First Eagle cuts monthly BDC payout to $0.19 as NAV slips

First Eagle Private Credit Fund cut its monthly distribution to $0.19 per Class I share for October, from $0.21 in each of the first nine months of 2026. The Class D share pays $0.185, net of fees, to shareholders of record Oct. 30 and is payable Nov. 27. The fund did not give a reason for the reduction, AltsWire reported.

Aggregate net asset value fell to $292.2 million from $295.6 million at midyear and $301.9 million at year-end. Net asset value per share was $23.51 at Sept. 30, down from $23.79 at June 30 and $24.23 at Dec. 31, 2025, about 3% below the year-end figure. The fair value of investments was about $526.5 million, down from $552.9 million at June 30 and $567.3 million at Dec. 31. Debt outstanding fell to $263.6 million from $278.6 million, cutting debt-to-equity to 0.90 times from 0.94 times. The portfolio's weighted-average yield at cost was 9.64% at Sept. 30.

For advisors whose clients hold the fund, the October rate annualizes to $2.28 a share, or 9.7% of the Sept. 30 NAV, down from the 10.7% implied by the prior $0.21 rate. The per-share payout is set monthly rather than fixed by contract, so a smaller NAV and a lower distribution rate compound: the same share count now distributes fewer dollars each month than it did in January.

The reduction follows the end of adviser fee waivers. All management and incentive fees were waived from June 2024 through June 2025, then half the base management fee and all incentive fees through Dec. 31, 2025, and none were waived in the first half of 2026, AltsWire reported. In the second quarter, total investment income fell to $14.1 million from $16.3 million a year earlier. Net expenses including excise tax rose to $7.6 million from $7.4 million, and expense support from the adviser fell to $837,000 from $1.5 million.

One position was on non-accrual at quarter-end: a second-lien loan to Alvogen Pharma US Inc., carried at $491,000 against $884,000 of principal. In October, the fund's lenders capped software, IT services and healthcare technology borrowers at 20% of the loans backing its $350 million credit facility and cut the borrowing spread by 30 basis points, AltsWire reported. Those three industries were 12.69% of the portfolio at fair value at June 30.

No shares were tendered in either the second-quarter offer that expired May 29 or the third-quarter offer that expired Aug. 31. In the first quarter, 40,500 shares were tendered and all accepted, for about $970,000. That record contrasts with larger nontraded BDCs that prorated this year, including Ares Strategic Income Fund, which filled 38.2% of repurchase requests in the third quarter, as Private Wealth Daily previously reported. The fourth-quarter offer opened Oct. 30 for up to 621,572 shares, which at the Sept. 30 NAV would be worth about $14.6 million.