Ares Capital Corporation

Ares Capital lends to mid-sized American companies that are too big for a bank branch and too small for the bond market, the middle-market firms often owned by private-equity sponsors. It is the largest publicly traded business development company, a structure that lets it pass income to shareholders largely untaxed as long as it distributes most of its earnings, which is why the stock is prized for its high dividend. Most of its loans are senior and floating-rate, so interest income rises when rates climb. The portfolio is managed externally by a unit of Ares Management, the big alternative-asset manager, giving it access to deal flow and credit expertise that smaller lenders lack. The trade-off is credit risk: in a downturn, borrowers can default, and because it lends to leveraged companies, its results ultimately hinge on how those businesses weather the cycle.

On MyRWA, ARCC trades tokenized across 1 on-chain venue - see the listings below.