Ares Capital Corp.'s Senior Unsecured Notes Due 2025 Rated 'BBB'

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 8, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'BBB' rating on Ares Capital Corp.'s (ARCC) senior unsecured notes due 2025. We expect the issuance to be about $500 million, with the potential for upsizing based on investor interest. For the purpose of our rating, we assume the issuance will be no larger than $750 million. ARCC intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including paying down outstanding borrowings on its revolvers. We believe the company will eventually draw upon the revolver again to fund growth. As of Sept. 30, 2017, ARCC's debt to adjusted total equity (ATE) was about 0.7x. Historically, ARCC has operated with debt to ATE above 1.0x because of its

...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 8, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its '###' rating on Ares Capital Corp.'s (ARCC) senior unsecured notes due 2025. We expect the issuance to be about $500 million, with the potential for upsizing based on investor interest. For the purpose of our rating, we assume the issuance will be no larger than $750 million. ARCC intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including paying down outstanding borrowings on its revolvers. We believe the company will eventually draw upon the revolver again to fund growth. As of Sept. 30, 2017, ARCC's debt to adjusted total equity (ATE) was about 0.7x. Historically, ARCC has operated with debt to ATE above 1.0x because of its large investment in its senior secured loan program, which we deducted from our calculation of ATE. Since the wind down (and eventual termination) of the program, the company has operated below that level and we believe it will remain under 1.0x pro forma for the transaction....

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