Blackstone Secured Lending Fund BXSL

Competitive advantage analysis · financial-services

Asset Management Specialized
Overall moat score
37/100
Developing

About Blackstone Secured Lending Fund

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund is business development company and a Delaware statutory trust formed on March 26, 2018, and structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment Fund. On October 26, 2018, the fund elected to be regulated as a business development company (“BDC”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). In addition, the Fund … Full BXSL analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Sticky AUM Base Revenue stickiness is high (stability score 0.74).
  • Durable Capital Returns Return durability is high (score 0.96).

Key risks

  • Fee Margin Pressure Fee margin quality is below peers (score 0.11).
  • High Compensation Costs Compensation costs relative to peers are high (score 0.11).

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Fee Revenue Quality

Weak
17

Where BXSL ranks in Asset Management

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund ranks #131 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score — the top 76%. The widest moat in the group is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near BXSL in Asset Management
# Company Moat score Rating
127 Destra Multi-Alternative Fund DMA 39/100 Developing
128 Burford Capital Limited BUR 39/100 Developing
129 Invesco Ltd IVZ 39/100 Developing
130 BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. TCPC 38/100 Developing
131 Blackstone Secured Lending Fund BXSL 37/100 Developing
132 RiverNorth Managed Duration Mun RMM 36/100 Developing
133 Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. ECCC 36/100 Developing
134 53753 BMN 36/100 Developing
135 PFLT PFLT 36/100 Developing

See every Asset Management & Capital Markets company ranked by moat score →

How BXSL scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses

Fee Revenue Quality

Score 17 · 20% of the moat score

Fee revenue quality is the ability to charge above the industry's falling average and keep charging it.

Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness

Score 46 · 18% of the moat score

Assets under management leave far more easily than they arrive, and the fee leaves with them.

Compensation Discipline

Score 9 · 18% of the moat score

Compensation is the largest expense in asset management and the one that decides whether a good year ever reaches shareholders.

Capital Efficiency

Score 65 · 20% of the moat score

Asset managers are asset-light: with little capital employed, a healthy business should earn a very high return on equity, and a merely average one is a real warning.

Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion

Score 50 · 14% of the moat score

Reported profits here can be flattered by performance fees, seed-capital gains and consolidated fund accounting, none of which recur reliably.

Balance Sheet Strength

Score 32 · 10% of the moat score

Because the business needs so little capital, an asset manager carrying meaningful debt has usually borrowed to buy another manager or to fund distributions.

How each Asset Management Specialized defense is measured, in full →

Understanding BXSL's moat

What is Blackstone Secured Lending Fund's moat score?

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (BXSL) scores 36 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #131 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management, the top 76%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 174 companies in Asset Management. Its strongest defense is Capital Efficiency (65/100) and its weakest is Compensation Discipline (9/100).

How does Blackstone Secured Lending Fund compare with other Asset Management companies?

Blackstone Secured Lending Fund ranks #131 of 173 scored companies in Asset Management by moat score. The widest moat in Asset Management is Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc (SPMC) at 77/100. The companies ranked closest are BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. (TCPC) at 38 just above it and RiverNorth Managed Duration Mun (RMM) at 36 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Asset Management Specialized in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 174 companies in Asset Management. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Blackstone Secured Lending Fund scored with the Asset Management Specialized template?

An asset manager owns almost nothing. It charges a fee on someone else's money, pays much of that fee out in compensation, and keeps the remainder — so its economics turn on the fee rate it can defend, whether client money stays, and how much revenue survives the bonus pool. The Asset Management template scores those questions rather than the balance sheet, which in this industry is largely beside the point.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Blackstone Secured Lending Fund?

The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and BXSL scores: Fee Revenue Quality (17), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (46), Compensation Discipline (9), Capital Efficiency (65), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (50), Balance Sheet Strength (32). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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