Private Credit Pioneer Dragged Down by Insults and Indecision

For a while, it sounded just like any other corporate earnings call: tightly scripted, a bit formulaic and monotonous. Then, suddenly, about 17 minutes in, the fireworks began.

“You don’t know. You don’t know. You don’t even know. And you cover us?” This was John F. Barry III, CEO of the $7.2 billion investment fund Prospect Capital Corp., and he had quickly worked himself into a fury. The target of his ire on this late summer morning was a Wells Fargo analyst who wanted to know what sort of planning the firm was doing to avert a cash crunch. ...