BDC Buzz: About BDC Buzz

Yes I am a real person named Duane Batcheler. Feel free to add me on:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bdcbuzz/
Google+: google.com/+BDCBuzz
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Website: www.bdcbuzz.com

Seeking Alpha article Q&A with BDC Buzz: Is The BDC Sector Oversold With 11.5% Yield
Fox Business article discussing BDC Buzz: 4 Investments With Higher Yields and Risk

My goal for writing about BDCs is to bring much needed exposure to the industry. I believe this will ultimately benefit the small and medium size businesses that BDCs invest in as investors seek to put their capital into these companies. The BDC industry will mature much like the REITs and MLPs. Below is a clip from a Wells Fargo presentation showing the history of growth for each sector.

Today BDCs are over $30 billion and growing fast with new entrants every year. When I first started to invest in BDCs as a source of income, finding comparative information about them was difficult and still is. BDCs are not a one size fits all type of investment and there are many different types to suit different needs. So I did the research myself, started doing well and decided to share with others through writing. I have learned much more about investing in BDCs since I started writing earlier this year and I hope it shows.

Personal Background

I grew up in the Northwest (mostly Portland) and initially worked in the boutique investment banking industry for a few firms in Seattle and Portland, mostly working on sell-side or private finance and venture capital. This gave me a great background for the types of investments that BDCs make. I then started to work for companies as a ‘hired gun’ for industry roll-ups and consolidations including VP of Corporate Development for Cardtronics, Inc. (CATM) [old announcement from 2002]. I retired (for the most part) when I was 32 and spent the next seven years traveling, mostly by land (see map below). During this time I was conservatively invested in income producing assets that benefitted from the financial crisis and rates being lowered but ultimately I needed to reinvest because my holdings were overvalued due to investors flight to safety. This is when I started the slow transition into cash and riskier equity investments including BDCs that seemed undervalued at the time.

I now live part of the year in Thailand which works well with writing because it’s 12 hours ahead of NY and gives me plenty of time to digest new information before the markets open the next day. I still travel but not as much.