interest coverage of 2.0x, using a “current quarter” calculation. Health Care Providers & Services (27.1%), Media (8.0%), and Diversified Consumer Services (7.2%) are the leading portfolio industries. Although concentrated in the Health Care sector, this concentration is mitigated by several factors, including the credit platform’s expertise within the industry and strong subsector diversity. As of September 30, 2023, gross leverage was low at 0.66x and asset coverage was 228% due to the recent BDC formation and its cautious approach to deploying capital. Leverage is well within regulatory coverage of 150% and within its target leverage of 1.10x or lower, which is somewhat lower than traditional BDC peers to ensure sufficient liquidity for potential redemptions as a perpetual-life BDC in less favorable markets.
Counterbalancing these credit strengths is the company’s fully secured funding profile; however, the company could issue unsecured debt with the KBRA rating, which will diversify funding sources, increase financial flexibility, and increase unencumbered assets for the benefit of its unsecured noteholders. In addition, the unseasoned portfolio provides an element of uncertainty with respect to future performance. Further counterbalancing the company’s strengths are the potential risk related to the company’s illiquid investments, retained earnings constraints as a RIC, and a more uncertain economic environment with high interest rates, geopolitical risks, and the potential of increasing non-accruals.
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Methodologies
Disclosures
Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above.
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