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Here are a few analogies to describe Carlyle Secured Lending (CGBD):

• It's like Goldman Sachs' or Blackstone's private credit division, but solely focused on lending secured debt to middle-market businesses.

• Think of it as a private equity firm (like KKR), but instead of buying companies, it primarily lends them money (mostly secured debt).

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• First Lien Debt / Senior Secured Loans: These are loans that have the highest claim on a company's assets and are typically the safest form of debt for lenders.
• Second Lien Senior Secured Loans: These loans are secured by a company's assets but are subordinate to first lien debt in claim priority.
• Unsecured Debt: This refers to loans that are not backed by specific collateral, relying instead on the borrower's creditworthiness.
• Mezzanine Debt: This is a hybrid form of financing that combines elements of both debt and equity, often featuring embedded equity instruments.
• Investments in Equities: This involves purchasing ownership stakes in companies, typically for capital appreciation or dividend income.

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Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (CGBD) is a business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing to other companies. Therefore, its "customers" are the companies in which it invests or lends money.

Based on the provided information, CGBD's customers are:

• Middle-market companies with EBITDA between $25 million and $100 million.
• These companies operate across various sectors, including healthcare and pharmaceutical, aerospace and defense, high tech industries, business services, software, beverage food and tobacco, hotel gaming and leisure, banking finance insurance, and real estate.
• Geographically, these customer companies are located across the United States of America, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom.

The specific names of the individual customer companies (portfolio companies) that Carlyle Secured Lending invests in or lends to are not provided in the background description.

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Alex Chi
Chief Executive Officer and Interested Director

Alex Chi was appointed Chief Executive Officer and a Class II Director of Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. on February 18, 2026. He joined Carlyle in January 2026 and also serves as the Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Carlyle Global Credit and Head of Direct Lending. Mr. Chi brings over 30 years of experience from Goldman Sachs, where he spent six years in Goldman Sachs Asset Management as Co-Head of Private Credit in the Americas and as Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-President of the firm's business development companies from August 2022 to August 2025. Prior to that, he spent 25 years in Goldman Sachs' Investment Banking Division.

Thomas Hennigan
President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Risk Officer and Interested Director

Thomas Hennigan was appointed President of Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. on February 18, 2026, while continuing his roles as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Risk Officer, and a director. He has served as Chief Financial Officer since March 2018 and Chief Risk Officer since 2016. Mr. Hennigan is also a Managing Director at Carlyle and has been a Class II Director on CGBD's board since April 2025. He also serves on the board of Carlyle Credit Solutions, Inc. and previously held CFO and CRO roles for Carlyle Secured Lending III until its merger into CGBD in March 2025.

Michael Hadley
Chief Investment Officer, Vice President and Head of Underwriting

Michael Hadley serves as Chief Investment Officer, Vice President, and Head of Underwriting at Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. He was elected as an officer of the company on April 11, 2022.

Joshua Lefkowitz
Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary

Joshua Lefkowitz holds the positions of Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary at Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc.

Frank Taylor
Treasurer

Frank Taylor was appointed as the Treasurer of Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. on February 18, 2026.

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The key risks to Carlyle Secured Lending (CGBD) primarily stem from its business model as a business development company (BDC) specializing in lending to middle-market companies, making it susceptible to credit quality fluctuations, interest rate movements, and the sustainability of its dividend payouts.

1. Credit Risk and Economic Downturns: Carlyle Secured Lending's core business involves providing debt and equity financing to middle-market companies, which are often considered higher risk than larger, more established corporations. Consequently, the company is highly exposed to the credit risk of its portfolio companies. During economic downturns or periods of financial stress, these smaller businesses are more vulnerable to default on their loans or even go out of business, leading to potential credit losses and impairment of CGBD's investments. The presence of "covenant-lite" loan structures in the broader BDC market can further exacerbate this risk by reducing early warning signs of borrower distress. Any materialization of significant credit losses could directly impact CGBD's profitability and its net asset value (NAV) per share.

2. Interest Rate Risk: As a financial institution that uses borrowed money to fund its lending activities, Carlyle Secured Lending is sensitive to changes in interest rates. While many of its loans to portfolio companies are floating-rate, a mismatch with its own fixed-rate liabilities could compress profit margins if interest rates rise rapidly. Conversely, in a declining interest rate environment, the net investment income (NII) of CGBD can shrink, potentially impacting its ability to cover dividend payments, especially given that a large portion of its portfolio consists of floating-rate loans. Lower investment yields due to reduced base rates and tighter spreads on new originations have already been noted as factors impacting CGBD's NII.

3. Dividend Sustainability and Net Asset Value (NAV) Erosion: The attractiveness of BDCs like Carlyle Secured Lending often lies in their high dividend yields. However, the sustainability of these dividends is a key risk. If the company pays out more in dividends than it earns in net investment income, or if it incurs losses on its loan portfolio, it can lead to the erosion of its Net Asset Value (NAV) per share. For instance, CGBD's declared dividend of $0.40 per share for Q1 2026 exceeded its GAAP NII of $0.33 per share in Q4 2025, suggesting that the dividend may rely on spillover income or consume capital. A persistent dividend payout exceeding earnings is unsustainable without NAV erosion, which can undermine long-term shareholder returns despite an attractive yield. Declines in NAV per share are considered a significant "watch trigger" for the company.

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Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (CGBD) specializes in providing flexible financing solutions, including various forms of secured and unsecured debt, mezzanine debt, and equity investments, primarily to middle-market companies. These activities fall under the broader categories of private credit and direct lending. Carlyle Secured Lending targets companies with EBITDA between $25 million and $100 million in regions such as the United States, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom.

The addressable markets for Carlyle Secured Lending's main products and services, focusing on the middle-market segment, are substantial in both the United States and Europe.

• United States Market:
  • The U.S. private credit market is estimated to be approximately $1.3 trillion as of February 2026, having expanded to $1.6 trillion by 2024 and nearly $1.7 trillion as of 2023. Projections indicate significant growth, with the market expected to reach $3 trillion by 2028 (a 70% growth). Some analyses suggest the broader addressable market for private credit in the U.S. could exceed $30 trillion.
  • Direct lending, a core strategy for Carlyle Secured Lending, constitutes a substantial portion of the private credit market, representing about 46% of the asset class globally. The U.S. middle-market direct lending loans alone were estimated at $1.0 trillion as of March 31, 2022. The U.S. direct lending market has been rapidly growing, tripling in size between 2010 and 2024, to an estimated $1.5 trillion, and is expected to reach nearly $2 trillion by the end of the decade.
  • The U.S. corporate middle market, comprising nearly 200,000 individual businesses with annual revenues typically ranging from $10 million to $1 billion (with EBITDA ranging from approximately $15 million to $100 million), represents over one-third of the private sector GDP and employs around 50 million people. These companies generate $15 trillion in revenue.
• European Market:
  • Europe's private credit industry controls more than €1.7 trillion (approximately $1.85 trillion USD) in assets as of January 2026. Other estimates place the European private credit assets at around $500 billion (as of September 2025) or between $500 billion and $1 trillion for the direct lending market (as of June 2025). The European private credit market has shown significant growth, with assets under management (AUM) increasing from $93 billion in 2013 to $505 billion by 2023.
  • Direct lending in the European middle market is surging, with its share of financing for middle-market buyouts more than doubling from 27% in 2020 to 56% in 2023. Approximately 50% of all middle-market transactions in Europe are financed by private credit, indicating significant growth potential relative to the U.S.
  • The European middle market is broadly defined to include companies with EBITDA between €10 million and €100 million. This segment is a significant driver of the European economy, with over 25,000 companies in Europe having an EBITDA between €15 million and €75 million.

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Share Repurchases

• Carlyle Secured Lending authorized an upsized $300 million share repurchase program in February 2026.
• In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company repurchased $14 million of its shares at an average discount of nearly 23%, which resulted in an accretion of $0.06 to NAV per share.
• Quarterly share buybacks over the last few years include $13.88 million as of December 31, 2025, $7.34 million as of December 31, 2022, and $7.94 million as of December 31, 2021.

Share Issuance

• On March 27, 2025, in connection with the merger with Carlyle Secured Lending III (CSL III), CSL III shareholders received an aggregate of 18,935,108 shares of CGBD common stock.
• Prior to the CSL III merger, Carlyle Investment Management L.L.C. exchanged its CGBD convertible preferred stock for 3,004,808 shares of CGBD common stock.

Outbound Investments

• CGBD achieved a record year of originations in 2025, deploying over $1.2 billion in investments.
• In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company funded over $400 million in investments, resulting in net investment activity of $193 million after repayments.
• Carlyle Secured Lending launched a new joint venture, Structured Credit Partners (SCP), in Q4 2025, committing $150 million to this vehicle.