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DATE

Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 11 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • President and Chief Executive Officer — Michael Sarner
  • Chief Investment Officer — Josh Weinstein
  • Chief Financial Officer — Chris Rehberger

TAKEAWAYS

  • Investment Portfolio Growth -- Portfolio increased 17% to $2.1 billion, reflecting $300 million in annual growth driven by $762 million in new investment originations.
  • Investment Income -- Total investment income rose 14% to $232 million, a $28 million increase.
  • NAV per Share -- Ended at $16.69, essentially flat year over year, showing stability despite market volatility.
  • Return on Equity -- Delivered a 40% return on equity for shareholders.
  • Debt Portfolio Quality -- Weighted average leverage was 3.6x, interest coverage was 3.5x, and nonaccruals declined to 1.1% at fair value from 1.7%.
  • Equity Realizations -- Realized equity gains of $36.9 million over 12 months increased undistributed taxable income (UTI) from $0.79 to $1.07 per share.
  • Unrealized Equity Appreciation -- Net unrealized appreciation was $37.8 million, with management anticipating harvesting part as realized gains in the coming year.
  • Capital Raising -- Secured $465 million in new debt capital, including a $350 million, 5.9% bond, $90 million for the second SBIC fund, and $25 million in new secured debt commitments.
  • ATM Equity Program -- Raised $160 million in gross equity proceeds at 1.3x NAV per share, with $25 million attained in the quarter at $23.13 per share, or 138% of NAV.
  • Joint Venture (JV) Expansion -- CapTrin Partners JV now holds $85 million in assets; secured a new $150 million revolving credit facility post quarter, targeting 13%-14% returns at full ramp within 18-24 months.
  • Dividend Performance -- Increased total dividends paid to $2.56 per share from $2.54 per share, despite a 60 basis point decline in SOFR.
  • Origination Activity -- Deployed $158 million of new capital, with $112 million in first lien senior secured debt and $2 million of equity to five new companies; add-on financings for 12 companies totaled $43 million debt and $650,000 in equity.
  • Add-On Financings -- Comprised 31% of new commitments over the past 12 months.
  • Portfolio Composition -- On-balance sheet credit portfolio was $1.9 billion, up 19% year over year; 99% of credit portfolio is first lien senior secured, with an average per-company exposure of 0.9%.
  • Credit Portfolio Yield -- Generated a weighted average yield of 10.8%, with weighted average senior leverage at 3.6x EBITDA, and 43% loan-to-enterprise-value.
  • Equity Co-Investments -- Portfolio contains 87 co-investments valued at $181 million (9% of overall portfolio), marked at 126% of cost.
  • Portfolio Ratings -- As of quarter end, 88% of portfolio fair value held investment ratings in the top two categories of a five-point scale.
  • Dividend Declaration -- Board declared $0.64 per share for the June quarter ($0.58 regular, $0.06 supplemental), with 109% cumulative dividend coverage since credit strategy launch.
  • Operating Leverage -- LTM operating leverage decreased to 1.4%, versus 1.7% prior quarter, and below the BDC industry median of 2.7%.
  • Liquidity Position -- $394 million in cash and undrawn leverage commitments, plus $42 million on SBA debentures; total sources provide more than 1.3x coverage for $329 million in unfunded commitments.
  • Regulatory Leverage -- Stood at 0.9:1 debt to equity, within target range of 0.85-0.95x.

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RISKS

  • Michael Sarner stated, "we had one portfolio company that was added to our watch list that had a write-down," contributing to unrealized depreciation; he also said, "multiples were down quite a bit this quarter, which is sort of an overhang."
  • Total investment income decreased sequentially to $57.8 million from $61.4 million, driven by lower interest and dividend income, and an $0.8 million decline in PIK income, primarily due to a 35 basis point drop in SOFR.
  • Portfolio close rate declined to 1.5% from a historical average of 2%, attributed to "continued discipline in pricing and structuring transactions based on the risk we underwrite."

SUMMARY

Capital Southwest Corporation (CSWC +2.43%) reported notable portfolio and investment income growth alongside steady NAV per share and industry-leading return on equity, while the credit portfolio demonstrated lower nonaccruals and robust sponsor backing. Management raised significant capital through debt, equity, and joint venture vehicles, further enhancing liquidity and funding capacity. Add-on financings and co-investments contributed to a broadly diversified, granular portfolio that maintained strong yield and high ratings, with lower operating leverage underscoring the efficiency of the internally managed model. Despite a minor sequential decline in income and portfolio write-downs, management signaled confidence in future equity realizations and dividend sustainability, supported by increasing deal flow and expanded staffing.

  • Chris Rehberger outlined, "total compensation expense is sort of in the $5.5 million per quarter range" moving forward, following year-end adjustments.
  • Michael Sarner said one major equity investment is pending monetization through a publicly announced IPO, with share-sale floors established, and another large position is in early-stage sale discussions.
  • Management expects the CapTrin Partners joint venture to produce double-digit returns for Capital Southwest within six months, reaching the 13%-14% range at full asset ramp.
  • Employee count has increased from 27 to 36, with another 7 hires pending, responding to annual deal review volumes growing from 800 to 1,400.
  • The company has maintained low software exposure due to a preference for underwriting cash flow lending, as opposed to ARR-based software lending.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • SOFR: Secured Overnight Financing Rate, a common floating reference rate for institutional loans.
  • SBIC: Small Business Investment Company, a government-licensed entity providing leverage to support small business investments.
  • ATM Equity Program: At-the-market equity program, allowing the company to issue shares periodically at prevailing market prices.
  • PIK Income: Payment-in-kind interest income received as additional securities instead of cash.
  • First Lien Senior Secured Debt: Debt instrument holding the highest repayment priority and secured by collateral.
  • Nonaccruals: Loans on which interest income is not being recorded due to borrower financial difficulties.
  • Joint Venture (JV): Partnership with another firm to jointly invest in credit assets.
  • Loan-to-Value (LTV): Ratio of loan amount to the appraised value of the collateral asset.
  • UTI: Undistributed Taxable Income, income earned but not yet distributed to shareholders as dividends.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Michael Sarner: Thanks, Amy, and thank you, everyone, for joining us for our fourth quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings call. We're pleased to be with you today to discuss our fourth fiscal quarter and the 2026 fiscal year. Overall, 2026 was an outstanding year for Capital Southwest by any measure. During the year, we grew our investment portfolio by approximately $300 million or 17% from $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion. Deal activity was robust with $762 million in new committed investment originations. Additionally, we grew investment income by $28 million or 14% from $204 million to $232 million. And despite a backdrop of pronounced volatility, we preserved the value of our portfolio.

NAV per share closed the year at $16.69, essentially unchanged from $16.70 in the prior year, underscoring the resilience of our platform and the durability of our underwriting. As a result of our consistent investment strategy and strong operating performance, we've delivered an industry-leading 40% return on equity for our shareholders during fiscal year 2026. Despite relentless market disruptions this year from Liberation Day to the private credit contagion to the conflicts in Iran, we continued to execute with consistency. The market has recognized that stability and our stock performance reflects the value of our approach.

The quality of our debt portfolio remains strong, reflected in a weighted average leverage of 3.6x, weighted average interest coverage of 3.5x and nonaccruals of 1.1% at fair value, down from 1.7% in the prior year. During the quarter, we saw improved performance across our watch list with seven companies demonstrating meaningful progress and two removed from the watch list following a return to plan. We attribute much of this improvement to our portfolio operations group, which works closely with our deal teams on credits that require additional support. This team is driving tangible value at the portfolio level, which in turn contributes to stronger overall performance and enhanced long-term shareholder value.

Additionally, our equity portfolio continues to perform well with net unrealized appreciation of $37.8 million or $0.62 per share as of the end of fiscal year 2026. We anticipate that a portion of this appreciation will be harvested as realized gains in fiscal year 2027 and thus will be available in our UTI bucket to support future dividend distributions. With $1.07 per share of undistributed taxable income, we are entering the year from a position of strength. Over the last 12 months, we have harvested $36.9 million in realized gains from equity exits, driving UTI growth from $0.79 per share in March 2025 to today's level.

Our UTI balance highlights both the reliability of our realization engine and our conservative approach to dividend distributions when base rates were elevated, resulting in a meaningful balance of taxable income, which we intend to distribute to our shareholders over time. Looking ahead, we are confident in our ability to continue generating realized gains that will support and expand our UTI balance. That confidence is grounded in the strength of our investment strategy in the lower middle market. At origination, we typically see three distinct avenues for equity value creation. First, new investments often present low-hanging fruit opportunities, operational or strategic adjustments, the sponsor can implement immediately to drive meaningful EBITDA uplift.

Second, following the change of control, the sponsor and management team activate a set of targeted growth initiatives designed to accelerate both revenue expansion and margin improvement. Third, in many cases, the team has already identified actionable M&A opportunities that can further scale the platform, broaden the capabilities and diversify the business. As EBITDA grows and the business becomes more resilient and diversified, we expect these initiatives to enhance enterprise value and ultimately result in realized gains on our equity investments. We were also extremely active during the year in diversifying our sources of capital.

We raised over $465 million in new debt capital commitments in the form of a $350 million, 5.9% bond issuance, $90 million in approved leverage commitments for our second SBIC fund and an additional $25 million in new secured debt commitments on our corporate credit facility. Additionally, we raised over $160 million in gross equity proceeds on our ATM program during the year at a weighted average price of 1.3x the prevailing NAV per share. Having continual access to the public equity market through the ATM program is a tremendous tool, which we can use in all market environments. We have also made meaningful progress on CapTrin Partners, our joint venture with Trinity Capital.

The JV now holds approximately $85 million in assets, and we expect to continue originating low leverage, high-quality investments within this structure. Subsequent to quarter end, we closed a $150 million revolving credit facility, further expanding the JV's capacity and competitiveness. This facility provides the liquidity to meaningfully increase the scale of our joint venture over time and advance rates that should produce a 13% to 14% return once fully ramped. From a relationship standpoint, we could not be more impressed with Kyle and the entire Trinity team, and we look forward to exploring additional avenues where we can create value for both organizations.

Finally, this year, we continued our long track record of producing steady dividend distributions, consistent dividend coverage and solid value creation. Despite a year in which SOFR shrunk by approximately 60 basis points, we increased our total dividends paid from $2.54 per share in fiscal year 2025 to $2.56 per share in fiscal year 2026. Dividend sustainability, strong credit performance and continued access to capital from multiple capital sources are all core to our overall business strategy. Our track record in all these areas demonstrates consistent performance as well as the absolute alignment of all our decisions with the interest of our fellow shareholders.

Although broader middle market M&A headlines have highlighted a slowdown tied to technology uncertainty, AI-related risks and inflation concerns stemming from the conflict in Iran, our vantage point in the lower middle market tells a very different story. Activity in this segment has historically been and continues to be remarkably steady. Founder-driven catalysts such as retirement, succession planning, estate considerations and the desire to derisk after years of value creation do not fluctuate with macro sentiment or quarterly volatility. As a result, the lower middle market consistently offers a more resilient and predictable transaction environment, a characteristic that remains significantly underappreciated. From a Capital Southwest perspective, we have seen a meaningful increase in new deals reviewed, advanced and ultimately closed.

However, our close rate, which has historically averaged roughly 2%, has moderated to 1.5%. This decline reflects our continued discipline in pricing and structuring transactions based on the risk we underwrite, not simply the terms required to win a deal. We attribute the increase in deal flow to the continued development of our deal leads, the addition of two managing directors and the joint venture, which has enhanced our competitiveness on higher-quality opportunities. Despite this increase in deal flow, we have also seen tightening in leverage levels and loan-to-value ratios, underscoring the importance of maintaining our disciplined approach as the market continues to reprice risk.

In summary, we are extremely proud of our performance throughout fiscal year 2026, and we remain confident in the long-term prospects for our company and the opportunities ahead. I'll now hand the call over to Josh to review some more specifics of our investment activity.

Josh Weinstein: Thanks, Michael. This quarter, we deployed a total of $158 million of new committed capital, consisting of $112 million in first lien senior secured debt and $2 million of equity across five new portfolio companies. We also completed add-on financings for 12 existing portfolio companies, totaling $43 million in first lien senior secured debt and $650,000 in equity. Add-on financings continue to be an important source of originations for us. As over the last 12 months, add-ons as a percent of total new commitments have been 31%. These opportunities allow us to deploy capital into businesses we know well with proven management teams and sponsors.

The weighted average spread on our new commitments this quarter was approximately 6.6%, which we view as extremely attractive given today's competitive spread environment. Our on-balance sheet credit portfolio ended the quarter at $1.9 billion, representing 19% year-over-year growth from $1.6 billion as of March 2025. Importantly, 100% of our new portfolio company debt originations were first lien senior secured. And as of quarter end, 99% of the credit portfolio remained first lien senior secured with a weighted average exposure per company of only 0.9%. This level of portfolio granularity reflects our disciplined approach to risk management as we continue to scale the balance sheet.

The vast majority of our deal activity continues to be in first lien senior secured loans to private equity-backed companies. Approximately 93% of our credit portfolio is sponsor-backed, which provides strong governance, operational support and when needed, the potential for junior capital. In the lower middle market, we frequently have the opportunity to invest on a minority basis in the equity of our portfolio companies, pari passu with the private equity firm when we believe the equity thesis is compelling. As of quarter end, our equity co-investment portfolio consisted of 87 investments with a total fair value of $181 million, representing 9% of our total portfolio at fair value.

This portfolio was marked at 126% of our cost, representing $37.8 million of embedded unrealized appreciation or $0.62 per share. These equity positions continue to give our shareholders meaningful upside participation in growing lower middle market businesses, driven by both operational improvements and strategic add-on acquisitions. The lower middle market remains competitive as this segment of the market continues to attract both bank and nonbank lenders. Although this environment has produced tighter loan pricing for higher-quality opportunities, the depth and durability of our sponsor relationships our team has built, combined with the enhanced deal flow generated by our expanded and more seasoned investment staff continue to position us to source and win transactions with compelling risk return profiles.

Today, our portfolio includes investments from 88 unique private equity firms. And over the past 12 months, we closed 13 new platform investments with sponsors with which we had not previously partnered. Since launching our credit strategy, we have completed transactions with over 130 private equity firms nationwide, including more than 20% with whom we have completed multiple deals. Our portfolio now consists of 131 portfolio companies, allocated 90.1% to first lien senior secured debt, 1.2% to second lien senior secured debt and 8.6% to equity co-investments. The credit portfolio generated a weighted average yield of 10.8% with weighted average leverage through our security of 3.6x EBITDA. We remain pleased with the overall performance of the portfolio.

At origination, all loans are initially assigned an investment rating of 2 on a 5-point scale, with 1 being the highest rating and 5 being the lowest rating. As of quarter end, 88% of the portfolio at fair value was rated in the top 2 categories. Cash flow coverage remains strong at 3.5x, reflecting an improvement from the 2.9x low observed during the peak of base rates. This strength is further supported by the fact that our loans represent, on average, only 43% of portfolio company enterprise value. Our portfolio remains broadly diversified across industries and our average exposure per company of less than 1% continues to provide meaningful protection against idiosyncratic risk.

For new platform deals closed during the March quarter, weighted average senior leverage was 2.7x debt-to-EBITDA and weighted average loan-to-value was 33%, providing a substantial equity cushion beneath our debt. Over the past 12 months, new platform originations have averaged 3.1x senior leverage and 35% loan-to-value, underscoring our consistent commitment to conservative underwriting. I will now hand the call over to Chris to review the specifics of our financial performance for the quarter.

Chris Rehberger: Thanks, Josh. Specific to our performance for the quarter, pretax net investment income was $35.2 million or $0.59 per share. For the quarter, total investment income decreased to $57.8 million from $61.4 million in the prior quarter. The decrease was primarily driven by a $2.2 million decrease in interest and dividend income and a decrease of $0.8 million in PIK income. The decrease in interest income was predominantly driven by a 35 basis point decrease in SOFR compared to the prior quarter. As of the end of the quarter, our loans on nonaccrual represented 1.1% of our investment portfolio at fair value, a decrease from 1.5% as of the end of the prior quarter.

During the quarter, we paid a $0.58 per share regular dividend paid monthly and a $0.06 per share supplemental quarterly dividend. For the June 2026 quarter, our Board has again declared a total of $0.58 per share in regular quarterly dividends payable monthly in each of April, May and June 2026 and maintains the $0.06 supplemental quarterly dividend also payable in June, bringing total dividends declared to $0.64 per share. We continue to demonstrate strong dividend coverage with 109% cumulative coverage since launching our credit strategy. With a UTI balance of $1.07 per share and a sizable unrealized appreciation balance in our equity portfolio, we remain confident in our ability to continue distributing quarterly supplemental dividends over time.

LTM operating leverage ended the quarter at 1.4%, a meaningful improvement from 1.7% in the prior quarter. Notably, this reduction occurred despite the addition of six new employees. Going forward, we expect to continue to add resources to our team while maintaining operating leverage in the 1.4% to 1.5% range. Our operating leverage remains significantly better than the BDC industry median of approximately 2.7%, underscoring the inherent efficiency of the internally managed BDC model. This structure has consistently delivered meaningful fixed cost leverage to shareholders while still enabling us to invest in talent and infrastructure as we continue to scale a best-in-class BDC platform.

NAV per share decreased to $16.69 per share, down from $16.75 per share in the prior quarter. The primary drivers of the NAV per share decline for the quarter were net realized and unrealized depreciation on our investment portfolio, offset by accretion from our equity ATM program. We raised approximately $25 million in gross equity proceeds during the quarter through our equity ATM program at a weighted average share price of $23.13 per share or 138% of the prevailing NAV per share, reinforcing our ability to raise capital efficiently and accretively. Our liquidity position remains robust with approximately $394 million in cash and undrawn leverage commitments across our two credit facilities, plus $42 million available on SBA debentures.

In total, this represents more than 1.3x coverage of the $329 million in unfunded commitments across the portfolio. Regulatory leverage ended the quarter at 0.9:1 debt to equity. While our target leverage remains in the 0.85 to 0.95x range, we continue to factor in the current macroeconomic backdrop and intend to maintain a prudent leverage cushion to help mitigate capital markets volatility. We will continue to raise secured and unsecured debt capital as well as equity through our ATM program in a methodical and opportunistic manner to ensure we maintain significant liquidity and a conservatively constructed balance sheet with adequate covenant cushions. I will now hand the call back to Michael for some final comments.

Michael Sarner: Thank you, Chris, Josh and Amy and all the employees who help us tell the story on a quarterly basis. And thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, we are ready to open the lines up for Q&A.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Erik Zwick from Lucid Capital Markets.

Erik Zwick: If I could start, I'm just curious with regard to the unrealized depreciation in the credit portfolio in the quarter. Was that primarily related to changes in kind of market multiples or anything kind of more credit specific. Wondering if you could just expand on that a little bit.

Michael Sarner: Yes. I think we had one portfolio company that was added to our watch list that had a write-down, which we have confidence in the company, but it had a fairly large write-down. And then the rest, I do think multiples were down quite a bit this quarter, which is sort of an overhang. When we went through our portfolio review, we pretty much identified about 95% of the portfolio was doing exceptionally well, and yet some of those didn't have write-ups because of those multiples. But by and large, it was just one company and then the overall market multiple.

Erik Zwick: I appreciate that. And just looking at the trajectory of the dividend income that you received in the most recent year, it was up markedly from the prior year from $4.5 million to $12.7 million. So curious how much of that increase is sustainable or how much of that might have been kind of onetime dividends? Just any outlook -- any thoughts on outlook you might have there would be helpful.

Michael Sarner: Sure. We've had a few companies that have done exceptionally well and have been making large distributions. I think that in the first half of this -- our fiscal year, we'll continue to see strong distributions from these companies. One or both could be in the market for sale at some point. And so maybe that doesn't bleed into fiscal year '28. But for the next few quarters, we should expect to continue to see those dividends.

Erik Zwick: And last one for me. As I look at the space of publicly traded BDCs, Capital Southwest has one of the lowest concentrations of software in the portfolio, which I guess puts you in a more favorable eye relative to many peers given the current market sentiment. Just curious why over time, have you decided not to have that much exposure to software. And in the instances where you have made some investments, what attracted you to those particular companies?

Michael Sarner: I think a lot of the software companies, honestly, are generally larger and more venture. So those two together generally wouldn't fit our lens. Same could be said, a lot of these companies also have ARR, which are -- we generally are lending cash flow lenders, and we believe that lending off a multiple of EBITDA is a more conservative and prudent way to underwrite. So I think that's generally been the reason why it's not that we haven't seen the opportunities, we've just never gotten truly comfortable with them. I don't know, Josh, you have?

Josh Weinstein: Yes. To Michael's point, we've seen them over the years, we reviewed them. It's just not something any of us previously had a lot of experience with. And so we just couldn't really get comfortable or as comfortable with doing a lot of ARR deals and stuck to our knitting of cash flow lending for the most part.

Erik Zwick: I appreciate that. And just looking back across your historical results, you've certainly done very well with that. So it's not like you've needed it. Thanks. I appreciate the insight there.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Robert Dodd from Raymond James.

Robert Dodd: On the operating efficiency, to your point, the 1.4 to 1.5 and the advantage of being internally managed. In this quarter, obviously, some expenses seemed pretty low, another advantage, right? That gets adjusted by the Board as you go. But can you give us any color about what was the driver there? Was it not hitting targets on deployment? Was it the fact that NAV was down, which may be temporary? But can you give us any idea like what got factored into why that was low in the fourth quarter? Just trying to get a feel for what didn't meet your expectations exactly.

Michael Sarner: Sure. And you know what, I wouldn't frame it that way at all. I think the Board and management felt that this was one of our strongest years for a variety of reasons. But we had accrued -- essentially, we had some large fees that came in over the year. We had some over accruals into the bonus pool. And then at the end of the year, the Board gets together to basically determine what they think that the final number would look like. And so we -- from where we had accrued for 3 quarters to where the payout was in the fourth quarter, we had some that was backed out.

But we paid over 100% in all cases for our employees. And again, would frame this year as a very successful one.

Chris Rehberger: Yes. Robert, I'll just jump in sort of going forward because it was kind of low in the last quarter, total compensation expense is sort of in the $5.5 million per quarter range. That will vacillate a little bit based on the discussion we just had, but that's sort of what you can expect going forward.

Robert Dodd: Got it. Then on the other one, I mean, to your point, I mean, you've got a lot of unrealized appreciation in the equity portfolio. Obviously, I don't have the March portfolio, the K is not out yet. But if I look at the fourth quarter, I mean, the net number is -- there's a lot of net unrealized appreciation, but as well. I mean, if you look just at the successes, you've got $100 million in appreciation on assets and then that's offset by some that are down. Just listening to your comment, it sounds like you're very confident some of that is going to monetize this year. Now it might result in lower dividend income.

But what -- are those processes -- are there significant processes already underway to sell assets not by the sponsor, obviously, to sell assets this year that gives you that level of confidence? I mean there's some like ITA Group. I mean that's -- there's a lot of appreciation in that asset, for example, right? So could you give us any incremental -- and I know it's a touchy kind of topic, but any incremental info on where the level of confidence comes from? And is it going to be some of your biggest appreciated assets that are likely to crystallize this year?

Michael Sarner: Yes. I think that there's two primary sales. I won't get into the details, but I mean one has actually been announced publicly that there's an IPO process, which would result in us -- we have shares in a company, we sold into a company that went public. We have the ability to sell those shares, and we have actually floors on what the equity value would look like. So that is something that we'd expect to see happen in the next 3 months, 4 months. And then we have another company that's in the market. Now it's still in the nascent stages.

It is a fairly large position, but we feel pretty confident based on where we are that there should be a sale there. If you look at the cost basis relative to the fair value, obviously, there's going to be large gains associated that will go into our UTI bucket. It will also allow us to reduce our cost of capital because obviously, this is appreciation that's realized, now becomes the ability to pay down our credit facility and/or raise less shares. So all of that gives us confidence both in these exits and the ability to grow UTI and the ability to continue to support our dividend going forward.

Robert Dodd: Understood. If I got one more quick one. On the JV, I think you said expected or the target kind of return on capital to you from that vehicle is 13% to 14% when fully ramped, obviously. I mean, is that like -- is the full ramp 18 months? Or yes, I mean, I'm just -- kind of what's the kind of time frame to get to that kind of -- in that vehicle with the partner you have?

Michael Sarner: Sure. So I think the notion would be it's going to take at least -- I'm looking at Chris, 18 to 24 months before we see the full ramp. I think we're targeting 2x leverage plus. And so I think it's going to take a little bit of time. I would say that we have the capital in-house, the $150 million credit facility in order to achieve that leverage and achieve that returns. But I do think we're looking at originating $30 million to $40 million a quarter in the fund. And so I think it's going to take at least 1.5 years to 2.

Chris Rehberger: Yes. So Robert, we're going to be sort of efficient with the leverage there and try to be mindful of asset diversity and borrowing base. We'll probably try to ramp the leverage fairly -- in the fairly short term here. So as we look ahead, I agree with Michael's comments, it's going to take kind of 18 months to full ramp. But in the next 6 months, this should start producing double-digit returns for Capital Southwest. So call it, 6 months, we're kind of in the 11% range and then we go from there.

Michael Sarner: And Robert, I'd also like to add that the JV in itself -- so certainly, there's going to be an uplift of $0.01 or $0.02 from this fund by itself. But having this joint venture has been really important to the business in the way of us being able to be more competitive on deals that are priced somewhere in the SOFR plus 5% to 5.75%, which historically we weren't bidding or winning on.

And so today, we are -- we have the ability to both bid and win on these deals, maintain tight structures and as well as earning the same type of spreads, the 6% to 7% spread that we're used to through the last-out positions on these credits.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Sean-Paul Adams from B. Riley Securities.

Sean-Paul Adams: It looks like you guys have kind of ramped up in terms of the employee count and perhaps the deal team. Any color on how just these changes in the amount of employees and perhaps the amount of deals passing your desk are going to look forward for next fiscal year's origination activity?

Michael Sarner: Sure. Sure. Look, when we look back around, what, 15, 18 months ago, we had 27 employees. Today, we have -- as of the quarter end, we had 36, and we actually have another 7 coming on. So we're going to actually be up to 43 employees. We built out our operations team over the last 18 months. We've added a new MD, a new Vice President, a new principal, certainly added more support staff on the back office.

And the notion here is that with the new MD we have, with the sort of maturation of the deal leads in place and the ability to continue to win new share and new sponsor relationships, we're just seeing enhanced deal flow. Two years ago, I think we saw 800 deals that we looked at. In 1 year, the run rate now is around 1,400 deals a year. So we are adding staff to support the growth that we're seeing and to strengthen the organization to continue to make great decisions based on having the right people in the right place, having time and experience to review these opportunities.

Operator: This does conclude the question-and-answer session of today's program. I'd like to hand the program back to Michael Sarner for any further remarks.

Michael Sarner: Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Please feel free to call us anytime with questions or get an update on the business. We look forward to catching up with you next quarter. Goodbye.

Operator: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.