SLR’s value-oriented investment philosophy focuses primarily on preserving capital and ensuring that our investments have an appropriate expected return profile in relation to risk. Our underwriting discipline is guided by a presumption that we are always investing as if we are late in the economic cycle and driven by a rigorous analysis of a borrower’s ability to repay a loan across a range of downside scenarios.

Since the inception of SLR in 2006, the hallmark of our culture and philosophy is the alignment of SLR’s interests though investing as principals alongside our investors. Over $100 million has been invested or committed by our investment professionals, including owning approximately 7% of SLR Investment Corp., the listed BDC managed by SLR that co-invests with our private funds and SMAs.

Our investment team has extensive experience working in private equity, an asset class whose illiquid nature and lack of publicly filed company financial statements necessitates a direct, interactive diligence approach. As a lender to private middle market companies, we use a similar “deep-dive” due diligence, usually alongside the financial sponsor. During this process, SLR draws upon its senior investment professionals’ deep investment experience, industry expertise, and network of contacts to evaluate the prospective borrowers' ability to repay our loan in a variety of downside scenarios.

Outside of traditional cash flow lending, SLR seeks to identify market opportunities created by regulatory and policy changes and shifting market structures. The specialty finance asset classes we choose to enter typically are characterized by significant barriers to entry, lender-friendly investment structures with borrowing bases, and offer compelling risk-adjusted return profiles. Most importantly, we seek to partner with seasoned management teams with long successful track records, personal capital commitments to the business, and highly specialized skills.