Ares Capital Corp

Ares Capital Corp. is a business development company, commonly referred to as a BDC. BDCs are specifically designed to help small and middle-market companies access capital that they might not secure from traditional banks.

The company primarily generates income by investing in senior secured loans and equity positions across various industries. The interest payments from these underlying loans allow Ares Capital to offer a higher yield to its shareholders.

Ares Capital Corp is publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol ARCC. It is one of the largest publicly traded business development companies in the United States.

Because it is structured as a Regulated Investment Company, Ares Capital generally passes its earnings through to shareholders without corporate taxation. Consequently, the dividends are most often taxed at an investor's ordinary income tax rate rather than the lower qualified dividend rate.