Item 1.
Business
General
We are a specialty
finance company that lends to and invests in development-stage companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information
and services and cleantech industries, which we refer to collectively as our “Target Industries.” Our investment objective
is to maximize our investment portfolio’s total return by generating current income from the debt investments we make and
capital appreciation from the warrants we receive when making such debt investments. We are focused on making secured debt investments,
which we refer to as “Venture Loans,” to venture capital backed companies in our Target Industries, which we refer
to as “Venture Lending.” We also selectively provide Venture Loans to publicly traded companies in our Target Industries.
Our debt investments are typically secured by first liens or first liens behind a secured revolving line of credit, or “Senior
Term Loans.” Venture Lending is typically characterized by (1) the making of a secured debt investment after a venture
capital or equity investment in the portfolio company has been made, which investment provides a source of cash to fund the portfolio
company’s debt service obligations under the Venture Loan, (2) the senior priority of the Venture Loan which requires
repayment of the Venture Loan prior to the equity investors realizing a return on their capital, (3) the relatively rapid
amortization of the Venture Loan and (4) the lender’s receipt of warrants or other success fees with the making of the
Venture Loan.
We are an externally
managed, closed-end, non-diversified management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company,
or BDC, under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the 1940 Act. In addition, for U.S. federal income tax purposes,
we have elected to be treated as a regulated investment company, or RIC, under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
as amended, or the Code. As a BDC, we are required to comply with regulatory requirements, including limitations on our use of
debt. We are permitted to, and expect to, finance a portion of our investments through borrowings. However, as a BDC, we are only
generally allowed to borrow amounts such that our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, equals at least 200% after such borrowing.
The amount of leverage that we employ depends on our assessment of market conditions and other factors at the time of any proposed
borrowing. As a RIC, we generally do not have to pay corporate-level federal income taxes on our investment company taxable income
and our net capital gain that we distribute to our stockholders as long as we meet certain source-of-income, distribution, asset
diversification and other requirements.
Compass Horizon Funding
Company LLC, or Compass Horizon, our predecessor company, commenced operations in March 2008. We were formed in March 2010 for
the purpose of acquiring Compass Horizon and continuing its business as a public entity.
From the commencement
of operations of our predecessor on March 4, 2008 through December 31, 2016, we funded 146 portfolio companies and invested $839.6 million
in debt investments. As of December 31, 2016, our debt investment portfolio consisted of 44 debt investments with an aggregate
fair value of $186.2 million. As of December 31, 2016, 97.4%, or $181.4 million, of our debt investment portfolio at fair
value consisted of Senior Term Loans. As of December 31, 2016, our net assets were $139.2 million, and all of our debt investments
were secured by all or a portion of the tangible and intangible assets of the applicable portfolio company. The debt investments
in our portfolio are generally not rated by any rating agency. If the individual debt investments in our portfolio were rated,
they would be rated below “investment grade”. Debt investments that are unrated or rated below investment grade are
sometimes referred to as “junk bonds” and have predominantly speculative characteristics with respect to the issuer’s
capacity to pay interest and repay principal.
For the year ended
December 31, 2016, our debt investment portfolio had a dollar-weighted annualized yield of 14.9% (excluding any yield from warrants).
The warrants we receive from time to time when making loans to portfolio companies are excluded from the calculation of our dollar-weighted
annualized yield because such warrants do not generate any yield since we do not receive dividends or other payments in respect
of our outstanding warrants. We calculate the yield on dollar-weighted average debt investments for any period measured as (1)
total investment income during the period divided by (2) the average of the fair value of debt investments outstanding on (a) the
last day of the calendar month immediately preceding the first day of the period and (b) the last day of each calendar month during
the period. The dollar-weighted annualized yield represents the portfolio yield and will be higher than what investors will realize
because it does not reflect our expenses or any sales load paid by investors. As of December 31, 2016, our debt investments had
a dollar-weighted average term of 44 months from inception and a dollar-weighted average remaining term of 28 months.
As of December 31, 2016, substantially all of our debt investments had an original committed principal amount of between $2 million
and $15 million, repayment terms of between 28 and 48 months and bore current pay interest at annual interest rates of
between 9% and 13%.
For the year ended
December 31, 2016, our total return based on market value was 1.5%. Total return based on market value is calculated as (x) the
sum of (i) the closing sales price of our common stock on the last day of the period plus (ii) distributions paid per share during
the period, less (iii) the closing sales price of our common stock on the first day of the period, divided by (y) the closing sales
price of our common stock on the first day of the period.
In addition to our
debt investments, as of December 31, 2016, we held warrants to purchase stock, predominantly preferred stock, in 78 portfolio companies,
equity positions in five portfolio companies and success fee arrangements in 11 portfolio companies.
Our investment activities,
and our day-to-day operations, are managed by our Advisor and supervised by our board of directors, or the Board, of which a majority
of the members are independent of us. Under an amended and restated investment management agreement, or the Investment Management
Agreement, we have agreed to pay our Advisor a base management fee and an incentive fee for its advisory services to us. We have
also entered into an administration agreement, or the Administration Agreement, with our Advisor under which we have agreed to
reimburse our Advisor for our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by our Advisor in performing its obligations
under the Administration Agreement.
Our common stock began
trading October 29, 2010 and is currently traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, or NASDAQ, under the symbol “HRZN”.
Information available
Our principal executive
office is located at 312 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, Connecticut 06032, our telephone number is (860) 676-8654, and our
internet address is
www.horizontechfinance.com
. We make available, free of charge, on our website our annual report on Form 10-K,
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable
after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC.
Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this annual report on Form 10-K and you should
not consider information contained on our website to be part of this annual report on Form 10-K or any other report we file
with the SEC.
Our advisor
Our investment activities
are managed by our Advisor, and we expect to continue to benefit from our Advisor’s ability to identify attractive investment
opportunities, conduct diligence on and value prospective investments, negotiate investments and manage our portfolio of investments.
In addition to the experience gained from the years that they have worked together both at our Advisor and prior to the formation
of our Advisor, the members of our investment team have broad lending backgrounds, with substantial experience at a variety of
commercial finance companies, technology banks and private debt funds, and have developed a broad network of contacts within the
venture capital and private equity community. This network of contacts provides a principal source of investment opportunities.
Our Advisor is led
by five senior managers including Robert D. Pomeroy, Jr., our Chief Executive Officer, Gerald A. Michaud, our President, John
C. Bombara, our Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, Daniel S. Devorsetz, our Senior Vice President
and Chief Investment Officer and Daniel R. Trolio, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Our strategy
Our investment objective
is to maximize our investment portfolio’s total return by generating current income from the debt investments we make and
capital appreciation from the warrants we receive when making such debt investments. To further implement our business strategy,
we expect our Advisor to continue to employ the following core strategies:
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Structured investments in the venture capital and private and public
equity markets.
We
make loans to development-stage companies within our Target Industries typically in the form of secured loans. The secured debt
structure provides a lower risk strategy, as compared to equity or unsecured debt investments, to participate in the emerging technology
markets because the debt structures we typically utilize provide collateral against the downside risk of loss, provide return of
capital in a much shorter timeframe through current-pay interest and amortization of principal and have a senior position to equity
and unsecured debt in the borrower’s capital structure in the case of insolvency, wind down or bankruptcy. Unlike venture
capital and private equity investments, our investment returns and return of our capital do not require equity investment exits
such as mergers and acquisitions or initial public offerings. Instead, we receive returns on our debt investments primarily through
regularly scheduled payments of principal and interest and, if necessary, liquidation of the collateral supporting the debt investment
upon a default. Only the potential gains from warrants depend upon equity investment exits.
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“Enterprise value” lending.
We and our Advisor take an enterprise
value approach to structuring and underwriting loans. Enterprise value includes the implied valuation based upon recent equity
capital invested as well as the intrinsic value of the applicable portfolio company’s particular technology, service or customer
base. We secure our lien position against the enterprise value of each portfolio company.
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Creative products with attractive risk-adjusted
pricing.
Each of our existing
and prospective portfolio companies has its own unique funding needs for the capital provided from the proceeds of our Venture
Loans. These funding needs include funds for additional development “runways”, funds to hire or retain sales staff
or funds to invest in research and development in order to reach important technical milestones in advance of raising additional
equity. Our loans include current-pay interest, commitment fees, end-of-term payments, or ETPs, pre-payment fees, success fees
and non-utilization fees. We believe we have developed pricing tools, structuring techniques and valuation metrics that satisfy
our portfolio companies’ financing requirements while mitigating risk and maximizing returns on our investments.
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Opportunity for enhanced returns.
To enhance our debt investment portfolio returns,
in addition to interest and fees, we frequently obtain warrants to purchase the equity of our portfolio companies as additional
consideration for making debt investments. The warrants we obtain generally include a “cashless exercise” provision
to allow us to exercise these rights without requiring us to make any additional cash investment. Obtaining warrants in our portfolio
companies has allowed us to participate in the equity appreciation of our portfolio companies, which we expect will enable us to
generate higher returns for our investors.
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Direct origination.
We originate transactions directly with technology, life
science, healthcare information and services and cleantech companies. These transactions are referred to our Advisor from a number
of sources, including referrals from, or direct solicitation of, venture capital and private equity firms, portfolio company management
teams, legal firms, accounting firms, investment banks and other lenders that represent companies within our Target Industries.
Our Advisor has been the sole or lead originator in substantially all transactions in which the funds it manages have invested.
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Disciplined and balanced underwriting and portfolio
management.
We use
a disciplined underwriting process that includes obtaining information validation from multiple sources, extensive knowledge of
our Target Industries, comparable industry valuation metrics and sophisticated financial analysis related to development-stage
companies. Our Advisor’s due diligence on investment prospects includes obtaining and evaluating information on the prospective
portfolio company’s technology, market opportunity, management team, fund raising history, investor support, valuation considerations,
financial condition and projections. We seek to balance our investment portfolio to reduce the risk of down market cycles associated
with any particular industry or sector, development-stage or geographic area. Our Advisor employs a “hands on” approach
to portfolio management, requiring private portfolio companies to provide monthly financial information and to participate in regular
updates on performance and future plans. For public companies, our Advisor typically relies on publicly reported quarterly financials.
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Use of leverage.
We use leverage to increase returns on equity through our Key
Facility and our 2019 Notes. See “Item 7 — Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations — Liquidity and capital resources” for additional information about our use of leverage. In addition,
we may issue additional debt securities or preferred stock in one or more series in the future.
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Market opportunity
We focus our investments
primarily in four key industries of the emerging technology market: technology, life science, healthcare information and services
and cleantech. The technology sectors we focus on include communications, networking, data storage, software, cloud computing,
semiconductor, power management, internet and media and consumer-related technologies. The life science sectors we focus on include
biotechnology, drug discovery, drug delivery, bioinformatics and medical devices. The healthcare information and services sectors
we focus on include diagnostics, medical record services and software and other healthcare related services and technologies that
improve efficiency and quality of administered healthcare. The cleantech sectors we focus on include alternative energy, water
purification, energy efficiency, green building materials and waste recycling. We refer to all of these companies as “technology-related”
companies because the companies are developing or offering goods and services to businesses and consumers which utilize scientific
knowledge, including techniques, skills, methods, devices and processes, to solve problems. We intend, under normal market conditions,
to invest at least 80% of the value of our total assets in such companies.
We believe that Venture
Lending has the potential to achieve enhanced returns that are attractive notwithstanding the high degree of risk associated with
lending to development-stage companies. Potential benefits include:
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interest rates that typically exceed rates that would be available to portfolio companies if they
could borrow in traditional commercial financing transactions;
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the debt investment support provided by cash proceeds from equity capital invested by venture capital
and private equity firms or access to public equity markets to access capital;
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relatively rapid amortization of principal;
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senior ranking to equity and collateralization of debt investments to minimize potential loss of
capital; and
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potential equity appreciation through warrants.
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We believe that Venture
Lending also provides an attractive financing source for portfolio companies, their management teams and their equity capital investors,
as it:
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is typically less dilutive to the equity holders than additional equity financing;
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extends the time period during which a portfolio company can operate before seeking additional
equity capital or pursuing a sale transaction or other liquidity event; and
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allows portfolio companies to better match cash sources with uses.
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Competitive strengths
We believe that we,
together with our Advisor, possess significant competitive strengths, including:
Consistently
execute commitments and close transactions.
Our Advisor and its senior management and investment professionals have
an extensive track record of originating, underwriting and managing Venture Loans. Our Advisor and its predecessor have directly
originated, underwritten and managed Venture Loans with an aggregate original principal amount over $1.3 billion to more than
210 companies since operations commenced in 2004.
Robust
direct origination capabilities.
Our Advisor has significant experience originating Venture Loans in our Target
Industries. This experience has given our Advisor a deep knowledge of our Target Industries and an extensive base of transaction
sources and references.
Highly
experienced and cohesive management team.
Our Advisor’s senior management team of experienced professionals
has been together since its inception. This consistency allows companies, their management teams and their investors to rely on
consistent and predictable service, loan products and terms and underwriting standards.
Relationships
with venture capital and private equity investors.
Our Advisor has developed strong relationships with venture capital
and private equity firms and their partners.
Well-known
brand name.
Our Advisor has originated Venture Loans to more than 210 companies in our Target Industries under
the “Horizon Technology Finance” brand.
Competition
We compete to provide
financing to development-stage companies in our Target Industries with a number of investment funds and other BDCs, as well as
traditional financial services companies such as commercial banks and other financing sources. Some of our competitors are larger
and have greater financial and other resources than we do. We believe we compete effectively with these entities primarily on the
basis of the experience, industry knowledge and contacts of our Advisor’s investment professionals, its responsiveness and
efficient investment analysis and decision-making processes, its creative financing products and its customized investment terms.
We do not intend to compete primarily on the interest rates we offer and believe that some competitors make loans with rates that
are comparable or lower than our rates. For additional information concerning our competitive position and competitive risks, see
“Item 1A — Risk Factors — Risks related to our business and structure — We operate in a highly
competitive market for investment opportunities, and if we are not able to compete effectively, our business, results of operations
and financial condition may be adversely affected and the value of your investment in us could decline.”
Investment criteria
We seek to invest
in companies that vary by their stage of development, their Target Industries and sectors of Target Industries and their geographical
location, as well as by the venture capital and private equity sponsors that support our portfolio companies. While we invest in
companies at various stages of development, we require that prospective portfolio companies be beyond the seed stage of development
and have received at least their first round of venture capital or private equity financing before we will consider making an investment.
We expect a prospective portfolio company to demonstrate its ability to advance technology and increase its value over time.
We have identified
several criteria that we believe have proven, and will prove, important in achieving our investment objective. These criteria provide
general guidelines for our investment decisions. However, we caution you that not all of these criteria are met by each portfolio
company in which we choose to invest.
Management.
Our portfolio companies are generally led by experienced management that has in-market expertise in the Target
Industry in which the company operates, as well as extensive experience with development-stage companies. The adequacy and completeness
of the management team is assessed relative to the stage of development and the challenges facing the potential portfolio company.
Continuing
support from one or more venture capital and private equity investors.
We typically invest in companies in which
one or more established venture capital and private equity investors have previously invested and continue to make a contribution
to the management of the business. We believe that established venture capital and private equity investors can serve as committed
partners and will assist their portfolio companies and their management teams in creating value. We take into consideration the
total amount raised by the company, the valuation history, investor reserves for future investment and the expected timing and
milestones to the next equity round financing.
Operating
plan and cash resources.
We generally require that a prospective portfolio company, in addition to having sufficient
access to capital to support leverage, demonstrate an operating plan capable of generating cash flows or the ability to raise the
additional capital necessary to cover its operating expenses and service its debt. Our review of the operating plan will take into
consideration existing cash, cash burn, cash runway and the milestones necessary for the company to achieve cash flow positive
operations or to access additional equity from its investors.
Enterprise
and technology value.
We expect that the enterprise value of a prospective portfolio company should substantially
exceed the principal balance of debt borrowed by the company. Enterprise value includes the implied valuation based upon recent
equity capital invested as well as the intrinsic value of the company’s particular technology, service or customer base.
Market
opportunity and exit strategy.
We seek portfolio companies that are addressing market opportunities that capitalize
on their competitive advantages. Competitive advantages may include unique technology, protected intellectual property, superior
clinical results or significant market traction. As part of our investment analysis, we typically also consider potential realization
of our warrants through merger, acquisition or initial public offering based upon comparable exits in the company’s Target
Industry.
Investment process
Our Board has delegated
authority for all investment decisions to our Advisor. Our Advisor, in turn, has created an integrated approach to the loan origination,
underwriting, approval and documentation process that we believe effectively combines the skills of our Advisor’s professionals.
This process allows our Advisor to achieve an efficient and timely closing of an investment from the initial contact with a prospective
portfolio company through the investment decision, close of documentation and funding of the investment, while ensuring that our
Advisor’s rigorous underwriting standards are consistently maintained. We believe that the high level of involvement by our
Advisor’s staff in the various phases of the investment process allows us to minimize the credit risk while delivering superior
service to our portfolio companies.
Origination.
Our Advisor’s loan origination process begins with its industry-focused regional managing directors who are
responsible for identifying, contacting and screening prospects. These managing directors meet with key decision makers and deal
referral sources such as venture capital and private equity firms and management teams, legal firms, accounting firms, investment
banks and other lenders to source prospective portfolio companies. We believe our brand name and management team are well known
within the Venture Lending community, as well as by many repeat entrepreneurs and board members of prospective portfolio companies.
These broad relationships, which reach across the Venture Lending industry, give rise to a significant portion of our Advisor’s
deal origination.
The responsible
managing director of our Advisor obtains materials from the prospective portfolio company and from those materials, as well as
other available information, determines whether it is appropriate for our Advisor to issue a non-binding term sheet. The managing
director bases this decision to proceed on his or her experience, the competitive environment and the prospective portfolio company’s
needs and also seeks the counsel of our Advisor’s senior management and investment team.
Term
sheet.
If the managing director determines, after review and consultation with senior management, that the potential
transaction meets our Advisor’s initial credit standards, our Advisor will issue a non-binding term sheet to the prospective
portfolio company.
The terms
of the transaction are tailored to a prospective portfolio company’s specific funding needs while taking into consideration
market dynamics, the quality of the management team, the venture capital and private equity investors involved and applicable credit
criteria, which may include the prospective portfolio company’s existing cash resources, the development of its technology
and the anticipated timing for the next round of equity financing.
Underwriting.
Once the term sheet has been negotiated and executed and the prospective portfolio company has remitted a good
faith deposit, we request additional due diligence materials from the prospective portfolio company and arrange for a due diligence
visit.
Due
diligence.
The due diligence process includes a formal visit to the prospective portfolio company’s location
and interviews with the prospective portfolio company’s senior management team. The process includes obtaining and analyzing
publicly available information from independent third parties that have knowledge of the prospective portfolio company’s
business, including, to the extent available analysts that follow the technology market, thought leaders in our Target Industries
and important customers or partners, if any. Outside sources of information are reviewed, including industry publications, scientific
and market articles, internet publications, publicly available information on competitors or competing technologies and information
known to our Advisor’s investment team from their experience in the technology markets.
A primary
element of the due diligence process is interviewing key existing investors of the prospective portfolio company, who are often
also members of the prospective portfolio company’s board of directors. While these board members and/or investors are not
independent sources of information, their support for management and willingness to support the prospective portfolio company’s
further development are critical elements of our decision making process.
Investment
memorandum.
Upon completion of the due diligence process and review and analysis of all of the information provided
by the prospective portfolio company and obtained externally, our Advisor’s assigned credit officer prepares an investment
memorandum for review and approval. The investment memorandum is reviewed by our Advisor’s Chief Investment Officer and then
submitted to our Advisor’s investment committee for approval.
Investment
committee.
Our Advisor’s investment committee is responsible for overall credit policy, portfolio management,
approval of all investments, portfolio monitoring and reporting and managing of problem accounts. The committee interacts with
the entire staff of our Advisor to review potential transactions and deal flow. This interaction of cross-functional members of
our Advisor’s staff assures efficient transaction sourcing, negotiating and underwriting throughout the transaction process.
Portfolio performance and current market conditions are reviewed and discussed by the investment committee on a regular basis to
assure that transaction structures and terms are consistent and current.
Loan
closing and funding.
Approved investments are documented and closed by our Advisor’s in-house legal and loan
administration staff. Loan documentation is based upon standard templates created by our Advisor and is customized for each transaction
to reflect the specific deal terms. The transaction documents typically include a loan and security agreement, warrant agreement
and applicable perfection documents, including applicable Uniform Commercial Code financing statements and, as applicable, may
also include a landlord agreement, patent and trademark security grants, a subordination agreement, an intercreditor agreement
and other standard agreements for commercial loans in the Venture Lending industry. Funding requires final approval by our Advisor’s
General Counsel, Chief Executive Officer or President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer.
Portfolio
management and reporting.
Our Advisor maintains a “hands on” approach to maintain communication with
our portfolio companies. At least quarterly, our Advisor contacts our portfolio companies for operational and financial updates
by phone and performs reviews. Our Advisor may contact portfolio companies deemed to have greater credit risk on a monthly basis.
Our Advisor requires all private companies to provide financial statements, typically monthly. For public companies, our Advisor
typically relies on publicly reported quarterly financials. This allows our Advisor to identify any unexpected developments in
the financial performance or condition of our portfolio company
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Our Advisor
has developed a proprietary internal credit rating system to analyze the quality of our debt investments. Using this system, our
Advisor analyzes and then rates the credit risk within the portfolio on a quarterly basis. Each portfolio company is rated on a
1 through 4 scale, with 3 representing the rating for a standard level of risk. A rating of 4 represents an improved and better
credit quality than existed at the time of its original underwriting. A rating of 2 or 1 represents a deteriorating credit quality
and an increased risk of loss of principal. Newly funded investments are typically assigned a rating of 3, unless extraordinary
circumstances require otherwise. These investment ratings are generated internally by our Advisor, and we cannot guarantee that
others would assign the same ratings to our portfolio investments or similar portfolio investments.
Our Advisor
closely monitors portfolio companies rated a 1 or 2 for adverse developments. In addition, our Advisor maintains regular contact
with the management, board of directors and major equity holders of these portfolio companies in order to discuss strategic initiatives
to correct the deterioration of the portfolio company.
The following table
describes each rating level:
Rating
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4
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The portfolio company has performed in excess of our expectations as demonstrated by exceeding revenue milestones, clinical milestones or other operating metrics or as a result of raising capital well in excess of our underwriting assumptions. Generally the portfolio company displays one or more of the following: its enterprise value greatly exceeds our loan balance; it has achieved cash flow positive operations or has sufficient cash resources to cover the remaining balance of the loan; there is strong potential for warrant gains from our warrants; and there is a high likelihood that the borrower will receive favorable future financing to support operations. Loans rated 4 are the lowest risk profile in our portfolio, and there is no expected risk of principal loss.
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3
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The portfolio company has performed to our expectations as demonstrated by meeting revenue milestones, clinical milestones or other operating metrics. It has raised, or is expected to raise, capital consistent with our underwriting assumptions. Generally the portfolio company displays one or more of the following: its enterprise value comfortably exceeds our loan balance; it has sufficient cash resources to operate according to its plan; it is expected to raise additional capital as needed; and there continues to be potential for warrant gains from our warrants. New loans are typically rated 3 when approved and thereafter 3-rated loans represent a standard risk profile, with no principal loss currently expected.
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The portfolio company has performed below our expectations as demonstrated by missing revenue milestones, delayed clinical progress or otherwise failing to meet projected operating metrics. It may have raised capital in support of the poorer performance but generally on less favorable terms than originally contemplated at the time of underwriting. Generally the portfolio company displays one or more of the following: its enterprise value exceeds our loan balance but at a lower multiple than originally expected; it has sufficient cash to operate according to its plan but liquidity may be tight; and it is planning to raise additional capital but there is uncertainty and the potential for warrant gains from our warrants are possible, but unlikely. Loans rated 2 represent an increased level of risk of loss of principal. While no loss is currently anticipated for a 2-rated loan, there is potential for future loss of principal.
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The portfolio company has performed well below plan as demonstrated by materially missing revenue milestones, delayed or failed clinical progress or otherwise failing to meet operating metrics. The portfolio company has not raised sufficient capital to operate effectively or retire its debt obligation to us. Generally the portfolio company displays one or more of the following: its enterprise value may not exceed our loan balance; it has insufficient cash to operate according to its plan and liquidity may be tight; and there are uncertain plans to raise additional capital or the portfolio company is being sold under distressed conditions. There is no potential for warrant gains from our warrants. Loans rated 1 are generally put on non-accrual status and represent a high degree of risk of loss of principal.
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For a discussion of
the ratings of our existing portfolio, see “Item 7 — Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations — Debt investment asset quality.”
Managerial assistance
As a BDC, we offer,
through our Advisor, and must provide upon request, managerial assistance to certain of our portfolio companies. This assistance
may involve monitoring the operations of the portfolio companies, participating in board of directors and management meetings,
consulting with and advising officers of portfolio companies and providing other organizational and financial guidance.
Although we may receive
fees for these services, pursuant to the Administration Agreement, we will reimburse our Advisor for its expenses related to providing
such services on our behalf.
Employees
We do not have any
employees. Each of our executive officers is an employee of our Advisor. Our day-to-day investment operations are managed by our
Advisor. We reimburse our Advisor for our allocable portion of expenses incurred by it in performing its obligations under the
Administration Agreement, as our Administrator, including our allocable portion of the cost of our Chief Financial Officer and
Chief Compliance Officer and their respective staffs.
Investment Management Agreement
Under the terms of
the Investment Management Agreement, our Advisor:
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determines the composition of our portfolio, the nature and timing of the changes to our portfolio
and the manner of implementing such changes;
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identifies, evaluates and negotiates the structure of the investments we make (including performing
due diligence on our prospective portfolio companies); and
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closes, monitors and administers the investments we make, including the exercise of any voting
or consent rights.
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Our Advisor’s
services under the Investment Management Agreement are not exclusive, and it is free to furnish similar services to other entities
so long as its services to us are not impaired.
Investment advisory fees
Pursuant to our Investment
Management Agreement, we pay our Advisor a fee for investment advisory and management services consisting of a base management
fee and an incentive fee.
Base management
fee.
The base management fee, payable monthly in arrears, is calculated at an annual rate of 2.00% of (i) our gross
assets less (ii) cash and cash equivalents. For purposes of calculating the base management fee, the term “gross assets”
includes any assets acquired with the proceeds of leverage.
The Advisor agreed
to waive the base management fee relating to the proceeds raised in a public offering of our common stock that closed on March
24, 2015, or the 2015 Offering, to the extent such fee is not otherwise waived and regardless of the application of the proceeds
raised, until the earlier to occur of (i) March 31, 2016 or (ii) the last day of the second consecutive calendar quarter in which
our net investment income exceeds distributions declared on shares of our common stock for the applicable quarter. As of December
31, 2015, condition (ii) above had been met, as our net investment income exceeded distributions declared for the quarters ended
September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2015, and our Advisor is not obligated to waive the base management fee with respect to proceeds
from the 2015 Offering for any future quarter.
Incentive
fee.
The incentive fee has two parts, as follows:
The first part, which
is subject to the Incentive Fee Cap and Deferral Mechanism, as defined below, is calculated and payable quarterly in arrears based
on our Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income for the immediately preceding calendar quarter. For this purpose, “Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income” means interest income, dividend income and any other income (including any other fees (other than
fees for providing managerial assistance), such as commitment, origination, structuring, diligence and consulting fees or other
fees received from portfolio companies) accrued during the calendar quarter, minus expenses for the quarter (including the base
management fee, expenses payable under the Administration Agreement, and any interest expense and any dividends paid on any issued
and outstanding preferred stock, but excluding the incentive fee). Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income includes, in the case
of investments with a deferred interest feature (such as original issue discount, debt instruments with payment-in-kind interest
and zero coupon securities), accrued income we have not yet received in cash. The incentive fee with respect to the Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income is 20.00% of the amount, if any, by which the Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income for the immediately
preceding calendar quarter exceeds a hurdle rate of 1.75% (which is 7.00% annualized) of our net assets at the end of the immediately
preceding calendar quarter, subject to a “catch-up” provision measured as of the end of each calendar quarter. Under
this provision, in any calendar quarter, the Advisor receives no incentive fee until the Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income
equals the hurdle rate of 1.75%, but then receives, as a “catch-up,” 100.00% of the Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment
Income with respect to that portion of such Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income, if any, that exceeds the hurdle rate but is
less than 2.1875% quarterly (which is 8.75% annualized). The effect of this “catch-up” provision is that, if Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income exceeds 2.1875% in any calendar quarter, the Advisor will receive 20.00% of the Pre-Incentive Fee Net
Investment Income as if the hurdle rate did not apply.
Pre-Incentive Fee
Net Investment Income does not include any realized capital gains, realized capital losses or unrealized capital appreciation or
depreciation. Because of the structure of the incentive fee, it is possible that we may pay an incentive fee in a quarter in which
we incur a loss. For example, if we receive Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income in excess of the quarterly minimum hurdle rate,
we will pay the applicable incentive fee up to the Incentive Fee Cap, defined below, even if we have incurred a loss in that quarter
due to realized and unrealized capital losses. Our net investment income used to calculate this part of the incentive fee is also
included in the amount of our gross assets used to calculate the 2.00% base management fee. These calculations are appropriately
prorated for any period of less than three months and adjusted for any share issuances or repurchases during the applicable quarter.
Commencing with the
calendar quarter beginning July 1, 2014, the incentive fee on Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income is subject to a fee cap and
deferral mechanism which is determined based upon a look-back period of up to three years and is expensed when incurred. For this
purpose, the look-back period for the incentive fee based on Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income (the “Incentive Fee
Look-back Period”) commenced on July 1, 2014 and increases by one quarter in length at the end of each calendar quarter until
June 30, 2017, after which time, the Incentive Fee Look-back Period will include the relevant calendar quarter and the 11 preceding
full calendar quarters. Each quarterly incentive fee payable on Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income is subject to a cap (the
“Incentive Fee Cap”) and a deferral mechanism through which the Advisor may recoup a portion of such deferred incentive
fees (collectively, the “Incentive Fee Cap and Deferral Mechanism”). The Incentive Fee Cap is equal to (a) 20.00% of
Cumulative Pre-Incentive Fee Net Return (as defined below) during the Incentive Fee Look-back Period less (b) cumulative incentive
fees of any kind paid to the Advisor during the Incentive Fee Look-back Period. To the extent the Incentive Fee Cap is zero or
a negative value in any calendar quarter, we will not pay an incentive fee on Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income to the Advisor
in that quarter. To the extent that the payment of incentive fees on Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income is limited by the
Incentive Fee Cap, the payment of such fees will be deferred and paid in subsequent calendar quarters up to three years after their
date of deferment, subject to certain limitations, which are set forth in the Investment Management Agreement. We only pay incentive
fees on Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income to the extent allowed by the Incentive Fee Cap and Deferral Mechanism. “Cumulative
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Return” during any Incentive Fee Look-back Period means the sum of (a) Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment
Income and the base management fee for each calendar quarter during the Incentive Fee Look-back Period and (b) the sum of cumulative
realized capital gains and losses, cumulative unrealized capital appreciation and cumulative unrealized capital depreciation during
the applicable Incentive Fee Look-back Period.
The following is a
graphical representation of the calculation of the income-related portion of the incentive fee:
Quarterly incentive fee based on Net
Investment Income
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income
(expressed as a percentage of the value of net assets)
Percentage of Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income allocated to first part of
incentive fee
The second part of
the incentive fee is determined and payable in arrears as of the end of each calendar year (or upon termination of the Investment
Management Agreement, as of the termination date) and equals 20.00% of our realized capital gains, if any, on a cumulative basis
from the date of our election to be a BDC through the end of each calendar year, computed net of all realized capital losses and
unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis through the end of such year, less all previous amounts paid in respect of
the capital gain incentive fee.
Examples of incentive fee calculation
Example 1: Income related portion of incentive
fee before total return requirement calculation for each fiscal quarter
Alternative 1
Assumptions
:
Investment income (including interest,
distributions, fees, etc.) = 1.25%
Hurdle rate
(1)
= 1.75%
Management fee
(2)
= 0.50%
Other expenses (legal, accounting, custodian,
transfer agent, etc.)
(3)
= 0.20%
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income
(investment income - (management fee + other expenses)) = 0.55%
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income does not
exceed hurdle rate; therefore, there is no income-related incentive fee.
Alternative 2
Assumptions
:
Investment income (including interest,
distributions, fees, etc.) = 2.80%
Hurdle rate
(1)
= 1.75%
Management fee
(2)
= 0.50%
Other expenses (legal, accounting, custodian,
transfer agent, etc.)
(3)
= 0.20%
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income
(investment income - (management fee + other expenses)) = 2.10%
Incentive fee = 100.00% × Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income (subject to “catch-up”)
(4)
= 100.00% × (2.10% - 1.75%)
= 0.35%
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment
Income exceeds the hurdle rate, but does not fully satisfy the “catch-up” provision; therefore, the income related
portion of the incentive fee is 0.35%.
Alternative 3
Assumptions
:
Investment income (including interest,
distributions, fees, etc.) = 3.00%
Hurdle rate
(1)
= 1.75%
Management fee
(2)
= 0.50%
Other expenses (legal, accounting, custodian,
transfer agent, etc.)
(3)
= 0.20%
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income
(investment income - (management fee + other expenses)) = 2.30%
Incentive fee = 100.00% × Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income (subject to “catch-up”)
(4)
Incentive fee = 100.00% × “catch-up”
+ (20.00% × (Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income - 2.1875%))
Catch up = 2.1875% - 1.75%
= 0.4375%
Incentive fee = (100.00% × 0.4375%)
+ (20.00% × (2.30% - 2.1875%))
= 0.4375% + (20.00% × 0.1125%)
= 0.4375% + 0.0225%
= 0.46%
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment
Income exceeds the hurdle rate and fully satisfies the “catch-up” provision; therefore, the income related portion
of the incentive fee is 0.46%.
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(1)
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Represents 7.00% annualized hurdle rate.
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(2)
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Represents 2.00% annualized base management fee.
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(3)
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Excludes organizational and offering expenses.
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(4)
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The “catch-up” provision is intended to provide our Advisor with an incentive fee of 20.00% on all Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income as if a hurdle rate did not apply when our Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income exceeds 2.1875% in
any fiscal quarter.
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Example 2: Income related portion of incentive
fee after total return requirement calculation for each fiscal quarter
Alternative 1
Assumptions
:
Investment income (including interest, distributions,
fees, etc.) = 2.80%
Hurdle rate
(1)
= 1.75%
Management fee
(2)
= 0.50%
Other expenses (legal, accounting, custodian, transfer
agent, etc.)
(3)
= 0.20%
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income (investment
income - (management fee + other expenses)) = 2.10%
Incentive fee = 100.00% × Pre-Incentive Fee
Net Investment Income (subject to ‘‘catch-up’’)
(4)
=100.00% × (2.10% - 1.75%)
= 0.35%
Cumulative incentive compensation accrued and/or
paid since July 1, 2014 = $9,000,000
20.0% of cumulative net increase in net assets resulting
from operations since July 1, 2014 = $8,000,000
Although
our Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income exceeds the hurdle rate of 1.75%, no incentive fee is payable because 20.0% of the
cumulative net increase in net assets resulting from operations since July 1, 2014 did not exceed the cumulative income and capital
gains incentive fees accrued and/or paid since July 1, 2014.
Alternative 2
Assumptions
:
Investment income (including interest, distributions,
fees, etc.) = 2.80%
Hurdle rate
(1)
= 1.75%
Management fee
(2)
= 0.50%
Other expenses (legal, accounting, custodian, transfer
agent, etc.)
(3)
= 0.20%
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income (investment
income - (management fee + other expenses)) = 2.10%
Incentive fee = 100.00% × Pre-Incentive Fee
Net Investment Income (subject to ‘‘catch-up’’)
(4)
=100.00% × (2.10% - 1.75%)
= 0.35%
Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income exceeds the hurdle rate, but does not fully satisfy the ‘‘catch-up’’ provision;
therefore, the income related portion of the incentive fee is 0.35%.
Cumulative incentive compensation accrued
and/or paid since July 1, 2014 = $9,000,000
20.0% of cumulative net increase in net assets resulting
from operations since July 1, 2014 = $10,000,000
Because
our Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income exceeds the hurdle rate of 1.75% and because 20.0% of the cumulative net increase in
net assets resulting from operations since July 1, 2014 exceeds the cumulative income and capital gains incentive fees accrued
and/or paid since July 1, 2014, an incentive fee would be payable, as shown in Alternative 3 of Example 1 above.
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(1)
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Represents 7.00% annualized hurdle rate.
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(2)
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Represents 2.00% annualized base management fee.
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(3)
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Excludes organizational and offering expenses.
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(4)
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The “catch-up” provision is intended to provide our Advisor with an incentive fee of 20.00% on all Pre-Incentive
Fee Net Investment Income as if a hurdle rate did not apply when our Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income exceeds 2.1875% in
any fiscal quarter.
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Example 3: Capital gains portion of incentive
fee
Alternative 1
Assumptions
:
Year 1: $20 million investment
made in Company A (“Investment A”), and $30 million investment made in Company B (“Investment B”)
Year 2: Investment A sold for
$50 million and fair market value (“FMV”) of Investment B determined to be $32 million
Year 3: FMV of Investment
B determined to be $25 million
Year 4: Investment
B sold for $31 million
The capital gains
portion of the incentive fee, if any, would be:
Year 1: None (No sales
transaction)
Year 2: Capital gains incentive
fee of $6 million ($30 million realized capital gains on sale of Investment A multiplied by 20%)
Year 3: None; $5 million
((20% multiplied by ($30 million cumulative capital gains less $5 million cumulative capital depreciation)) less $6 million
(previous capital gains fee paid in Year 2))
Year 4: Capital gains incentive
fee of $200,000; $6.2 million (($31 million cumulative realized capital gains multiplied by 20%) less $6 million
(capital gains incentive fee taken in Year 2))
Alternative 2
Assumptions
:
Year 1: $20 million investment
made in Company A (“Investment A”), $30 million investment made in Company B (“Investment B”) and
$25 million investment made in Company C (“Investment C”)
Year 2: Investment A sold for
$50 million, FMV of Investment B determined to be $25 million and FMV of Investment C determined to be $25 million
Year 3: FMV of Investment
B determined to be $27 million and Investment C sold for $30 million
Year 4: FMV of Investment
B determined to be $35 million
Year 5: Investment
B sold for $20 million
The capital gains
incentive fee, if any, would be:
Year 1: None (no sales
transaction)
Year 2: $5 million capital
gains incentive fee (20% multiplied by $25 million ($30 million realized capital gains on Investment A less unrealized
capital depreciation on Investment B))
Year 3: $1.4 million capital
gains incentive fee
(1)
($6.4 million (20% multiplied by $32 million ($35 million cumulative realized
capital gains less $3 million unrealized capital depreciation)) less $5 million capital gains incentive fee received
in Year 2
Year 4: None (no sales
transaction)
Year 5: None ($5 million
(20% multiplied by $25 million (cumulative realized capital gains of $35 million less realized capital losses of $10 million))
less $6.4 million cumulative capital gains incentive fee paid in Year 2 and Year 3
(2)
The hypothetical amounts of
returns shown are based on a percentage of our total net assets and assume no leverage. There is no guarantee that positive returns
will be realized and actual returns may vary from those shown in this example.
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(1)
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As illustrated in Year 3 of Alternative 1 above, if the Investment Management Agreement were terminated on a date other than
our fiscal year end of any year, we may have paid aggregate capital gains incentive fees that are more than the amount of such
fees that would be payable if the Investment Management Agreement were terminated on the fiscal year end of such year.
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(2)
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As noted above, it is possible that the cumulative aggregate capital gains fee received by the Advisor ($6.4 million)
is effectively greater than $5 million (20.00% of cumulative aggregate realized capital gains less net realized capital losses
or net unrealized depreciation ($25 million)).
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Payment of our expenses
All investment professionals
and staff of our Advisor, when and to the extent engaged in providing investment advisory and management services, and the compensation
and routine overhead expenses of its personnel allocable to such services, are provided and paid for by our Advisor. We bear all
other costs and expenses of our operations and transactions, including those relating to:
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calculating our net asset value (including the cost and expenses of any independent valuation firms);
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expenses, including travel expense, incurred by our Advisor or payable to third parties performing
due diligence on prospective portfolio companies, monitoring our investments and, if necessary, enforcing our rights;
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interest payable on debt, if any, incurred to finance our investments;
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the costs of all future offerings and repurchases of our common stock and other securities, if
any;
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the base management fee and any incentive fee;
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distributions on our shares;
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administration fees payable under the Administration Agreement;
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the allocated costs incurred by our Advisor as our Administrator in providing managerial assistance
to those portfolio companies that request it;
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amounts payable to third parties relating to, or associated with, making investments;
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transfer agent and custodial fees;
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fees and expenses associated with marketing efforts;
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independent director fees and expenses;
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costs of preparing and filing reports or other documents with the SEC;
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the costs of any reports, proxy statements or other notices to our stockholders, including printing
costs;
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directors and officers/errors and omissions liability insurance, and any other insurance premiums;
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indemnification payments;
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direct costs and expenses of administration, including audit and legal costs; and
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all other expenses incurred by us or the Administrator in connection with administering our business,
such as the allocable portion of overhead under the Administration Agreement, including rent, the fees and expenses associated
with performing compliance functions and our allocable portion of the costs of compensation and related expenses of our Chief Financial
Officer and Chief Compliance Officer and their respective staffs.
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Generally, our expenses
are expensed as incurred in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. To the extent we incur costs
that should be capitalized and amortized into expense we also do so in accordance with GAAP, which may include amortizing such
amount on a straight line basis over the life of the asset or the life of the services or product being performed or provided.
Limitation of liability and indemnification
The Investment Management
Agreement provides that our Advisor and its officers, managers, partners, agents, employees, controlling persons and any other
person or entity affiliated with our Advisor are not liable to us for any act or omission by it in the supervision or management
of our investment activities or for any loss sustained by us except for acts or omissions constituting willful misfeasance, bad
faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of its obligations under the Investment Management Agreement. The Investment Management
Agreement also provides for indemnification by us of our Advisor and its officers, managers, partners, agents, employees, controlling
persons and any other person or entity affiliated with our Advisor for liabilities incurred by them in connection with their services
to us (including any liabilities associated with an action or suit by or in the right of us or our stockholders), but excluding
liabilities for acts or omissions constituting willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence or reckless disregard of their
duties under the Investment Management Agreement subject to certain conditions.
Board approval of the Investment Management Agreement
Our Board held an
in-person meeting on July 29, 2016 at which it considered and reapproved our Investment Management Agreement for an additional
12-month period. In its consideration of the Investment Management Agreement, our Board focused on information it had received
relating to (a) the nature, quality and extent of the advisory and other services to be provided to us by our Advisor; (b) comparative
data with respect to advisory fees or similar expenses paid by other BDCs with similar investment objectives; (c) our projected
expenses and expense ratio compared to BDCs with similar investment objectives; (d) any existing and potential sources of
indirect income to our Advisor or the Administrator from their relationships with us and the profitability of those relationships;
(e) information about the services to be performed and the personnel performing such services under the Investment Management
Agreement; (f) the organizational capability and financial condition of our Advisor and its affiliates; (g) our Advisor’s
practices regarding the selection and compensation of brokers that may execute our portfolio transactions and the brokers’
provision of brokerage and research services to our Advisor; and (h) the possibility of obtaining similar services from other
third party service providers or through an internally managed structure.
Based on the information
reviewed and its discussions related thereto, our Board, including a majority of the directors who are not interested persons of
us, concluded that the investment management fee rates were reasonable in relation to the services to be provided.
Duration and termination
The Investment Management
Agreement was reapproved by our Board, and a majority of our independent directors, on July 29, 2016. Unless terminated earlier
as described below, it will continue in effect from year to year thereafter if approved annually by our Board including a majority
of our directors who are not interested persons or by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting
securities and a majority of our directors who are not interested persons. The Investment Management Agreement will automatically
terminate in the event of its assignment. The Investment Management Agreement may be terminated by either party without penalty
by delivering notice of termination upon not more than 60 days’ written notice to the other party. See “Item 1A
— Risk Factors — Risks related to our business and structure — Our Advisor can resign on 60 days’
notice, and we may not be able to find a suitable replacement within that time, resulting in a disruption in our operations that
could adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.”
Administration Agreement
The Administration
Agreement was considered and reapproved by our Board, and a majority of our independent directors, on July 29, 2016. Under the
Administration Agreement, the Administrator furnishes us with office facilities and equipment, provides us clerical, bookkeeping
and record keeping services at such facilities and provides us with other administrative services necessary to conduct our day-to-day
operations. We reimburse the Administrator for our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by the Administrator
in performing its obligations under the Administration Agreement, including rent, the fees and expenses associated with performing
compliance functions and our allocable portion of the costs of compensation and related expenses of our Chief Financial Officer
and Chief Compliance Officer and their respective staffs. The Board reviews the allocation of expenses shared with the Advisor
or other clients of the Advisor, if any, on a periodic basis to confirm that the allocations are reasonable and appropriate in
light of the provisions of the Investment Management Agreement and Administration Agreement and then-current circumstances.
License agreement
We have entered into
a license agreement with Horizon Technology Finance, LLC pursuant to which we were granted a non-exclusive, royalty-free right
and license to use the service mark “Horizon Technology Finance.” Under this agreement, we have a right to use the
“Horizon Technology Finance” service mark for so long as the Investment Management Agreement with our Advisor is in
effect. Other than with respect to this limited license, we have no legal right to the “Horizon Technology Finance”
service mark.
Regulation
We have elected to
be regulated as a BDC under the 1940 Act and elected to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code. As with other companies
regulated by the 1940 Act, a BDC must adhere to certain substantive regulatory requirements. The 1940 Act contains prohibitions
and restrictions relating to transactions between BDCs and their affiliates (including any investment advisers or sub-advisers),
principal underwriters and affiliates of those affiliates or underwriters and requires that a majority of the directors be persons
other than “interested persons,” as that term is defined in the 1940 Act. In addition, the 1940 Act provides that we
may not change the nature of our business so as to cease to be, or to withdraw our election as, a BDC unless approved by “a
majority of our outstanding voting securities” as defined in the 1940 Act. A majority of the outstanding voting securities
of a company is defined under the 1940 Act as the lesser of: (1) 67% or more of such company’s shares present at a meeting
if more than 50% of the outstanding shares of such company are present or represented by proxy or (2) more than 50% of the
outstanding shares of such company. Our bylaws provide for the calling of a special meeting of stockholders at which such action
could be considered upon written notice of not less than ten or more than sixty days before the date of such meeting.
We may invest up to
100% of our assets in securities acquired directly from issuers in privately negotiated transactions. With respect to such securities,
we may, for the purpose of public resale, be deemed an “underwriter” as that term is defined in the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. We do not intend to acquire securities issued by any investment company that exceed
the limits imposed by the 1940 Act. Under these limits, except for registered money market funds, we generally cannot acquire more
than 3% of the voting stock of any investment company, invest more than 5% of the value of our total assets in the securities of
one investment company or invest more than 10% of the value of our total assets in the securities of more than one investment company.
With regard to that portion of our portfolio invested in securities issued by investment companies, it should be noted that such
investments might subject our stockholders to additional expenses. None of our investment policies are fundamental and any may
be changed without stockholder approval.
We may also be prohibited
under the 1940 Act from knowingly participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our directors
who are not interested persons and, in some cases, prior approval by the SEC. For example, under the 1940 Act, absent receipt of
exemptive relief from the SEC, we and our affiliates may be precluded from co-investing in private placements of securities. As
a result of one or more of these situations, we may not be able to invest as much as we otherwise would in certain investments
or may not be able to liquidate a position as quickly. On January 23, 2017, we filed an application for exemptive relief with the
SEC, which, if granted, would permit us to co-invest subject to certain conditions.
We expect to be periodically
examined by the SEC for compliance with the 1940 Act.
We are required to
provide and maintain a bond issued by a reputable fidelity insurance company to protect us against larceny and embezzlement. Furthermore,
as a BDC, we are prohibited from protecting any director or officer against any liability to us or our stockholders arising from
willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of such person’s
office.
We and our Advisor
have adopted and implemented written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violation of the federal securities
laws and review these policies and procedures annually for their adequacy and the effectiveness of their implementation. We and
our Advisor have designated a chief compliance officer to be responsible for administering the policies and procedures.
Qualifying assets
Under the 1940 Act,
a BDC may not acquire any asset other than assets of the type listed in section 55(a) of the 1940 Act, which are referred
to as qualifying assets, unless, at the time the acquisition is made, qualifying assets represent at least 70% of the company’s
total assets. The principal categories of qualifying assets relevant to our proposed business are the following:
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Securities purchased in transactions not involving any public offering from the issuer of such
securities, which issuer (subject to certain limited exceptions) is an eligible portfolio company, or from any person who is, or
has been during the preceding 13 months, an affiliated person of an eligible portfolio company, or from any other person,
subject to such rules as may be prescribed by the SEC. An eligible portfolio company is defined in the 1940 Act as any issuer which:
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is organized under the laws of, and has its principal place of business in, the United States;
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is not an investment company (other than a small business investment company wholly owned by the
BDC) or a company that would be an investment company but for certain exclusions under the 1940 Act; and
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satisfies any of the following:
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has a market capitalization of less than $250 million or does not have any class of securities
listed on a national securities exchange;
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is controlled by a BDC or a group of companies including a BDC, the BDC actually exercises a controlling
influence over the management or policies of the eligible portfolio company, and, as a result thereof, the BDC has an affiliated
person who is a director of the eligible portfolio company; or
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is a small and solvent company having total assets of not more than $4 million and capital
and surplus of not less than $2 million.
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Securities of any eligible portfolio company which we control.
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Securities purchased in a private transaction from a U.S. issuer that is not an investment
company or from an affiliated person of the issuer, or in transactions incident thereto, if the issuer is in bankruptcy and subject
to reorganization or if the issuer, immediately prior to the purchase of its securities was unable to meet its obligations as they
came due without material assistance other than conventional lending or financing arrangements.
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Securities of an eligible portfolio company purchased from any person in a private transaction
if there is no ready market for such securities and we already own 60% of the outstanding equity of the eligible portfolio company.
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Securities received in exchange for or distributed on or with respect to securities described above,
or pursuant to the exercise of warrants or rights relating to such securities.
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Cash, cash equivalents, U.S. Government securities or high-quality debt securities maturing
in one year or less from the time of investment.
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The regulations defining
qualifying assets may change over time. We may adjust our investment focus as needed to comply with and/or take advantage of any
regulatory, legislative, administrative or judicial actions in this area.
Managerial assistance to portfolio companies
A BDC must have been
organized and have its principal place of business in the United States and must be operated for the purpose of making investments
in the types of securities described in “— Qualifying assets.” However, in order to count portfolio securities
as qualifying assets for the purpose of the 70% test, the BDC must either control the issuer of the securities or must offer to
make available to the issuer of the securities (other than small and solvent companies described above) significant managerial
assistance. Where the BDC purchases such securities in conjunction with one or more other persons acting together, the BDC will
satisfy this test if one of the other persons in the group makes available such managerial assistance. Making available managerial
assistance means, among other things, any arrangement whereby the BDC, through its directors, officers or employees, offers to
provide, and, if accepted, does so provide, significant guidance and counsel concerning the management, operations or business
objectives and policies of a portfolio company.
Issuance of additional shares
We are not generally
able to issue and sell our common stock at a price below net asset value per share. We may, however, issue and sell our common
stock at a price below the current net asset value of the common stock, or issue and sell warrants, options or rights to acquire
such common stock, at a price below the current net asset value of the common stock if our Board determines that such sale is in
our best interest and in the best interests of our stockholders, and our stockholders have approved our policy and practice of
making such sales within the preceding 12 months. In any such case, the price at which our securities are to be issued and
sold may not be less than a price which, in the determination of our Board, closely approximates the market value of such securities.
We may seek approval from our stockholders to offer shares of our common stock below its net asset value in the future.
Temporary investments
Pending investment
in other types of “qualifying assets,” as described above, our investments may consist of cash, cash equivalents, U.S. Government
securities or high-quality debt securities maturing in one year or less from the time of investment, which we refer to, collectively,
as temporary investments, so that 70% of our assets are qualifying assets. Typically, we invest in highly rated commercial paper,
U.S. Government agency notes, U.S. Treasury bills or in repurchase agreements relating to such securities that are fully
collateralized by cash or securities issued by the U.S. Government or its agencies. A repurchase agreement involves the purchase
by an investor, such as us, of a specified security and the simultaneous agreement by the seller to repurchase it at an agreed-upon
future date and at a price which is greater than the purchase price by an amount that reflects an agreed-upon interest rate. There
is no percentage restriction on the proportion of our assets that may be invested in such repurchase agreements. However, subject
to certain exceptions, if more than 25% of our total assets constitute repurchase agreements from a single counterparty, we generally
would not meet the diversification tests in order to qualify as a RIC for federal income tax purposes. Thus, we do not intend to
enter into repurchase agreements with a single counterparty in excess of this limit. Our Advisor monitors the creditworthiness
of the counterparties with which we enter into repurchase agreement transactions.
Senior securities; derivative securities
We are permitted,
under specified conditions, to issue multiple classes of indebtedness and one class of stock senior to our common stock if our
asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, is at least equal to 200% immediately after each such issuance. In addition, while
any senior securities are outstanding, we must make provisions to prohibit any distribution to our stockholders or the repurchase
of such securities or shares unless we meet the applicable asset coverage requirements at the time of the distribution or repurchase.
We may also borrow amounts up to 5% of the value of our total assets for temporary purposes without regard to asset coverage. For
a discussion of the risks associated with leverage, see “Item 1A — Risk Factors — Risks related to our business
and structure — We borrow money, which magnifies the potential for gain or loss on amounts invested and may increase
the risk of investing in us.”
The 1940 Act also
limits the amount of warrants, options and rights to common stock that we may issue and the terms of such securities.
Code of ethics
We and our Advisor
have each adopted a code of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act and Rule 204A-1 under the Investment Advisers
Act of 1940, as amended, or the Advisers Act, respectively, that establishes procedures for personal investments and restricts
certain personal securities transactions. Personnel subject to each code may invest in securities for their personal investment
accounts, including securities that may be purchased or held by us, so long as such investments are made in accordance with the
relevant code of ethics’ requirements. You may read and copy each code of ethics at the SEC’s Public Reference Room
in Washington, D.C. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at (202) 551-8090.
In addition, each code of ethics is attached as an exhibit to this report and is available on the SEC’s Internet site at
www.sec.gov. You may also obtain copies of the code of ethics, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following
e-mail address:
publicinfo@sec.gov
, or by writing the SEC’s Public Reference Section, Washington, D.C. 20549-0102.
Proxy voting policies and procedures
We have delegated
our proxy voting responsibility to our Advisor. The proxy voting policies and procedures of our Advisor are set forth below. The
guidelines are reviewed periodically by our Advisor and our independent directors and, accordingly, are subject to change.
Introduction
Our Advisor is registered
with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act. As an investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act, our Advisor
has fiduciary duties to us. As part of this duty, our Advisor recognizes that it must vote client securities in a timely manner
free of conflicts of interest and in our best interests and the best interests of our stockholders. Our Advisor’s proxy voting
policies and procedures have been formulated to ensure decision-making is consistent with these fiduciary duties.
These policies and
procedures for voting proxies are intended to comply with Section 206 of, and Rule 206(4)-6 under, the Advisers Act.
Proxy policies
Our Advisor votes
proxies relating to our portfolio securities in what our Advisor perceives to be the best interest of our stockholders. Our Advisor
reviews on a case-by-case basis each proposal submitted to a stockholder vote to determine its effect on the portfolio securities
held by us. Although our Advisor generally votes against proposals that may have a negative effect on our portfolio securities,
our Advisor may vote for such a proposal if there exist compelling long-term reasons to do so.
Our Advisor’s
proxy voting decisions are made by those senior officers who are responsible for monitoring each of our investments. To ensure
that a vote is not the product of a conflict of interest, our Advisor requires that (1) anyone involved in the decision-making
process disclose to our Chief Compliance Officer any potential conflict that he or she is aware of and any contact that he or she
has had with any interested party regarding a proxy vote and (2) employees involved in the decision-making process or vote
administration are prohibited from revealing how we intend to vote on a proposal in order to reduce any attempted influence from
interested parties.
Proxy voting records
You may obtain information
about how we voted proxies by making a written request for proxy voting information to: Chief Compliance Officer, Horizon Technology
Finance Corporation, 312 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, Connecticut 06032 or by calling (860) 676-8654.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
The Sarbanes-Oxley
Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, imposes a wide variety of regulatory requirements on publicly held companies and their
insiders. Many of these requirements affect us. For example:
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pursuant to Rule 13a-14 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange
Act, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer must certify the accuracy of the financial statements contained
in our periodic reports;
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pursuant to Item 307 under Regulation S-K, our periodic reports must disclose our conclusions about
the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures;
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pursuant to Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act, our management must prepare an annual report regarding
its assessment of our internal control over financial reporting, which must be audited by our independent registered public accounting
firm; and
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pursuant to Item 308 of Regulation S-K and Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act, our periodic reports
must disclose whether there were significant changes in our internal controls over financial reporting or in other factors that
could significantly affect these controls subsequent to the date of their evaluation, including any corrective actions with regard
to significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.
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The Sarbanes-Oxley
Act requires us to review our current policies and procedures to determine whether we comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the
regulations promulgated thereunder. We will continue to monitor our compliance with all regulations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
and intend to take actions necessary to ensure that we are in compliance therewith.
NASDAQ corporate governance regulations
NASDAQ has adopted
corporate governance regulations with which listed companies must comply. We intend to be in compliance with these corporate governance
listing standards. We intend to monitor our compliance with all future listing standards and to take all necessary actions to ensure
that we are in compliance therewith.
Privacy principles
We are committed to
maintaining the privacy of stockholders and to safeguarding our non-public personal information. The following information is provided
to help you understand what personal information we collect, how we protect that information and why, in certain cases, we may
share information with select other parties.
Generally, we do not
receive any nonpublic personal information relating to our stockholders, although certain nonpublic personal information of our
stockholders may become available to us. We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our stockholders or former
stockholders, except as permitted by law or as is necessary in order to service stockholder accounts (for example, to a transfer
agent or third party administrator).
We restrict access
to nonpublic personal information about our stockholders to our Advisor’s employees with a legitimate business need for the
information. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards designed to protect the nonpublic personal information
of our stockholders.
Election to be taxed as a RIC
We have elected to
be subject to tax, and intend to qualify annually to maintain our election to be subject to tax, as a RIC under Subchapter M of
the Code. To maintain our RIC status, we must, among other requirements, meet certain source-of-income and quarterly asset diversification
requirements (as described below). We also must distribute dividends each tax year of an amount generally at least equal to 90%
of the sum of our ordinary income and our realized net short-term capital gains (i.e., net short-term capital gains in excess of
net long term losses), or investment company taxable income, if any, out of the assets legally available for distribution, which
we refer to as the “Annual Distribution Requirement.” Although not required for us to maintain our RIC tax status,
in order to preclude the imposition of a 4% nondeductible federal excise tax imposed on RICs, we are required to distribute dividends
in respect of each calendar year of an amount generally at least equal to the sum of (1) 98% of our ordinary income (taking
into account certain deferrals and elections) for the calendar year, (2) 98.2% of the excess of our capital gains over our
capital losses, or capital gain net income (adjusted for certain ordinary losses) for the one-year period ending on October 31
of the calendar year and (3) any ordinary income or net capital gains for preceding years that was not distributed during
such years and on which we previously did not incur any U.S. federal corporate income tax, or the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement.
In addition, although we may distribute realized net capital gains (i.e., net long-term capital gains in excess of short-term capital
losses), if any, at least annually out of the assets legally available for such distributions, we may decide to retain such net
capital gains or ordinary income to provide us with additional liquidity. In order to qualify as a RIC, we must:
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maintain an election to be treated as a BDC under the 1940 Act at all times during each tax year;
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meet any applicable securities law requirements, including capital structure requirements;
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derive in each tax year at least 90% of our gross income from dividends, interest, payments with
respect to certain securities loans, gains from the sale of stock or other securities, net income from certain qualified publicly
traded partnerships or other income derived with respect to our business of investing in such stock or securities, or the Qualifying
Income Test; and
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diversify our holdings so that at the end of each quarter of the tax year:
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at least 50% of the value of our assets consists of cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government
securities, securities of other RICs, and other securities if such other securities of any one issuer neither represents more than
5% of the value of our assets nor more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of the issuer; and
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no more than 25% of the value of our assets is invested in the securities, other than U.S. government
securities or securities of other RICs, of one issuer or of two or more issuers that are controlled, as determined under applicable
tax rules, by us and that are engaged in the same or similar or related trades or businesses or in certain qualified publicly traded
partnerships, or the Diversification Tests.
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Taxation as a RIC
If we qualify as a
RIC, and satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement, then we will not be subject to entity-level income taxes on the portion of
our investment company taxable income as well as any net capital gain (i.e., realized net long-term capital gains in excess of
realized net short-term capital losses) we distribute as dividends to stockholders. We may retain for investment all or a portion
of our net capital gain. However, if we retain any investment company taxable income or net capital gains, and satisfy the Annual
Distribution Requirement, we will be subject to entity-level taxation at regular corporate rates on any amounts retained. If we
fail to qualify as a RIC for a period greater than two consecutive tax years, to qualify as a RIC in a subsequent tax year, we
may be subject to regular corporate rates on any net built-in gains with respect to certain of our assets (that is, the excess
of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets
if we had sold the property at fair market value at the end of the tax year) that we elect to recognize on requalification or when
recognized over the next five tax years.
We may be required
to recognize taxable income in circumstances in which we do not receive cash. For example, if we hold debt securities that are
treated under applicable tax rules as having original issue discount (such as debt instruments with payment in kind interest or,
in certain cases, increasing interest rates or issued with warrants), we must include in income each tax year a portion of the
original issue discount that accrues over the life of the debt security, regardless of whether cash representing such income is
received by us in the same tax year. Because any original issue discount accrued will be included in our investment company taxable
income for the tax year of accrual, we may be required to make a distribution to our stockholders in order to satisfy the Annual
Distribution Requirement or the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement, even though we will not have received any corresponding cash
amount.
Gain or loss realized
by us from warrants acquired by us, as well as any loss attributable to the lapse of such warrants, generally will be treated as
capital gain or loss. Such gain or loss generally will be long-term or short-term, depending on how long we held a particular warrant.
Although we do not
presently expect to do so, we are authorized to borrow funds and to sell assets in order to satisfy distribution requirements.
However, under the 1940 Act, we are generally not permitted to make distributions to our stockholders while our debt obligations
and other senior securities are outstanding unless certain “asset coverage” tests are met. Moreover, our ability to
dispose of assets to meet our distribution requirements may be limited by (1) the illiquid nature of our portfolio and/or
(2) other requirements relating to our status as a RIC, including the Diversification Tests. If we dispose of assets in order
to meet the Annual Distribution Requirement or the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement, we may make such dispositions at times that,
from an investment standpoint, are not advantageous.
Failure to qualify as a RIC
If we fail to satisfy
the Annual Distribution Requirement or fail to qualify as a RIC in any tax year, assuming we do not qualify for or take advantage
of certain remedial provisions, we will be subject to tax in that year on all of our taxable income, regardless of whether we make
any distributions to our stockholders. In that case, all of our income will be subject to corporate-level federal income tax, reducing
the amount available to be distributed to our stockholders. In contrast, assuming we qualify as a RIC, our corporate-level federal
income tax liability should be substantially reduced or eliminated. See “—Election to be taxed as a RIC” above.
If we are unable to
maintain our status as a RIC, we would be subject to tax on all of our taxable income at regular corporate rates. We would not
be able to deduct distributions to stockholders, nor would they be required to be made. Distributions would generally be taxable
to our stockholders as ordinary distribution income eligible for the 15% or 20% maximum rate to the extent of our current and accumulated
earnings and profits. Subject to certain limitations under the Code, dividends paid by us to certain corporate stockholders would
be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits would
be treated first as a return of capital to the extent of the stockholder’s tax basis in our common stock, and any remaining
distributions would be treated as a capital gain.
Item 1A.
Risk Factors
Investing in our
securities involves a high degree of risk. In addition to
the other information contained in this annual report on Form 10-K,
you
should consider carefully the following information before making an investment in
our securities. The risks
set out below are not the only risks we face. If any of the following events
occur, our business, financial condition and
results of operations could be
materially and adversely affected. In such case, our net asset value, or NAV, per share and
the trading
price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose part or all of your
investment.
Risks related to our business and structure
We are dependent upon key personnel of our Advisor and
our Advisor’s ability to hire
and retain qualified personnel.
We do not have any
employees and are dependent upon the members of our Advisor’s senior management, as well as other key personnel for the identification,
evaluation, final selection, structuring, closing and monitoring of our investments. These employees have critical industry experience
and relationships that we rely on to implement our business plan to originate Venture Loans in our Target Industries. Our future
success depends on the continued service of the senior members of our Advisor’s management team. If our Advisor were to lose
the services of any of the senior members of our Advisor’s management team, we may not be able to operate our business as
we expect, and our ability to compete could be harmed, either of which could cause our business, results of operations or financial
condition to suffer.
In addition, if either
Mr. Pomeroy, our Chief Executive Officer, or Mr. Michaud, our President, ceases to be actively involved with us or our
Advisor, and is not replaced by an individual satisfactory to Key within 90 days, Key could, absent a waiver or cure, demand repayment
of any outstanding obligations under the Key Facility. In such an event, if we do not have sufficient cash to repay our outstanding
obligations, we may be required to sell investments which, due to their illiquidity, may be difficult to sell on favorable terms
or at all. We may also be unable to make new investments, cover our existing obligations to extend credit or meet other obligations
as they come due, which could adversely impact our results of operations.
Our future success
also depends, in part, on our Advisor’s ability to identify, attract and retain sufficient numbers of highly skilled employees.
If our Advisor is not successful in identifying, attracting and retaining such employees, we may not be able to operate our business
as we expect. In addition, our Advisor may in the future manage investment funds with investment objectives similar to ours thereby
diverting the time and attention of its investment professionals that we rely on to implement our business plan.
Our Advisor may change or be restructured.
We cannot assure you
that the Advisor will remain our investment adviser or that we will continue to have access to our Advisor’s investment professionals
or its relationships. We would be required to obtain shareholder approval for a new investment management agreement in the event
that (1) the Advisor resigns as our investment adviser or (2) a change of control or deemed change of control of the Advisor occurs.
We cannot provide assurance that a new investment management agreement or new investment adviser would provide the same or equivalent
services on the same or on as favorable of terms as the Investment Management Agreement or the Advisor.
We operate in a highly competitive
market for investment opportunities, and if we are
not able to compete effectively, our business, results of operations
and financial
condition may be adversely affected and the value of your investment in us could
decline.
We compete for investments
with a number of investment funds and other BDCs, as well as traditional financial services companies such as commercial banks
and other financing sources. Some of our competitors are larger and have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources
than we have. For example, some competitors may have a lower cost of funds and access to funding sources that are not available
to us. This may enable these competitors to make commercial loans with interest rates that are comparable to, or lower than, the
rates we typically offer. We may lose prospective portfolio companies if we do not match our competitors’ pricing, terms
and structure. If we do match our competitors’ pricing, terms or structure, we may experience decreased net interest income
and increased risk of credit losses. In addition, some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments,
which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments, establish more relationships than us and build their market
shares. Furthermore, many of our competitors are not subject to the regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act imposes on us as
a BDC or that the Code imposes on us as a RIC. If we are not able to compete effectively, we may not be able to identify and take
advantage of attractive investment opportunities that we identify and may not be able to fully invest our available capital. If
this occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
We borrow money, which magnifies
the potential for gain or loss on amounts invested
and may increase the risk of investing in us.
Leverage is generally
considered a speculative investment technique, and we intend to continue to borrow money as part of our business plan. The use
of leverage magnifies the potential for gain or loss on amounts invested and, therefore, increases the risks associated with investing
in us. See “Item 7 — Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation —
Liquidity and capital resources.” Lenders of senior debt securities have fixed dollar claims on our assets that are superior
to the claims of our common stockholders. If the value of our assets increases, then leveraging would cause the NAV attributable
to our common stock to increase more sharply than it would have had we not leveraged. However, any decrease in our income would
cause net income to decline more sharply than it would have had we not leveraged. This decline could adversely affect our ability
to make common stock distribution payments. In addition, because our investments may be illiquid, we may be unable to dispose of
them or unable to do so at a favorable price in the event we need to do so, if we are unable to refinance any indebtedness upon
maturity, and, as a result, we may suffer losses.
Our ability to service
any debt that we incur depends largely on our financial performance and is subject to prevailing economic conditions and competitive
pressures. Moreover, as our Advisor’s management fee is payable to our Advisor based on our gross assets less cash, including
those assets acquired through the use of leverage, our Advisor may have a financial incentive to incur leverage which may not be
consistent with our stockholders’ interests. In addition, holders of our common stock bear the burden of any increase in
our expenses, as a result of leverage, including any increase in the management fee payable to our Advisor.
In addition to the
leverage described above, in the past, we have securitized a large portion of our debt investments to generate cash for funding
new investments and may seek to securitize additional debt investments in the future. To securitize additional debt investments
in the future, we may create a wholly-owned subsidiary and sell and/or contribute a pool of debt investments to such subsidiary.
This could include the sale of interests in the subsidiary on a non-recourse basis to purchasers, who we would expect to be willing
to accept a lower interest rate to invest in investment grade loan pools. We would retain all or a portion of the equity in any
such securitized pool of loans. An inability to securitize part of our debt investments in the future could limit our ability to
grow our business, fully execute our business strategy and increase our earnings. Moreover, certain types of securitization transactions
may expose us to greater risk of loss than would other types of financing.
Illustration:
The
following table illustrates the effect of leverage on returns from an investment in our common stock assuming various annual returns,
net of expenses. The calculations in the table below are hypothetical and actual returns may be higher or lower than those appearing
in the table below:
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Assumed Return on Portfolio
(Net of Expenses)
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-10%
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-5%
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0%
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5%
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10%
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Corresponding return to common stockholder(1)
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-20.97
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%
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-12.38
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%
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-3.78
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%
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4.82
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%
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13.41
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%
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(1)
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Assumes $239 million in total assets, $96 million in outstanding debt, $139 million in net assets, and an average cost of borrowed funds of 5.47% at December 31, 2016.
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Based on our outstanding
indebtedness of $96 million as of December 31, 2016 and the average cost of borrowed funds of 5.47% as of that date, our investment
portfolio would have been required to experience an annual return of at least 2.48% to cover annual interest payments on the outstanding
debt. Actual interest payments may be different.
If we are unable to comply with the
covenants or restrictions in the Key Facility or make payments when due thereunder,
our business could be materially
adversely affected.
Our Key Facility is
secured by a lien on the assets of our wholly owned subsidiary, Credit II. The breach of certain of the covenants or restrictions
or our failure to make payments when due under the Key Facility, unless cured within the applicable grace period, would result
in a default under the Key Facility that would permit the lender thereunder to declare all amounts outstanding to be due and payable.
In such an event, we may not have sufficient assets to repay such indebtedness and the lender may exercise rights available to
them, including to the extent permitted under applicable law, the seizure of such assets without adjudication.
The Key Facility also
requires Credit II and our Advisor to comply with various financial covenants, including maintenance by our Advisor of a minimum
tangible net worth and limitations on the value of, and modifications to, the loan collateral that secures the Key Facility. Complying
with these restrictions may prevent us from taking actions that we believe would help us to grow our business or are otherwise
consistent with our investment objective. These restrictions could also limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions,
meet extraordinary capital needs or otherwise restrict corporate activities, and could result in our failing to qualify as a RIC
resulting in our becoming subject to corporate-level income tax. See “Item 7 — Management’s Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and capital resources” for additional information
regarding our credit arrangements.
An event of default
or acceleration under the Key Facility could also cause a cross-default or cross-acceleration of other debt instruments or contractual
obligations, which would adversely impact our liquidity. We may not be granted waivers or amendments to the Key Facility, if for
any reason we are unable to comply with the terms of the Key Facility and we may not be able to refinance the Key Facility on terms
acceptable to us, or at all.
If we are unable to obtain additional debt financing,
our business could be materially adversely affected.
We may want to obtain
additional debt financing, or need to do so upon maturity of the Key Facility or 2019 Notes, in order to obtain funds which may
be made available for investments. We may borrow under the Key Facility until August 12, 2018. After such date, we must repay the
outstanding advances under the Key Facility in accordance with its terms and conditions. All outstanding advances under the Key
Facility are due and payable on August 12, 2020, unless such date is extended in accordance with its terms. All outstanding amounts
on our 2019 Notes are due and payable on March 15, 2019 unless redeemed prior to that date. If we are unable to increase, renew
or replace the Key Facility or enter into other new debt financings on commercially reasonable terms, our liquidity may be reduced
significantly. In addition, if we are unable to repay amounts outstanding under any such debt financings and are declared in default
or are unable to renew or refinance these debt financings, we may not be able to make new investments or operate our business in
the normal course. These situations may arise due to circumstances that we may be unable to control, such as lack of access to
the credit markets, a severe decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, an economic downturn or an operational problem that
affects third parties or us, and could materially damage our business.
Our 2019 Notes are unsecured and
therefore are effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness we have currently incurred or may incur in the future.
Our
2019 Notes are not secured by any of our assets or any of the assets of our subsidiaries. As a result, the 2019 Notes are effectively
subordinated to any secured indebtedness we or our subsidiaries have currently incurred and may incur in the future (or any indebtedness
that is initially unsecured to which we subsequently grant security) to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness.
In any liquidation
,
dissolution
,
bankruptcy or other similar proceeding
,
the
holders of any of our existing or future secured indebtedness and the secured indebtedness of our subsidiaries may assert rights
against the assets pledged to secure that indebtedness in order to receive full payment of their indebtedness before the assets
may be used to pay other creditors, including the holders of the 2019 Notes.
Our 2019 Notes are structurally subordinated
to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries.
Our
2019 Notes are obligations exclusively of Horizon Technology Finance Corporation, and not of any of our subsidiaries. None of our
subsidiaries is a guarantor of the 2019 Notes and the 2019 Notes are not required to be guaranteed by any subsidiaries we may acquire
or create in the future. The assets of such subsidiaries are not directly available to satisfy the claims of our creditors, including
holders of the 2019 Notes.
Except
to the extent we are a creditor with recognized claims against our subsidiaries, all claims of creditors (including trade creditors)
and holders of preferred stock, if any, of our subsidiaries have priority over our equity interests in such subsidiaries (and therefore
the claims of our creditors, including holders of the 2019 Notes) with respect to the assets of such subsidiaries. Even if we are
recognized as a creditor of one or more of our subsidiaries, our claims are effectively subordinated to any security interests
in the assets of any such subsidiary and to any indebtedness or other liabilities of any such subsidiary senior to our claims.
Consequently, the 2019 Notes are structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities (including trade payables)
of any of our subsidiaries and any subsidiaries that we may in the future acquire or establish as financing vehicles or otherwise.
In
addition, our subsidiaries may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, all of which would be structurally senior
to the 2019 Notes.
The indenture under which our 2019
Notes were issued contains limited protection for holders of our 2019 Notes.
The
indenture under which the 2019 Notes were issued offers limited protection to holders of the 2019 Notes. The terms of the indenture
and the 2019 Notes do not restrict our or any of our subsidiaries’ ability to engage in, or otherwise be a party to, a variety
of corporate transactions, circumstances or events that could have a material adverse impact on investments in the 2019 Notes.
In particular, the terms of the indenture and the 2019 Notes do not place any restrictions on our or our subsidiaries’ ability
to:
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issue securities or otherwise incur additional indebtedness or other
obligations, including (1) any indebtedness or other obligations that would be equal in right of payment to the 2019 Notes, (2)
any indebtedness or
other
obligations that would be
secured
and
therefore rank effectively senior in
right
of
payment to the 2019 Notes to the extent of the values
of
the
assets securing such debt, (3) indebtedness of ours that is guaranteed by one or more of our subsidiaries and which therefore is
structurally senior to the 2019 Notes and (4) securities, indebtedness or obligations issued or incurred by our
subsidiaries
that would be
senior
to
our equity interests in
our
subsidiaries and therefore
rank structurally
senior
to the 2019 Notes with
respect
to the assets of
our
subsidiaries,
in each case other than an incurrence of indebtedness or other obligation that would cause a violation
of
Section 18(a)(1)(A) as modified by Section 61(a)(l) of the 1940 Act or any
successor
provisions, whether or not we continue to be subject to such provisions
of
the 1940 Act, but giving effect, in either case, to any exemptive relief granted to us by the
SEC (these provisions generally prohibit us from making additional borrowings, including through the issuance of additional debt
or the sale of additional debt
securities,
unless our asset
coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, equals at least 200%
after
such
borrowings);
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pay dividends on, or purchase or redeem or make any payments in respect of capital stock or other
securities ranking junior in right of payment to the 2019 Notes, including subordinated indebtedness, in each case other than dividends,
purchases, redemptions or payments that would cause a violation of Section 18(a)(1)(B) as modified by Section 61(a)(l) of the 1940
Act or any successor provisions giving effect to any exemptive relief granted to us by the SEC (these provisions generally prohibit
us from declaring any cash dividend or distribution upon any class of our capital stock, or purchasing any such capital stock unless
our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, equals at least 200% at the time of the declaration of the dividend or distribution
or the purchase and after deducting the amount of such dividend, distribution or purchase);
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sell assets (other than certain limited restrictions on our ability to consolidate, merge or sell
all or substantially all of our assets);
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enter into transactions with affiliates;
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create liens (including liens on the shares of our subsidiaries) or enter into sale and leaseback
transactions;
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create restrictions on the payment of dividends or other amounts to us from our subsidiaries.
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In
addition, the indenture does not require us to offer to purchase the 2019 Notes in connection with a change of control or any other
event.
Furthermore,
the terms of the indenture and the 2019 Notes do not protect holders of the 2019 Notes in the event that we experience changes
(including significant adverse changes) in our financial condition, results of operations or credit ratings, as they do not require
that we or our subsidiaries adhere to any financial tests or ratios or specified levels of net worth, revenues, income, cash flow,
or liquidity.
Our
ability to recapitalize, incur additional debt and take a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of the 2019
Notes may have important consequences for holders of the 2019 Notes, including making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations
with respect to the 2019 Notes or negatively affecting the trading value of the 2019 Notes.
Certain
of our current debt instruments include more protections for their holders than the indenture and the 2019 Notes. In addition,
other debt we issue or incur in the future could contain more protections for its holders than the indenture and the 2019 Notes,
including additional covenants and events of default. The issuance or incurrence of any such debt with incremental protections
could affect the market for and trading levels and prices of the 2019 Notes.
An active trading market for our
2019 Notes may not exist, which could limit holders’ ability to sell our 2019 Notes or affect the market price of the 2019
Notes.
The
2019 Notes are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, under the symbol “HTF”. However, we cannot provide any
assurances that an active trading market for the 2019 Notes will exist in the future or that you will be able to sell your 2019
Notes. Even if an active trading market does exist, the 2019 Notes may trade at a discount from their initial offering price depending
on prevailing interest rates, the market for similar securities, our credit ratings, if any, general economic conditions, our financial
condition, performance and prospects and other factors. To the extent an active trading market does not exist, the liquidity and
trading price for the 2019 Notes may be harmed. Accordingly, you may be required to bear the financial risk of an investment in
the 2019 Notes for an indefinite period of time.
If we default on our obligations
to pay our other indebtedness, we may not be able to make payments on our 2019 Notes.
Any
default under the agreements governing our indebtedness, including a default under the Key Facility, or other indebtedness to which
we may be a party that is not waived by the required lenders or holders thereunder, and the remedies sought by the holders of such
indebtedness could make us unable to pay principal, premium, if any, and interest on the 2019 Notes and substantially decrease
the market value of the 2019 Notes. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow and are otherwise unable to obtain funds
necessary to meet required payments of principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness, or if we otherwise fail to
comply with the various covenants, including financial and operating covenants, in the instruments governing our indebtedness,
we could be in default under the terms of the agreements governing such indebtedness. In the event of such default, the holders
of such indebtedness could elect to declare all the funds borrowed thereunder to be due and payable, together with accrued and
unpaid interest, the lender under the Key Facility or other debt we may incur in the future could elect to terminate their commitments,
cease making further loans and institute foreclosure proceedings against our assets, and we could be forced into bankruptcy or
liquidation. If our operating performance declines, we may in the future need to seek to obtain waivers from the required lender
under the Key Facility or other debt that we may incur in the future to avoid being in default. If we breach our covenants under
the Key Facility or other debt and seek a waiver, we may not be able to obtain a waiver from the required lenders or holders. If
this occurs, we would be in default and our lenders or debt holders could exercise their rights as described above, and we could
be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. If we are unable to repay debt, lenders having secured obligations, including the lender
under the Key Facility, could proceed against the collateral securing the debt. Because the Key Facility has, and any future credit
facilities will likely have, customary cross-default provisions, if the indebtedness thereunder or under any future credit facility
is accelerated, we may be unable to repay or finance the amounts due.
Because we distribute all or substantially
all of our investment company taxable income to our
stockholders, we will need additional capital to finance our
growth. If
additional funds are unavailable or not available on favorable terms, our ability to
grow
will be impaired.
To satisfy the requirements
applicable to a RIC, to avoid payment of excise taxes and to minimize or to avoid payment of corporate-level federal income taxes,
we intend to distribute to our stockholders all or substantially all of our investment company taxable income and net capital gains.
However, we may retain all or a portion of our net capital gains, incur any applicable income taxes with respect thereto, and elect
to treat such retained net capital gains as deemed distributions to our stockholders. As a BDC, we generally are required to maintain
coverage of total assets to total senior securities, which includes all of our borrowings and any preferred stock we may issue
in the future, of at least 200%. This requirement limits the amount that we may borrow. Because we continue to need capital to
grow our debt investment portfolio, this limitation may prevent us from incurring debt and require us to raise additional equity
at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. We cannot assure you that debt and equity financing will be available to us
on favorable terms, or at all, and debt financings may be restricted by the terms of any of our outstanding borrowings. In addition,
as a BDC, we are limited in our ability to issue equity securities at a price below the then current NAV per share. If additional
funds are not available to us, we could be forced to curtail or cease new lending and investment activities, and our NAV could
decline.
We are subject to risks associated with a rising interest
rate environment that may affect our cost of capital and net investment income.
Since the economic
downturn that began in mid-2007, interest rates have remained low. Because longer-term inflationary pressure may result from the
U.S. government’s fiscal policies and other challenges, because of the low interest rate environment in which we now operate,
because the Federal Reserve has ended its quantitative easing program and because the Federal Reserve raised its Federal Funds
rate in December 2016, we will likely experience rising interest rates, rather than falling rates in the future.
Because we currently
incur indebtedness to fund our investments, a portion of our income depends upon the difference between the interest rate at which
we borrow funds and the interest rate at which we invest these funds. To the extent our investments have fixed interest rates or
have interest rate floors that are higher than the floor on, or interest rates that “reset” less frequently than, the
Key Facility, increases in interest rates can lead to interest rate compression and have a material adverse effect on our net investment
income. In addition to increasing the cost of borrowed funds, which may materially reduce our net investment income, rising interest
rates may also adversely affect our ability to obtain additional debt financing on terms as favorable as under our current debt
financings, or at all. See “—If we are unable to obtain additional debt financing, our business could be materially
adversely affected.”
If general interest
rates rise, there is a risk that the portfolio companies in which we hold floating rate securities will be unable to pay escalating
interest amounts, which could result in a default under their loan documents with us. Rising interests rates could also cause portfolio
companies to shift cash from other productive uses to the payment of interest, which may have a material adverse effect on their
business and operations and could, over time, lead to increased defaults. In addition, increasing payment obligations under
floating rate loans may cause borrowers to refinance or otherwise repay our loans earlier than they otherwise would, requiring
us to incur management time and expense to re-deploy such proceeds, including on terms that may not be as favorable as our existing
loans. In addition, rising interest rates may increase pressure on us to provide fixed rate loans to our portfolio companies, which
could adversely affect our net investment income, as increases in our cost of borrowed funds would not be accompanied by increased
interest income from such fixed-rate investments.
We may hedge against
interest rate fluctuations by using hedging instruments such as caps, swaps, futures, options and forward contracts, subject to
applicable legal requirements, including all necessary registrations (or exemptions from registration) with the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission. These activities may limit our ability to benefit from lower interest rates with respect to the hedged portfolio.
Adverse developments resulting from changes in interest rates or hedging transactions or any adverse developments from our use
of hedging instruments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In
addition, we may be unable to enter into appropriate hedging transactions when desired and any hedging transactions we enter into
may not be effective.
As a rise in the general
level of interest rates can be expected to lead to higher interest rates applicable to our debt investments, an increase in interest
rates would make it easier for us to meet or exceed the hurdle rate applicable to the incentive fee and may result in a substantial
increase in the amount of incentive fees payable to the Advisor with respect to Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income.
Also, an increase
in interest rates on investments available to investors could make investment in our common stock less attractive if we are not
able to increase our distributions, which could materially reduce the value of our common stock.
Because many of our investments are
not and typically will not be in publicly traded
securities, the value of our investments may not be readily determinable,
which could
adversely affect the determination of our NAV.
Our investments consist,
and we expect our future investments to consist, primarily of debt investments or securities issued by privately held companies.
As these investments are not publicly traded, their fair value may not be readily determinable. In addition, we are not permitted
to maintain a general reserve for anticipated debt investment losses. Instead, we are required by the 1940 Act to specifically
value each investment and record an unrealized gain or loss for any asset that we believe has increased or decreased in value.
We value these investments on a quarterly basis, or more frequently as circumstances require, in accordance with our valuation
policy and consistent with GAAP. Our Board employs independent third-party valuation firms to assist it in arriving at the fair
value of our investments. Our Board discusses valuations and determines the fair value in good faith based on the input of our
Advisor and the third-party valuation firms. The factors that may be considered in fair value pricing our investments include the
nature and realizable value of any collateral, the portfolio company’s earnings and its ability to make payments on its indebtedness,
the markets in which the portfolio company does business, comparisons to publicly traded companies, discounted cash flow and other
relevant factors. Because such valuations are inherently uncertain and may be based on estimates, our determinations of fair value
may differ materially from the values that would be assessed if a ready market for these securities existed. Our NAV could be adversely
affected if our determinations regarding the fair value of our investments are materially higher than the values that we ultimately
realize upon the disposal of these investments.
Global capital markets could enter
a period of severe disruption and instability. These conditions have historically affected and could again materially and adversely
affect debt and equity capital markets in the United States and around the world and our business.
The
U.S. and global capital markets experienced extreme volatility and disruption during the economic downturn that began in mid-2007,
and the U.S. economy was in a recession for several consecutive calendar quarters during the same period. This economic decline
materially and adversely affected the broader financial and credit markets and has reduced the availability of debt and equity
capital for the market as a whole and to financial firms, in particular. At various times, these disruptions resulted in a lack
of liquidity in parts of the debt capital markets, significant write-offs in the financial services sector relating to subprime
mortgages and the repricing of credit risk in the broadly syndicated market. These disruptions in the capital markets also increased
the spread between the yields realized on risk-free and higher risk securities and reduced the availability of debt and equity
capital for the market as a whole and financial services firms in particular. While there have been some recent improvements in
the condition of the overall capital markets, lending standards (including for extending new credit, refinancing existing credit
and granting waivers of de minimis defaults) for smaller companies, including both us and our portfolio companies, remain strict.
If these unfavorable economic conditions, including tight capital markets for smaller borrowers, continue or worsen in the future,
it could affect our investment valuations, increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision
by lenders not to extend credit to us or our portfolio companies.
We may in the future have
difficulty accessing debt and equity capital on attractive terms, or at all, and a severe disruption and instability in the global
financial markets or deteriorations in credit and financing conditions may cause us to reduce the volume of debt investments we
originate and/or fund, adversely affect the value of our portfolio investments or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our
business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Regulations governing our operation
as a BDC affect our
ability to, and the way in which, we raise additional capital, which may expose us to
additional risks.
Our business plans
contemplate a need for a substantial amount of capital in addition to our current amount of capital. We may obtain additional capital
through the issuance of debt securities or preferred stock, and we may borrow money from banks or other financial institutions,
which we refer to collectively as “senior securities,” up to the maximum amount permitted by the 1940 Act. If we issue
senior securities, we would be exposed to typical risks associated with leverage, including an increased risk of loss. In addition,
if we issue preferred stock, it would rank senior to common stock in our capital structure and preferred stockholders would have
separate voting rights and may have rights, preferences or privileges more favorable than those of holders of our common stock.
The 1940 Act permits
us to issue senior securities in amounts such that our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, equals at least 200% after each
issuance of senior securities. If our asset coverage is not at least 200%, we are not permitted to pay distributions or issue additional
senior securities. As a result, we may have difficulty meeting the Annual Distribution Requirement necessary to maintain RIC tax
treatment. Moreover, if the value of our assets declines, we may be unable to satisfy this asset coverage test. If that happens,
we may be required to liquidate a portion of our investments and repay a portion of our indebtedness at a time when we may be unable
to do so or unable to do so on favorable terms.
As a BDC, we generally
are not able to issue our common stock at a price below NAV per share without first obtaining the approval of our stockholders
and our independent directors. Our stockholder approval expired in January 2016, but we may seek such approval again in the future.
If our common stock trades at a price below NAV per share and we do not receive approval from our stockholders and our independent
directors to issue common stock at a price below NAV per share, we cannot raise capital through the issuance of equity securities.
This may limit our ability: to grow and make new investments; to attract and retain top investment professionals; to maintain deal
flow and relations with top companies in our Target Industries and related entities such as venture capital and private equity
sponsors; and to sustain a minimum efficient scale for a public company. The stockholder approval requirement does not apply to
stock issued upon the exercise of options, warrants or rights that we may issue from time to time. If we raise additional funds
by issuing more common stock or senior securities convertible into, or exchangeable for, our common stock, the percentage ownership
of our stockholders at that time would decrease, and you may experience dilution.
Pending legislation may allow us to incur additional leverage.
As a BDC, under the
1940 Act we generally are not permitted to incur indebtedness unless immediately after such borrowing we have an asset coverage
for total borrowings of at least 200% (i.e., the amount of debt may not exceed 50% of the value of our assets). Legislation introduced
in the U.S. House of Representatives, if eventually passed, would modify this section of the 1940 Act and, subject to stockholder
approval, increase the amount of debt that BDCs may incur by decreasing the required asset coverage from 200% to 150%. As a result,
we may be able to incur additional indebtedness in the future, and therefore the risk of an investment in us may increase.
If we are unable to satisfy the requirements
under the Code for qualification as a
RIC, we will be subject to corporate-level income taxes.
To qualify as a RIC
under the Code, we must meet the Qualifying Income Test, the Diversification Test, as well as maintain our election to be regulated
as a BDC under the 1940 Act. We must also meet the Annual Distribution Requirement in order to avoid the imposition of corporate-level
income taxes on all of our taxable income, regardless of whether we make any distributions to our stockholders.
The Qualifying Income
Test is satisfied if we derive in each tax year at least 90% of our gross income from dividends, interest (including tax-exempt
interest), payments with respect to certain securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock, securities or
foreign currencies, other income (including but not limited to gain from options, futures or forward contracts) derived with respect
to our business of investing in stock, securities or currencies, or net income derived from interests in “qualified publicly
traded partnerships.” The status of certain forms of income we receive could be subject to different interpretations under
the Code and might be characterized as non-qualifying income that could cause us to fail to qualify as a RIC, assuming we do not
qualify for or take advantage of certain remedial provisions, and, thus, may cause us to be subject to corporate-level federal
income taxes.
To qualify as a RIC,
we must also meet the Diversification Tests at the end of each quarter of our tax year. Failure to meet these tests may result
in our having to (1) dispose of certain investments quickly; (2) raise additional capital to prevent the loss of RIC
status; or (3) engage in certain remedial actions that may entail the disposition of certain investments at disadvantageous
prices that could result in substantial losses, and the payment of penalties, if we qualify to take such actions. Because most
of our investments are and will be in development-stage companies within our Target Industries, any such dispositions could be
made at disadvantageous prices and may result in substantial losses. If we raise additional capital to satisfy the Diversification
Tests, it could take a longer time to invest such capital. During this period, we will invest in temporary investments, such as
money market funds, which we expect will earn yields substantially lower than the interest income that we anticipate receiving
in respect of our investments in secured and amortizing debt investments.
The Annual Distribution
Requirement is satisfied if we distribute dividends to our stockholders in each tax year of an amount generally equal to at least
90% of our investment company taxable income. If we borrow money, we may be subject to certain asset coverage requirements under
the 1940 Act and loan covenants that could, under certain circumstances, restrict us from making distributions necessary to qualify
as a RIC. If we are unable to obtain cash from other sources, we may fail to be eligible to be subject to tax as a RIC, assuming
we do not qualify for or take advantage of certain remedial provisions, and, thus, may be subject to corporate-level income taxes.
If we were to fail
to qualify as a RIC for any reason and become subject to a corporate-level income taxes, the resulting taxes could substantially
reduce our net assets, the amount of income available for distribution to our stockholders, and the actual amount of our distributions.
Such a failure would have a material adverse effect on us, the NAV of our common stock and the total return, if any, obtainable
from your investment in our common stock. In addition, we could be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes
and interest and make substantial distributions before requalifying as a RIC. See “Item 1. Business—Regulation.”
We may have difficulty paying our required distributions
if we recognize taxable
income before or without receiving cash.
We may be required
to recognize taxable income in circumstances in which we do not receive cash. For example, if we hold debt instruments that are
treated under applicable tax rules as having original issue discount (such as debt instruments with payment-in-kind interest or,
in certain cases, increasing interest rates or issued with warrants), we must include in taxable income each tax year a portion
of the original issue discount that accrues over the life of the debt instrument, regardless of whether cash representing such
income is received by us in the same tax year. We do not have a policy limiting our ability to invest in original issue discount
instruments, including payment-in-kind debt investments. Because in certain cases we may recognize taxable income before or without
receiving cash representing such income, we may have difficulty meeting the Annual Distribution Requirement.
Accordingly, we may
need to sell some of our assets at times that we would not consider advantageous, raise additional debt or equity capital or forego
new investment opportunities or otherwise take actions that are disadvantageous to our business (or be unable to take actions that
we believe are necessary or advantageous to our business) in order to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement. If we are unable
to obtain cash from other sources to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement, we may become subject to a corporate-level income
taxes on all of our income. The proportion of our income, consisting of interest and fee income that resulted from the portion
of original issue discount classified as such in accordance with GAAP not received in cash for the years ended December 31, 2016,
2015 and 2014 was 12.6%, 8.9% and 9.5%, respectively.
If we make loans to borrowers or
acquire loans that contain deferred payment features, such as loans providing for the payment of portions of principal and/or interest
at maturity, this could increase the risk of default by our borrowers.
Our investments with
deferred payment features, such as debt investments providing for ETPs, may represent a higher credit risk than debt investments
requiring payments of all principal and accrued interest at regular intervals over the life of the debt investment. For example,
even if the accounting conditions for income accrual were met during the period when the obligation was outstanding, the borrower
could still default when our actual collection is scheduled to occur upon maturity of the obligation. The amount of ETPs due under
our investments having such a feature currently represents a small portion of the applicable borrowers’ total repayment obligations
under such investments. However, deferred payment arrangements increase the incremental risk that we will not receive a portion
of the amount due at maturity. Additionally, because investments with a deferred payment feature may have the effect of deferring
a portion of the borrower’s payment obligation until maturity of the debt investment, it may be difficult for us to identify
and address developing problems with borrowers in terms of their ability to repay us. Any such developments may increase the risk
of default on our debt investments by borrowers.
In addition, debt
investments providing for ETPs are subject to the risks associated with debt investments having original issue discount (such as
debt instruments with payment-in-kind interest or, in certain cases, increasing interest rates or issued with warrants). See “—We
may have difficulty paying our required distributions if we recognize taxable income before or without receiving cash.”
The borrowing needs of our portfolio
companies are unpredictable, especially during a challenging economic environment. We may not be able to meet our unfunded commitments
to extend credit, which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation in the market and our ability to generate incremental
lending activity and subject us to lender liability claims.
A commitment to extend
credit is an agreement to lend funds to our portfolio companies as long as there is no violation of any condition established under
the agreement. Because of the credit profile of our portfolio companies, we typically have a substantial amount of total unfunded
credit commitments, which amount is not reflected on our balance sheet. The actual borrowing needs of our portfolio companies may
exceed our expected funding requirements, especially during a challenging economic environment when our portfolio companies may
be more dependent on our credit commitments due to the lack of available credit elsewhere, an increasing cost of credit or the
limited availability of equity financing from venture capital firms or otherwise. In addition, limited partner investors of some
of our portfolio companies may fail to meet their underlying investment commitments due to liquidity or other financing issues,
which may increase our portfolio companies’ borrowing needs. Any failure to meet our unfunded credit commitments in accordance
with the actual borrowing needs of our portfolio companies may have a material adverse effect on our reputation in the market and
our ability to generate incremental lending activity and subject us to lender liability claims.
If we do not invest a sufficient
portion of our assets in qualifying assets, we could
fail to qualify as a BDC or be precluded from investing
according to our current business strategy.
As a BDC, we are prohibited
from acquiring any assets other than qualifying assets (as defined under the 1940 Act) unless, at the time of and after giving
effect to such acquisition, at least 70% of our total assets are qualifying assets. Subject to certain exceptions for follow-on
investments and distressed companies, an investment in an issuer that has outstanding securities listed on a national securities
exchange may be treated as a qualifying asset only if such issuer has a market capitalization that is less than $250 million at
the time of such investment and meets the other specified requirements. As of December 31, 2016 and 2015, 100% of our assets were
qualifying assets, and we expect that substantially all of our assets that we may acquire in the future will be qualifying assets,
although we may decide to make other investments that are not qualifying assets to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act.
If we acquire debt
or equity securities from an issuer that has outstanding marginable securities at the time we make an investment, these acquired
assets may not be treated as qualifying assets. This result is dictated by the definition of “eligible portfolio company”
under the 1940 Act, which in part looks to whether a company has outstanding marginable securities. See Item 1 above, “Regulation —
Qualifying assets.”
If we do not invest
a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets, we could lose our status as a BDC. If we do not maintain our status as
a BDC, we would be subject to regulation as a registered closed-end investment company under the 1940 Act. As a registered closed-end
investment company, we would be subject to substantially more regulatory restrictions under the 1940 Act, which would significantly
decrease our operating flexibility.
New or modified laws or regulations
governing our operations may adversely affect our business.
We and our portfolio
companies are subject to regulation by laws at the U.S. federal, state and local levels. These laws and regulations, as well as
their interpretation, may change from time to time, and new laws, regulations and interpretations may also come into effect. Any
such new or changed laws or regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business. In particular, on July 21, 2010,
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or Dodd-Frank, became law. The scope of Dodd-Frank impacts many
aspects of the financial services industry, and it has required the development and adoption of many implementing regulations over
several years. The effects of Dodd-Frank on the financial services industry will depend, in large part, upon the approaches regulators
take in implementing regulations. The likely impact of Dodd-Frank cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty.
Additionally, changes
to the laws and regulations governing our operations, including those associated with RICs, may cause us to alter our investment
strategy in order to avail ourselves of new or different opportunities or result in the imposition of corporate-level taxes on
us. Such changes could result in material differences to our strategies and plans and may shift our investment focus from the areas
of expertise of the Advisor to other types of investments in which the Advisor may have little or no expertise or experience. Any
such changes, if they occur, or uncertainty regarding such changes, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations
and the value of your investment.
Our Advisor has significant potential
conflicts of interest with us and our stockholders.
As a result of our
arrangements with our Advisor, there may be times when our Advisor has interests that differ from those of our stockholders, giving
rise to a potential conflict of interest. Our executive officers and directors, as well as the current and future executives and
employees of our Advisor, serve or may serve as officers, directors or principals of entities that operate in the same or a related
line of business as we do. Accordingly, they may have obligations to investors in those entities, the fulfillment of which might
not be in the best interests of our stockholders. In addition, obligations to these other entities may cause our executive officers
and directors and those of our Advisor to divert their time and attention away from us or otherwise cause them not to dedicate
a significant portion of their time to our businesses which could slow our rate of investment.
In addition, our Advisor
manages other funds, and may manage additional funds in the future, that have investment objectives that are similar, in whole
or in part, to ours. Our Advisor may determine that an investment is appropriate for us and for one or more of those other funds.
In such an event, depending on the availability of the investment and other appropriate factors, our Advisor will endeavor to allocate
investment opportunities in a fair and equitable manner and act in accordance with its written allocation policy to address and,
if necessary, resolve any conflict of interests. It is also possible that we may not be given the opportunity to participate in
these other investment opportunities.
We pay management
and incentive fees to our Advisor and reimburse our Advisor for certain expenses it incurs. As a result, investors in our common
stock invest on a “gross” basis and receive distributions on a “net” basis after expenses, resulting in
a lower rate of return than an investor might achieve through direct investments. Also, the incentive fee payable by us to our
Advisor may create an incentive for our Advisor to pursue investments on our behalf that are riskier or more speculative than would
be the case in the absence of such compensation arrangements. In addition, if any of the other funds managed by our Advisor have
a different fee structure than we do, our Advisor may, in certain circumstances, have an incentive to devote more time and resources,
and/or recommend the allocation of investment opportunities, to such fund. For example, to the extent our Advisor’s incentive
compensation is not subject to a total return requirement with respect to another fund, it may have an incentive to devote time
and resources to such fund.
We have entered into
a license agreement with Horizon Technology Finance, LLC, pursuant to which it has agreed to grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free
right and license to use the service mark “Horizon Technology Finance.” Under this agreement, we have a right to use
the “Horizon Technology Finance” service mark for so long as the Investment Management Agreement is in effect between
us and our Advisor. In addition, we pay our Advisor, our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by our Advisor
in performing its obligations under the Administration Agreement, including rent, the fees and expenses associated with performing
compliance functions, and our allocable portion of the compensation of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer
and their respective staffs. Any potential conflict of interest arising as a result of our arrangements with our Advisor could
have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our incentive fee may impact our
Advisor’s structuring of our investments, including
by causing our Advisor to pursue speculative investments.
The incentive fee
payable by us to our Advisor may create an incentive for our Advisor to pursue investments on our behalf that are riskier or more
speculative than would be the case in the absence of such compensation arrangement. The incentive fee payable to our Advisor is
calculated based on a percentage of our return on invested capital. This may encourage our Advisor to use leverage to increase
the return on our investments. Under certain circumstances, the use of leverage may increase the likelihood of default, which would
impair the value of our common stock. In addition, our Advisor receives the incentive fee based, in part, upon net capital gains
realized on our investments. Unlike that portion of the incentive fee based on income, there is no hurdle rate applicable to the
portion of the incentive fee based on net capital gains. As a result, our Advisor may have an incentive to invest more capital
in investments that are likely to result in capital gains as compared to income-producing securities. Such a practice could result
in our investing in more speculative investments than would otherwise be the case, which could result in higher investment losses,
particularly during economic downturns. In addition, the incentive fee may encourage our Advisor to pursue different types of investments
or structure investments in ways that are more likely to result in warrant gains or gains on equity investments, including upon
exercise of equity participation rights, which are inconsistent with our investment strategy and disciplined underwriting process.
The incentive fee
payable by us to our Advisor may also induce our Advisor to pursue investments on our behalf that have a deferred interest feature,
even if such deferred payments would not provide cash necessary to enable us to pay current distributions to our stockholders.
Under these investments, we would accrue interest over the life of the investment but would not receive the cash income from the
investment until the end of the term. Our net investment income used to calculate the income portion of our investment fee, however,
includes accrued interest. Thus, a portion of this incentive fee would be based on income that we have not yet received in cash.
In addition, the “catch-up” portion of the incentive fee may encourage our Advisor to accelerate or defer interest
payable by portfolio companies from one calendar quarter to another, potentially resulting in fluctuations in the timing and amounts
of distributions. Our governing documents do not limit the number of debt investments we may make with deferred interest features
or the proportion of our income we derive from such debt investments.
Our ability to enter into transactions
with our affiliates is restricted, which may limit the scope of investments available to us.
We are prohibited
under the 1940 Act from participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our independent
directors and, in some cases, of the SEC. Any person that owns, directly or indirectly, 5% or more of our outstanding voting securities
is our affiliate for purposes of the 1940 Act, and we are generally prohibited from buying or selling any security from or to,
or entering into certain “joint” transactions (which could include investments in the same portfolio company) with,
such affiliates, absent the prior approval of our independent directors or, in certain cases, the SEC.
Our Advisor is considered
to be our affiliate under the 1940 Act, as is any person that controls, or is under common control with us or our Advisor. We are
generally prohibited from buying or selling any security from or to, or entering into “joint” transactions with, such
affiliates without prior approval of our independent directors and, in some cases, additional exemptive relief from the SEC.
We may, however, invest
alongside other clients of our Advisor in certain circumstances where doing so is consistent with applicable law, SEC staff interpretations
and/or exemptive relief issued by the SEC. For example, we may invest alongside such accounts consistent with guidance promulgated
by the staff of the SEC permitting us and such other accounts to purchase interests in a single class of privately placed securities
so long as certain conditions are met, including that our Advisor, acting on our behalf and on behalf of other clients, negotiates
no term other than price. We may also invest alongside our Advisor’s other clients as otherwise permissible under regulatory
guidance and applicable regulations. Such investments will be allocated in accordance with our Advisor’s allocation policy,
and this allocation policy is periodically approved by our Advisor and reviewed by our independent directors. We expect that allocation
determinations will be made similarly for other accounts sponsored or managed by our Advisor. If sufficient securities or loan
amounts are available to satisfy our and each such account’s proposed demand, we expect that the opportunity will be allocated
in accordance with our Advisor’s pre-transaction determination; however, if insufficient securities or loan amounts are available,
we will generally be allocated pro rata based on each affiliate’s available capital in the asset class being allocated. We
cannot assure you that investment opportunities will be allocated to us fairly or equitably in the short-term or over time.
We have submitted
an exemptive relief application to the SEC to permit greater flexibility to negotiate the terms of co-investments if our Board
determines in advance that it would be advantageous for us to co-invest with other accounts sponsored or managed by our Advisor
in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions, as well as regulatory requirements
and other relevant factors. We cannot assure you, however, that we will obtain such exemptive relief on terms favorable to us or
at all.
In situations where
co-investment with other accounts managed by our Advisor is not permitted or appropriate, our Advisor will need to decide which
client will proceed with the investment. Our Advisor’s allocation policy provides, in such circumstances, for investments
to be allocated on a random or rotational basis to assure that all clients have fair and equitable access to such investment opportunities.
Moreover, except in certain circumstances, we will be unable to invest in any issuer in which a fund managed by our Advisor has
previously invested. Similar restrictions limit our ability to transact business with our officers or directors or their affiliates.
These restrictions may limit the scope of investment opportunities that would otherwise be available to us.
The valuation process for certain
of our portfolio holdings creates a conflict of interest.
The majority of our
portfolio investments are expected to be made in the form of securities that are not publicly traded. As a result, the Board will
determine the fair value of these securities in good faith as described above in “— Because many of our investments
typically are not and will not be in publicly traded securities, the value of our investments may not be readily determinable,
which could adversely affect the determination of our NAV.” In connection with that determination, investment professionals
from the Advisor may provide the Board with portfolio company valuations based upon the most recent portfolio company financial
statements available and projected financial results of each portfolio company. The participation of the Advisor’s investment
professionals in our valuation process could result in a conflict of interest as the Advisor’s management fee is based, in
part, on our average gross assets and our incentive fees will be based, in part, on unrealized appreciation and depreciation on
our investments.
Our Advisor’s liability is
limited, and we have agreed to indemnify our Advisor against certain liabilities, which may lead our Advisor to act in a riskier
manner on our behalf than it would when acting for its own account.
Under the Investment
Management Agreement, our Advisor does not assume any responsibility to us other than to render the services called for under that
agreement, and it is not responsible for any action of our Board in following or declining to follow our Advisor’s advice
or recommendations. Under the terms of the Investment Management Agreement, our Advisor, its officers, members, personnel and any
person controlling or controlled by our Advisor are not liable to us, any subsidiary of ours, our directors, our stockholders or
any subsidiary’s stockholders or partners for acts or omissions performed in accordance with and pursuant to the Investment
Management Agreement, except those resulting from acts constituting gross negligence, willful misconduct, bad faith or reckless
disregard of our Advisor’s duties under the Investment Management Agreement. In addition, we have agreed to indemnify our
Advisor and each of its officers, directors, members, managers and employees from and against any claims or liabilities, including
reasonable legal fees and other expenses reasonably incurred, arising out of or in connection with our business and operations
or any action taken or omitted on our behalf pursuant to authority granted by the Investment Management Agreement, except where
attributable to gross negligence, willful misconduct, bad faith or reckless disregard of such person’s duties under the Investment
Management Agreement. These protections may lead our Advisor to act in a riskier manner when acting on our behalf than it would
when acting for its own account.
If we are unable to manage our future
growth effectively, we may be unable to achieve our investment objective, which could adversely affect our business, results of
operations and financial condition and cause the value of your investment in us to decline.
Our ability to achieve
our investment objective depends on our ability to achieve and sustain growth, which depends, in turn, on our Advisor’s direct
origination capabilities and disciplined underwriting process in identifying, evaluating, financing, investing in and monitoring
suitable companies that meet our investment criteria. Accomplishing this result on a cost-effective basis is largely a function
of our Advisor’s marketing capabilities, management of the investment process, ability to provide efficient services and
access to financing sources on acceptable terms. In addition to monitoring the performance of our existing investments, our Advisor
may also be called upon to provide managerial assistance to our portfolio companies. These demands on their time may distract them
or slow the rate of investment. If we fail to manage our future growth effectively, our business, results of operations and financial
condition could be materially adversely affected and the value of your investment in us could decrease.
Our Board may change our operating
policies and strategies, including our investment objective, without prior notice or stockholder approval, the effects of which
may adversely affect our business.
Our Board may modify
or waive our current operating policies and strategies, including our investment objectives, without prior notice and without stockholder
approval (provided that no such modification or waiver may change the nature of our business so as to cease to be, or withdraw
our election as a BDC as provided by the 1940 Act without stockholder approval at a special meeting called upon written notice
of not less than ten or more than sixty days before the date of such meeting). We cannot predict the effect any changes to our
current operating policies and strategies would have on our business, results of operations or financial condition or on the value
of our stock. However, the effects of any changes might adversely affect our business, any or all of which could negatively impact
our ability to pay distributions or cause you to lose all or part of your investment in us.
Our quarterly and annual operating
results may fluctuate due to the nature of our business.
We could experience
fluctuations in our quarterly and annual operating results due to a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control, including:
our ability to make investments in companies that meet our investment criteria, the interest rate payable on our debt investments,
the default rate on these investments, the level of our expenses, variations in, and the timing of, the recognition of realized
and unrealized gains or losses, the degree to which we encounter competition in our markets and general economic conditions. For
example, we have historically experienced greater investment activity during the second and fourth quarters relative to other periods.
As a result of these factors, you should not rely on the results for any prior period as being indicative of our performance in
future periods.
Our business plan and growth strategy
depends to a significant extent upon our Advisor’s referral relationships. If our Advisor is unable to develop new or maintain
existing relationships, or if these relationships fail to generate investment opportunities, our business could be materially adversely
affected.
We have historically
depended on our Advisor’s referral relationships to generate investment opportunities. For us to achieve our future business
objectives, members of our Advisor need to maintain these relationships with venture capital and private equity firms and management
teams and legal firms, accounting firms, investment banks and other lenders, and we rely to a significant extent upon these relationships
to provide us with investment opportunities. If they fail to maintain their existing relationships or develop new relationships
with other firms or sources of investment opportunities, we may not be able to grow our investment portfolio. In addition, persons
with whom our Advisor has relationships are not obligated to provide us with investment opportunities, and, therefore, there is
no assurance that such relationships will lead to the origination of debt or other investments.
Our Advisor can resign on 60 days’
notice, and we may not be able to find a suitable replacement within that time, resulting in a disruption in our operations that
could adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Under our Investment
Management Agreement and our Administration Agreement, our Advisor has the right to resign at any time, upon not more than 60 days’
written notice, whether we have found a replacement or not. If our Advisor resigns, we may not be able to find a new investment
adviser or administrator or hire internal management with similar expertise and ability to provide the same or equivalent services
on acceptable terms within 60 days, or at all. If we are unable to do so, our operations are likely to be disrupted, our business,
results of operations and financial condition and our ability to pay distributions may be adversely affected and the market price
of our shares may decline. In addition, the coordination of our internal management and investment activities is likely to suffer
if we are unable to identify and reach an agreement with a single institution or group of executives having the expertise possessed
by our Advisor and its affiliates. Even if we are able to retain comparable management, whether internal or external, the integration
of new management and their lack of familiarity with our investment objective may result in additional costs and time delays that
may adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.
We incur significant costs as a result
of being a publicly traded company.
As a publicly traded
company, we incur legal, accounting and other expenses, including costs associated with the periodic reporting requirements applicable
to a company whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act as well as additional corporate governance requirements, including
requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and other rules implemented by the SEC.
Compliance with Section 404
of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act involves significant expenditures, and non-compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
would adversely affect us and the market price of our common stock.
Under current
SEC rules, we are required to report on our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act and related rules and regulations of the SEC. As a result, we incur additional expenses that negatively impact our financial
performance and our ability to make distributions. This process also results in a diversion of management’s time and attention.
We cannot be certain as to the timing of completion of our annual re-evaluation, testing and remediation actions or the impact
of the same on our operations, and we cannot assure you that our internal control over financial reporting is or will be effective.
In the event that we are unable to maintain compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related rules, we and
the market price of our securities may be adversely affected.
We are highly dependent on information
systems and systems failures could significantly disrupt our business, which may, in turn, negatively affect the market price of
our common stock and our ability to pay distributions.
Our business is highly
dependent on the Advisor and its affiliates’ communications and information systems. Any failure or interruption of those
systems, including as a result of the termination of an agreement with any third-party service providers, could cause delays or
other problems in our activities. Our financial, accounting, data processing, backup or other operating systems and facilities
may fail to operate properly or become disabled or damaged as a result of a number of factors including events that are wholly
or partially beyond our control and adversely affect our business. There could be:
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sudden electrical or telecommunications outages;
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natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes;
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events arising from local or larger scale political or social matters, including terrorist acts.
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Any of these events,
could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and negatively affect the market price of our common stock and our
ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.
In addition,
these communications and information systems are subject to potential attacks, including through adverse events that threaten
the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our information resources. These attacks, which may include cyber
incidents, may involve a third party gaining unauthorized access to our communications or information systems for purposes of
misappropriating assets, stealing confidential information, corrupting data or causing operational disruption. Any such
attack could result in disruption to our business, misstated or unreliable financial data, liability for stolen assets or
information, increased cybersecurity protection and insurance costs, litigation and damage to our business relationships, any
of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks related to our investments
Our stockholders are not able to evaluate our future investments.
Our future investments
will be selected by our Advisor, subject to the approval of its investment committee. Our stockholders do not have input into our
Advisor’s investment decisions. As a result, our stockholders are unable to evaluate any of our future portfolio company
investments. These factors increase the uncertainty, and thus the risk, of investing in our securities.
We are a non-diversified investment company within the
meaning of the 1940 Act, and therefore we generally are not limited with respect to the proportion of our assets that may be invested
in securities of a single issuer.
We are classified
as a non-diversified investment company within the meaning of the 1940 Act, which means that we are not limited by the 1940 Act
with respect to the proportion of our assets that we may invest in securities of a single issuer, excluding limitations on stake
holdings in investment companies. Beyond our income tax diversification requirements, we do not have fixed guidelines for diversification,
and our investments could be focused on relatively few portfolio companies.
To the extent that
we assume large positions in the securities of a small number of issuers, our NAV may fluctuate to a greater extent than that of
a diversified investment company as a result of changes in the financial condition or the market’s assessment of the issuer.
If a significant investment in one or more portfolio companies fails to perform as expected, our financial results could be more
negatively affected and the magnitude of the loss could be more significant than if we had made smaller investments in more portfolio
companies. We may also be more susceptible to any single economic or regulatory occurrence than a diversified investment company.
Our portfolio may be focused on a
limited number of industries, which will subject us to a risk of significant loss if there is a downturn in a particular industry.
Our portfolio may
be focused on a limited number of industries. As a result, a downturn in any particular industry in which we are invested could
also significantly impact the aggregate returns we realize. Our Target Industries are susceptible to changes in government policy
and economic assistance, which could adversely affect the returns we receive.
If our investments do not meet our performance expectations,
you may not receive distributions.
We intend to make
distributions of income on a monthly basis to our stockholders. We may not be able to achieve operating results that will allow
us to make distributions at a specific level or increase the amount of these distributions from time to time. In addition, due
to the asset coverage test applicable to us as a BDC, we may be limited in our ability to make distributions. Also, restrictions
and provisions in any existing or future credit facilities may limit our ability to make distributions. If we do not distribute
a certain percentage of our income each tax year as dividends to stockholders, we will suffer adverse tax consequences, including
the possible loss of our ability to be subject to tax as a RIC.
Most of our portfolio companies will need additional capital,
which may not be
readily available.
Our portfolio companies
typically require substantial additional financing to satisfy their continuing working capital and other capital requirements and
service the interest and principal payments on our investments. We cannot predict the circumstances or market conditions under
which our portfolio companies will seek additional capital. Each round of institutional equity financing is typically intended
to provide a company with only enough capital to reach the next stage of development. It is possible that one or more of our portfolio
companies will not be able to raise additional financing or may be able to do so only at a price or on terms that are unfavorable
to the portfolio company, either of which would negatively impact our investment returns. Some of these companies may be unable
to obtain sufficient financing from private investors, public capital markets or lenders, thereby requiring these companies to
cease or curtail business operations. Accordingly, investing in these types of companies generally entails a higher risk of loss
than investing in companies that do not have significant incremental capital raising requirements.
Economic recessions or downturns
could adversely affect our business and that of our
portfolio companies which may have an adverse effect on our business,
results of
operations and financial condition.
General economic conditions
may affect our activities and the operation and value of our portfolio companies. Economic slowdowns or recessions may result in
a decrease of institutional equity investment, which would limit our lending opportunities. Furthermore, many of our portfolio
companies may be susceptible to economic slowdowns or recessions and may be unable to repay our debt investments during these periods.
Therefore, our non-performing assets are likely to increase and the value of our portfolio is likely to decrease during these periods.
Adverse economic conditions may also decrease the value of collateral securing some of our debt investments and the value of our
equity investments. Economic slowdowns or recessions could lead to financial losses in our portfolio and a decrease in revenues,
net income and assets. Unfavorable economic conditions could also increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets
or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us.
A portfolio company’s
failure to satisfy financial or operating covenants imposed by us or other lenders could lead to defaults and, potentially, termination
of its loans and foreclosure on its secured assets, which could trigger cross-defaults under other agreements and jeopardize the
portfolio company’s ability to meet its obligations under the loans that we hold. We may incur expenses to the extent necessary
to recover our investment upon default or to negotiate new terms with a defaulting portfolio company. These events could harm our
financial condition and operating results.
Our investment strategy focuses on
investments in development-stage companies in our
Target Industries, which are subject to many risks, including volatility,
intense
competition, shortened product life cycles and periodic downturns, and would be
rated below
“investment grade.”
We intend to invest,
under normal circumstances, most of the value of our total assets (including the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes)
in development-stage companies, which may have relatively limited operating histories, in our Target Industries. Many of these
companies may have narrow product lines and small market shares, compared to larger established publicly owned firms, which tend
to render them more vulnerable to competitors’ actions and market conditions, as well as general economic downturns. The
revenues, income (or losses) and valuations of development-stage companies in our Target Industries can and often do fluctuate
suddenly and dramatically. For these reasons, investments in our portfolio companies, if rated by one or more ratings agency, would
typically be rated below “investment grade,” which refers to securities rated by ratings agencies below the four highest
rating categories. These companies may also have more limited access to capital and higher funding costs. In addition, development-stage
technology markets are generally characterized by abrupt business cycles and intense competition, and the competitive environment
can change abruptly due to rapidly evolving technology. Therefore, our portfolio companies may face considerably more risk than
companies in other industry sectors. Accordingly, these factors could impair their cash flow or result in other events, such as
bankruptcy, which could limit their ability to repay their obligations to us and may materially adversely affect the return on,
or the recovery of, our investments in these businesses.
Because of rapid technological
change, the average selling prices of products and some services provided by development-stage companies in our Target Industries
have historically decreased over their productive lives. These decreases could adversely affect their operating results and cash
flow, their ability to meet obligations under their debt securities and the value of their equity securities. This could, in turn,
materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Any unrealized depreciation we experience
on our debt investments may be an indication of future realized losses, which could reduce our income available for distribution.
As a BDC, we are required
to carry our investments at fair value, which is the market value of our investments or, if no market value is ascertainable, at
the fair value as determined in good faith pursuant to procedures approved by our Board in accordance with our valuation policy.
We are not permitted to maintain a reserve for debt investment losses. Decreases in the fair values of our investments are recorded
as unrealized depreciation. Any unrealized depreciation in our debt investments could be an indication of a portfolio company’s
inability to meet its repayment obligations to us with respect to the affected debt investments. This could result in realized
losses in the future and ultimately reduces our income available for distribution in future periods.
If the assets securing the debt investments
we make decrease in value, we may not have sufficient collateral to cover losses and may experience losses upon foreclosure.
We believe our portfolio
companies generally are and will be able to repay our debt investments from their available capital, from future capital-raising
transactions or from cash flow from operations. However, to mitigate our credit risks, we typically take a security interest in
all or a portion of the assets of our portfolio companies. There is a risk that the collateral securing our debt investments may
decrease in value over time, may be difficult to appraise or sell in a timely manner and may fluctuate in value based upon the
business and market conditions, including as a result of an inability of the portfolio company to raise additional capital, and,
in some circumstances, our lien could be subordinated to claims of other creditors. In addition, deterioration of a portfolio company’s
financial condition and prospects, including its inability to raise additional capital, may be accompanied by deterioration of
the value of the collateral for the debt investment. Consequently, although such debt investment is secured, we may not receive
principal and interest payments according to the debt investment’s terms and the value of the collateral may not be sufficient
to recover our investment should we be forced to enforce our remedies.
In addition, because
we invest in development-stage companies in our Target Industries, a substantial portion of the assets securing our investment
may be in the form of intellectual property, if any, inventory, equipment, cash and accounts receivables. Intellectual property,
if any, which secures a debt investment could lose value if the company’s rights to the intellectual property are challenged
or if the company’s license to the intellectual property is revoked or expires. In addition, in lieu of a security interest
in a portfolio company’s intellectual property we may sometimes obtain a security interest in all assets of the portfolio
company other than intellectual property and also obtain a commitment by the portfolio company not to grant liens to any other
creditor on the company’s intellectual property. In these cases, we may have additional difficulty recovering our principal
in the event of a foreclosure. Similarly, any equipment securing our debt investments may not provide us with the anticipated security
if there are changes in technology or advances in new equipment that render the particular equipment obsolete or of limited value
or if the company fails to adequately maintain or repair the equipment. Any one or more of the preceding factors could materially
impair our ability to recover principal in a foreclosure, which may adversely affect our ability to pay distributions in the future.
We may choose to waive or defer enforcement
of covenants in the debt securities held in our portfolio, which may cause us to lose all or part of our investment in these companies.
We structure the debt
investments in our portfolio companies to include business and financial covenants placing affirmative and negative obligations
on the operation of such companies’ businesses and financial condition. However, from time to time we may elect to waive
breaches of these covenants, including our right to payment, or waive or defer enforcement of remedies, such as acceleration of
obligations or foreclosure on collateral, depending upon the financial condition and prospects of the particular portfolio company.
These actions may reduce the likelihood of our receiving the full amount of future payments of interest or principal and be accompanied
by a deterioration in the value of the underlying collateral as many of these companies may have limited financial resources, may
be unable to meet future obligations and may go bankrupt. These events could harm our financial condition and operating results.
The lack of liquidity in our investments
may adversely affect our business, and if we
need to sell any of our investments, we may not be able to do so at
a favorable
price. As a result, we may suffer losses.
We plan to generally
invest in debt investments with terms of up to four years and hold such investments until maturity, unless earlier prepaid, and
we do not expect that our related holdings of equity securities will provide us with liquidity opportunities in the near-term.
We expect to primarily invest in companies whose securities are not publicly-traded, and whose securities are subject to legal
and other restrictions on resale or are otherwise less liquid than publicly traded securities. The illiquidity of these investments
may make it difficult for us to sell these investments when desired. We may also face other restrictions on our ability to liquidate
an investment in a public portfolio company to the extent that we possess material non-public information regarding the portfolio
company. In addition, if we are required to liquidate all or a portion of our portfolio quickly, we may realize significantly less
than the value at which we had previously recorded these investments. As a result, we do not expect to dispose of our investments
in the near term. However, we may be required to do so in order to maintain our qualification as a BDC and as a RIC if we do not
satisfy one or more of the applicable criteria under the respective regulatory frameworks. Because most of our investments are
illiquid, we may be unable to dispose of them, in which case we could fail to qualify as a RIC and/or BDC, or we may not be able
to dispose of them at favorable prices, and as a result, we may suffer losses.
The disposition of our debt investments
may result in contingent liabilities.
In connection with
the disposition of a debt investment, we may be required to make representations about the business and financial affairs of the
portfolio company typical of those made in connection with the sale of a business. We may also be required to indemnify the purchasers
of such debt investment to the extent that any such representations turn out to be inaccurate or with respect to potential liabilities.
These arrangements may result in contingent liabilities that ultimately result in funding obligations that we must satisfy through
our return of distributions previously made to us.
Our portfolio companies may incur
debt that ranks equally with, or senior to, our investments in such companies.
We plan to invest
primarily in debt investments issued by our portfolio companies. Some of our portfolio companies are permitted to have other debt
that ranks equally with, or senior to, our debt investments in the portfolio company. By their terms, these debt instruments may
provide that the holders thereof are entitled to receive payment of interest or principal on or before the dates on which we are
entitled to receive payments in respect of our debt investments. These debt instruments may prohibit the portfolio companies from
paying interest on or repaying our investments in the event of, and during, the continuance of a default under the debt instruments.
In addition, in the event of insolvency, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization or bankruptcy of a portfolio company, holders
of debt instruments ranking senior to our investment in that portfolio company would typically be entitled to receive payment in
full before we receive any payment in respect of our investment. After repaying senior creditors, a portfolio company may not have
any remaining assets to use for repaying its obligation to us. In the case of debt ranking equally with our debt investments, we
would have to share on an equal basis any distributions with other creditors holding such debt in the event of an insolvency, liquidation,
dissolution, reorganization or bankruptcy.
There may be circumstances where
our debt investments could be subordinated to claims of other creditors, or we could be subject to lender liability claims.
Even though certain
of our investments are structured as senior debt investments, if one of our portfolio companies were to go bankrupt, depending
on the facts and circumstances, including the extent to which we actually provided managerial assistance to that portfolio company,
a bankruptcy court might recharacterize our debt investment and subordinate all or a portion of our claim to that of other creditors.
We may also be subject to lender liability claims for actions taken by us with respect to a portfolio company’s business,
including in rendering significant managerial assistance, or instances where we exercise control over the portfolio company.
An investment strategy that includes
investments in privately held companies presents certain challenges, including a lack of available information about these companies,
a dependence on the talents and efforts of only a few key portfolio company personnel and a greater vulnerability to economic downturns.
We currently invest,
and plan to invest, in privately held companies. Generally, very little public information exists about these companies, and we
are required to rely on the ability of our Advisor to obtain adequate information to evaluate the potential returns from investing
in these companies. If we are unable to uncover all material information about these companies, we may not make a fully informed
investment decision, and we may lose money on our investments. Also, privately held companies frequently have less diverse product
lines and a smaller market presence than larger competitors. Thus, they are generally more vulnerable to economic downturns and
may experience substantial variations in operating results. These factors could affect our investment returns.
In addition, our success
depends, in large part, upon the abilities of the key management personnel of our portfolio companies, who are responsible for
the day-to-day operations of our portfolio companies. Competition for qualified personnel is intense at any stage of a company’s
development. The loss of one or more key managers can hinder or delay a company’s implementation of its business plan and
harm its financial condition. Our portfolio companies may not be able to attract and retain qualified managers and personnel. Any
inability to do so may negatively affect our investment returns.
Our Advisor may, from time to time,
possess material non-public information regarding our portfolio companies, limiting our investment discretion.
Officers and employees
of our Advisor may serve as directors of, or in a similar capacity with, our portfolio companies, the securities of which are purchased
or sold on our behalf. If we obtain material non-public information with respect to such portfolio companies, or we become subject
to trading restrictions under the internal trading policies of those portfolio companies or as a result of applicable law or regulations,
we could be prohibited for a period of time from purchasing or selling the securities of such portfolio companies, and this prohibition
may have an adverse effect on us.
We may hold the debt securities of
leveraged companies that may, due to the significant volatility of such companies, experience bankruptcy or similar financial distress.
Leveraged companies
may experience bankruptcy, receivership or similar financial distress. The debt investments of distressed companies may not produce
income, may require us to bear certain expenses or to make additional advances in order to protect our investment and may subject
us to uncertainty as to when, in what manner (e.g., through liquidation, reorganization, receivership or bankruptcy) and for what
value such distressed debt will eventually be satisfied. Proceeds received from such proceedings may not be income that satisfies
the Qualifying Income Test for RICs and may not be in an amount sufficient to repay such expenses or advances. In the event that
a plan of reorganization is adopted or a receivership is established, in exchange for the debt investment we currently hold, we
may receive non-cash proceeds, including equity securities or license or royalty agreements with contingent payments, which may
require significantly more of our management’s time and attention.
If a portfolio company
enters a bankruptcy process, we will be subject to a number of significant inherent risks. Many events in a bankruptcy proceeding
are the product of contested matters and adversary proceedings and are beyond the control of the creditors. A bankruptcy filing
by an issuer may adversely and permanently affect the issuer. If the proceeding is converted to a liquidation, the value of the
issuer may not equal the liquidation value that was believed to exist at the time of the investment. The duration of a bankruptcy
proceeding is also difficult to predict, and a creditor’s return on investment can be adversely affected by delays until
the plan of reorganization or liquidation ultimately becomes effective. The administrative costs of a bankruptcy proceeding are
frequently high and would be paid out of the debtor’s estate prior to any return to creditors. Because the standards for
classification of claims under bankruptcy law are vague, our influence with respect to the class of securities or other obligations
we own may be lost by increases in the number and amount of claims in the same class or by different classification and treatment.
In the early stages of the bankruptcy process, it is often difficult to estimate the extent of, or even to identify, any contingent
claims that might be made. In addition, certain claims that have priority by law (for example, claims for taxes) may be substantial.
Prepayments of our debt investments
by our portfolio companies could adversely impact
our results of operations and reduce our return on equity.
We are subject to
the risk that the investments we make in our portfolio companies may be repaid prior to maturity. For example, most of our debt
investments have historically been repaid prior to maturity by our portfolio companies. At the time of a liquidity event, such
as a sale of the business, refinancing or public offering, many of our portfolio companies have availed themselves of the opportunity
to repay our debt investments prior to maturity. Our investments generally allow for repayment at any time subject to certain penalties.
When this occurs, we generally reinvest these proceeds in temporary investments, pending their future investment in new portfolio
companies. These temporary investments have substantially lower yields than the debt being prepaid, and we could experience significant
delays in reinvesting these amounts. Any future investment in a new portfolio company may also be at lower yields than the debt
that was repaid. As a result, our results of operations could be materially adversely affected if one or more of our portfolio
companies elects to prepay amounts owed to us. Additionally, prepayments could negatively impact our return on equity, which could
result in a decline in the market price of our common stock.
Our business and growth strategy
could be adversely affected if government regulations, priorities and resources impacting the industries in which our portfolio
companies operate change.
Some of our portfolio
companies operate in industries that are highly regulated by federal, state and/or local agencies. Changes in existing laws, rules
or regulations, or judicial or administrative interpretations thereof, or new laws, rules or regulations could have an adverse
impact on the business and industries of our portfolio companies. In addition, changes in government priorities or limitations
on government resources could also adversely impact our portfolio companies. We are unable to predict whether any such changes
in laws, rules or regulations will occur and, if they do occur, the impact of these changes on our portfolio companies and our
investment returns.
Our portfolio companies operating
in the technology industry are subject to risks particular to that industry.
As part of our investment
strategy, we have invested, and plan to invest in the future, in companies in the technology industry. Such portfolio companies
face intense competition as their businesses are rapidly evolving and intensely competitive, and are subject to changing technology,
shifting user needs, and frequent introductions of new products and services. The growth of certain technology sectors in which
we focus (such as communications, networking, data storage, software, cloud computing, and internet and media) into a variety of
new fields implicates new regulatory issues and may result in our portfolio companies in such sectors being subject to new regulations.
Portfolio companies
in the technology industry may also have a limited number of suppliers of necessary components or a limited number of manufacturers
for their products, and therefore face a risk of disruption to their manufacturing process if they are unable to find alternative
suppliers when needed. In addition, litigation regarding intellectual property rights is common in the sectors of the technology
industry in which we focus. See “–If our portfolio companies are unable to protect their intellectual property rights,
our business and prospects could be harmed, and if portfolio companies are required to devote significant resources to protecting
their intellectual property rights, the value of our investment could be reduced.” Any of these factors could materially
and adversely affect the operations of a portfolio company in this industry and, in turn, impair our ability to timely collect
principal and interest payments owed to us.
Our portfolio companies operating
in the life science industry are subject to extensive government regulation and certain other risks particular to that industry.
As part of our investment
strategy, we have invested, and plan to invest in the future, in companies in the life science industry.
Such portfolio companies
are subject to extensive regulation by the Food and Drug Administration and to a lesser extent, other federal and state agencies.
If any of these portfolio companies fail to comply with applicable regulations, they could be subject to significant penalties
and claims that could materially and adversely affect their operations. In addition, new laws, regulations or judicial interpretations
of existing laws and regulations might adversely affect a portfolio company in this industry.
The successful and
timely implementation of the business model of life science companies depends on their ability to adapt to changing technologies
and introduce new products. The success of new product offerings will depend, in turn, on many factors, including the ability to
properly anticipate and satisfy customer needs, obtain regulatory approvals on a timely basis, develop and manufacture products
in an economic and timely manner, obtain or maintain advantageous positions with respect to intellectual property, and differentiate
products from those of competitors.
Further, the development
of products (including medical devices or drug) by life science companies requires significant research and development, clinical
trials and regulatory approvals. The results of product development efforts may be affected by a number of factors, including the
ability to innovate, develop and manufacture new products, complete clinical trials, obtain regulatory approvals and reimbursement
by insurers in the United States (including Medicare and Medicaid) and abroad, or gain and maintain market approval of products.
In addition, patents attained by others can preclude or delay the commercialization of a product. There can be no assurance that
any products now in development will achieve technological feasibility, obtain regulatory approval, or gain market acceptance.
Failure can occur at any point in the development process, including after significant funds have been invested. Products may fail
to reach the market or may have only limited commercial success because of efficacy or safety concerns, failure to achieve positive
clinical outcomes, inability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals, failure to achieve market adoption, limited scope of approved
uses, excessive costs to manufacture, failure to establish or maintain intellectual property rights, infringement by others of
a company’s intellectual property rights, or infringement by a company of intellectual property rights of others.
Portfolio companies
in the life science industry may also have a limited number of suppliers of necessary components or a limited number of manufacturers
for their products, and therefore face a risk of disruption to their manufacturing process if they are unable to find alternative
suppliers when needed. Any of these factors could materially and adversely affect the operations of a portfolio company in this
industry and, in turn, impair our ability to timely collect principal and interest payments owed to us.
Our portfolio companies operating
in the healthcare information and services industry are subject to extensive government regulation and certain other risks particular
to that industry.
As part of our investment
strategy, we have invested, and plan to invest in the future, in companies in the healthcare information and services industry.
Such portfolio companies provide technology to companies that are subject to extensive regulation, including Medicare and Medicaid
payment rules and regulation, the False Claims Act and federal and state laws regarding the collection, use and disclosure of patient
health information and the storage handling and administration of pharmaceuticals. If any of our portfolio companies or the companies
to which they provide such technology fail to comply with applicable regulations, they could be subject to significant penalties
and claims that could materially and adversely affect their operations. Portfolio companies in the healthcare information or services
industry are also subject to the risk that changes in applicable regulations will render their technology obsolete or less desirable
in the marketplace.
Portfolio companies
in the healthcare information and services industry may also have a limited number of suppliers of necessary components or a limited
number of manufacturers for their products, and therefore face a risk of disruption to their manufacturing process if they are
unable to find alternative suppliers when needed. Any of these factors could materially and adversely affect the operations of
a portfolio company in this industry and, in turn, impair our ability to timely collect principal and interest payments owed to
us.
Our investments in the clean technology
industry are subject to many risks, including volatility, intense competition, unproven technologies, periodic downturns and potential
litigation.
Our investments in
clean technology, or cleantech, companies are subject to substantial operational risks, such as underestimated cost projections,
unanticipated operation and maintenance expenses, loss of government subsidies, and inability to deliver cost-effective alternative
energy solutions compared to traditional energy products. In addition, energy companies employ a variety of means of increasing
cash flow, including increasing utilization of existing facilities, expanding operations through new construction or acquisitions,
or securing additional long-term contracts. Thus, some energy companies may be subject to construction risk, acquisition risk or
other risks arising from their specific business strategies. Furthermore, production levels for solar, wind and other renewable
energies may be dependent upon adequate sunlight, wind, or biogas production, which can vary from market to market and period to
period, resulting in volatility in production levels and profitability. In addition, our cleantech companies may have narrow product
lines and small market shares, which tend to render them more vulnerable to competitors’ actions and market conditions, as
well as to general economic downturns. The revenues, income (or losses) and valuations of clean technology companies can and often
do fluctuate suddenly and dramatically and the markets in which clean technology companies operate are generally characterized
by abrupt business cycles and intense competition. Demand for cleantech and renewable energy is also influenced by the available
supply and prices for other energy products, such as coal, oil and natural gas. A decrease in prices in these energy products could
reduce demand for alternative energy. Cleantech companies face potential litigation, including significant warranty and product
liability claims, as well as class action and government claims. Such litigation could adversely affect the business and results
of operations of our cleantech portfolio companies.
Cleantech companies are subject to
extensive government regulation and certain other risks particular to the sectors in which they operate and our business and growth
strategy could be adversely affected if government regulations, priorities and resources impacting such sectors change or if our
portfolio companies fail to comply with such regulations.
As part of our investment
strategy we invest in portfolio companies in cleantech sectors that may be subject to extensive regulation by foreign, U.S. federal,
state and/or local agencies. Changes in existing laws, rules or regulations, or judicial or administrative interpretations thereof,
uncertainty regarding such changes or new laws, rules or regulations could have an adverse impact on the business and industries
of our portfolio companies. In addition, changes in government priorities or limitations on government resources could also adversely
impact our portfolio companies. We are unable to predict whether any such changes in laws, rules or regulations will occur and,
if they do occur, the impact of these changes on our portfolio companies and our investment returns. Furthermore, if any of our
portfolio companies fail to comply with applicable regulations, they could be subject to significant penalties and claims that
could materially and adversely affect their operations. Our portfolio companies may be subject to the expense, delay and uncertainty
of the regulatory approval process for their products and, even if approved, these products may not be accepted in the marketplace.
In particular, there
is considerable uncertainty about whether foreign, U.S., state and/or local governmental entities will enact or maintain legislation
or regulatory programs that mandate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions or provide incentives for cleantech companies. Without
such regulatory policies, investments in cleantech companies may not be economical and financing for cleantech companies may become
unavailable, which could materially adversely affect the ability of our portfolio companies to repay the debt they owe to us. Any
of these factors could materially and adversely affect the operations and financial condition of a portfolio company and, in turn,
the ability of the portfolio company to repay the debt they owe to us.
If our portfolio companies are unable
to commercialize their technologies, products,
business concepts or services, the returns on our investments could
be adversely
affected.
The value of our investments
in our portfolio companies may decline if our portfolio companies are not able to commercialize their technology, products, business
concepts or services. Additionally, although some of our portfolio companies may already have a commercially successful product
or product line at the time of our investment, technology-related products and services often have a more limited market or life
span than products in other industries. Thus, the ultimate success of these companies often depends on their ability to innovate
continually in increasingly competitive markets. If they are unable to do so, our investment returns could be adversely affected
and their ability to service their debt obligations to us over the life of a loan could be impaired. Our portfolio companies may
be unable to acquire or develop successful new technologies and the intellectual property they currently hold may not remain viable.
Even if our portfolio companies are able to develop commercially viable products, the market for new products and services is highly
competitive and rapidly changing. Neither our portfolio companies nor we have any control over the pace of technology development.
Commercial success is difficult to predict, and the marketing efforts of our portfolio companies may not be successful.
Our portfolio companies may rely
upon licenses for all or part of their intellectual property.
A portfolio company
may license all or part of its intellectual property from another unrelated party. While the portfolio company may continue development
on that licensed intellectual property, it can be difficult to ascertain who has title to the intellectual property. We may also
rely upon the portfolio company’s management team’s representations as to the nature of the licensing agreement. There
are implications in workouts and in bankruptcy where intellectual property is not wholly owned by a portfolio company. Further,
the licensor may have an actual or contingent claim on the intellectual property (for instance, a payment due upon change in control)
that would supersede other claims in that asset in certain situations.
If our portfolio companies are unable
to protect their intellectual property rights, our business and prospects could be harmed, and if portfolio companies are required
to devote significant resources to protecting their intellectual property rights, the value of our investment could be reduced.
Our future success
and competitive position depends in part upon the ability of our portfolio companies to obtain, maintain and protect proprietary
technology used in their products and services. The intellectual property held by our portfolio companies often represents a substantial
portion of the collateral securing our investments and/or constitutes a significant portion of the portfolio companies’ value
that may be available in a downside scenario to repay our debt investments. Our portfolio companies rely, in part, on patent, trade
secret and trademark law to protect that technology, but competitors may misappropriate their intellectual property, and disputes
as to ownership of intellectual property may arise. Portfolio companies may, from time to time, be required to institute litigation
to enforce their patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights, protect their trade secrets, determine the validity
and scope of the proprietary rights of others or defend against claims of infringement.
Such litigation could
result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. Similarly, if a portfolio company is found to infringe or misappropriate
a third party’s patent or other proprietary rights, it could be required to pay damages to the third party, alter its products
or processes, obtain a license from the third party and/or cease activities utilizing the proprietary rights, including making
or selling products utilizing the proprietary rights. Any of the foregoing events could negatively affect both the portfolio company’s
ability to service our debt investment and the value of any related debt and equity securities that we own, as well as the value
of any collateral securing our investment.
In some cases, we
collateralize our debt investments with a secured collateral position in a portfolio company's assets, which may include a negative
pledge or, to a lesser extent, no security on their intellectual property. In the event of a default on a debt investment, the
intellectual property of the portfolio company would most likely be liquidated to provide proceeds to pay the creditors of the
portfolio company. There can be no assurance that our security interest, if any, in the proceeds of the intellectual property will
be enforceable in a court of law or bankruptcy court or that there will not be others with senior or
pari passu
credit interests.
We do not expect to control any of our portfolio companies.
We do not control,
or expect to control in the future, any of our portfolio companies, even though our debt agreements may contain certain restrictive
covenants that limit the business and operations of our portfolio companies. We also do not maintain, or intend to maintain in
the future, a control position to the extent we own equity interests in any portfolio company. As a result, we are subject to the
risk that a portfolio company in which we invest may make business decisions with which we disagree and the management of such
company, as representatives of the holders of their common equity, may take risks or otherwise act in ways that do not serve our
interests as debt investors. Due to the lack of liquidity of the investments that we typically hold in our portfolio companies,
we may not be able to dispose of our investments in the event we disagree with the actions of a portfolio company and we may therefore,
suffer a decrease in the value of our investments.
We may invest in foreign portfolio
companies or secure our investments with the assets of our portfolio companies’ foreign subsidiaries.
We may invest in securities
of foreign companies. Additionally, certain debt investments consisting of secured loans to portfolio companies with headquarters
and primary operations located within the United States may be secured by the assets of a portfolio company’s foreign subsidiary.
Investments involving foreign companies may involve greater risks. These risks include: (i) less publicly available information;
(ii) varying levels of governmental regulation and supervision; and (iii) the difficulty of enforcing legal rights in a foreign
jurisdiction and uncertainties as to the status, interpretation and application of laws. Moreover, foreign companies are generally
not subject to uniform accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, practices and requirements comparable to those applicable
to United States companies. Debt investments secured by the assets of a portfolio company’s foreign subsidiary may be subject
to various laws enacted in their home countries for the protection of debtors or creditors, which could adversely affect our ability
to recover amounts owed. These insolvency considerations will differ depending on the country in which each foreign subsidiary
is located and may differ depending on whether the foreign subsidiary is a non-sovereign or a sovereign entity. The economies of
individual non-U.S. countries may also differ from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate
of inflation, volatility of currency exchange rates, depreciation, capital reinvestment, resources self-sufficiency and balance
of payments position. Accordingly, debt investments secured by the assets of a portfolio company’s foreign subsidiary could
face risks which would not pertain to debt investments solely in U.S. portfolio companies.
We may not realize expected returns on warrants received
in connection with our debt
investments.
As discussed above,
we generally receive warrants in connection with our debt investments. If we do not receive the returns that are anticipated on
the warrants, our investment returns on our portfolio companies, and the value of your investment in us, may be lower than expected.
Risks related to our common stock
There is a risk that investors in our equity securities
may not receive distributions, that our distributions may not grow over time or that a portion of distributions paid to you may
be a return of capital.
We intend to make
distributions on a monthly basis to our stockholders out of assets legally available for distribution. We cannot assure you that
we will achieve investment results that will allow us to make a specified level of cash distributions or year-to-year increases
in cash distributions. Our ability to pay distributions might be adversely affected by the impact of one or more risk factors described
in this report. In addition, due to the asset coverage test applicable to us as a BDC, we may be limited in our ability to make
distributions. All distributions will be paid at the discretion of our Board and will depend on our earnings, our financial condition,
maintenance of our RIC status, compliance with BDC regulation and such other factors as our Board may deem relevant from time to
time. We cannot assure you that we will pay distributions to our stockholders in the future. Further, if we invest a greater amount
of assets in equity securities that do not pay current dividends, the amount available for distribution could be reduced.
On an annual basis,
we must determine the extent to which any distributions we made were paid out of current or accumulated earnings, recognized capital
gains or capital. Distributions that represent a return of capital (which is the return of your original investment in us, after
subtracting sales load, fees and expenses directly or indirectly paid by you) rather than a distribution from earnings or profits,
reduce your basis in our stock for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which may result in higher tax liability when the shares
are sold, even if they have not increased in value or have lost value.
Our common stock price may be volatile and may decrease
substantially.
The trading price
of our common stock may fluctuate substantially and the liquidity of our common stock may be limited, in each case depending on
many factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be directly related to our operating performance. These factors
include the following:
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actual or anticipated changes in our earnings or fluctuations in our operating results;
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changes in the value of our portfolio of investments;
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price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market or in the market for BDCs from time to
time;
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investor demand for our shares of common stock;
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significant volatility in the market price and trading volume of securities of registered closed-end
management investment companies, BDCs or other financial services companies;
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our inability to raise capital, borrow money or deploy or invest our capital;
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fluctuations in interest rates;
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any shortfall in revenue or net income or any increase in losses from levels expected by investors
or securities analysts;
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operating performance of companies comparable to us;
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changes in regulatory policies or tax guidelines with respect to RICs or BDCs;
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general economic conditions, trends and other external factors;
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departures of key personnel; or
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loss of a major source of funding.
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We and our Advisor could be the target
of litigation.
We or our Advisor
could become the target of securities class action litigation or other similar claims if our stock price fluctuates significantly
or for other reasons. The outcome of any such proceedings could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition,
and/or operating results and could continue without resolution for long periods of time. Any litigation or other similar claims
could consume substantial amounts of our management’s time and attention, and that time and attention and the devotion of
associated resources could, at times, be disproportionate to the amounts at stake. Litigation and other claims are subject to inherent
uncertainties, and a material adverse impact on our financial statements could occur for the period in which the effect of an unfavorable
final outcome in litigation or other similar claims becomes probable and reasonably estimable. In addition, we could incur expenses
associated with defending ourselves against litigation and other similar claims, and these expenses could be material to our earnings
in future periods.
Shares of closed-end investment companies,
including BDCs, frequently trade at a discount to their NAV, which is separate and distinct from the risk that our NAV per share
may decline.
We cannot predict
the price at which our common stock will trade. Shares of closed-end investment companies, including BDCs, frequently trade at
a discount to their NAV and our stock may also be discounted in the market. This characteristic of closed-end investment companies
is separate and distinct from the risk that our NAV per share may decline. We cannot predict whether shares of our common stock
will trade above, at or below our NAV. In addition, if our common stock trades below its NAV, we will generally not be able to
issue additional shares of our common stock at its market price without first obtaining the approval of our stockholders and our
independent directors.
We currently invest a portion of
our capital in high-quality short-term investments,
which generate lower rates of return than those expected from
investments made in
accordance with our investment objective.
We currently invest
a portion of our capital in cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities, money market funds and other high-quality
short-term investments. These securities may earn yields substantially lower than the income that we anticipate receiving once
these proceeds are fully invested in accordance with our investment objective.
Investing in shares of our common stock may involve an
above average degree of risk.
The investments we
make in accordance with our investment objective may result in a higher amount of risk, volatility or loss of principal than alternative
investment options. Our investments in portfolio companies may be highly speculative and aggressive, and therefore, an investment
in our common stock may not be suitable for investors with lower risk tolerance.
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter
documents and other agreements and certain
provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL, could deter
takeover attempts and
have an adverse impact on the price of our common stock.
The DGCL, our certificate
of incorporation and our bylaws contain provisions that may have the effect of discouraging a third party from making an acquisition
proposal for us. Among other things, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws:
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provide for a classified board of directors, which may delay the ability of our stockholders to
change the membership of a majority of our Board;
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authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that could be issued by our
Board to thwart a takeover attempt;
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do not provide for cumulative voting;
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provide that vacancies on the Board, including newly created directorships, may be filled only
by a majority vote of directors then in office;
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limit the calling of special meetings of stockholders;
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provide that our directors may be removed only for cause;
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require supermajority voting to effect certain amendments to our certificate of incorporation and
our bylaws; and
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require stockholders to provide advance notice of new business proposals and director nominations
under specific procedures.
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These anti-takeover
provisions may inhibit a change in control in circumstances that could give the holders of our common stock the opportunity to
realize a premium over the market price of our common stock. It is a default under our Key Facility if (i) a person or group
of persons (within the meaning of the Exchange Act) acquires beneficial ownership of 20% or more of our issued and outstanding
common stock or (ii) during any twelve-month period, individuals who at the beginning of such period constituted our Board
cease for any reason, other than death or disability, to constitute a majority of the directors in office. If either event were
to occur, Key could accelerate our repayment obligations under, and/or terminate, our Key Facility.
If we elect to issue preferred stock,
holders of any such preferred stock will have the right to elect members of our Board and have class voting rights on certain matters.
The 1940 Act requires
that holders of shares of preferred stock must be entitled as a class to elect two directors at all times and to elect a majority
of the directors if distributions on such preferred stock are in arrears by two years or more, until such arrearage is eliminated.
In addition, certain matters under the 1940 Act require the separate vote of the holders of any issued and outstanding preferred
stock, including changes in fundamental investment restrictions and conversion to open-end status and, accordingly, preferred stockholders
could veto any such changes. Restrictions imposed on the declarations and payment of distributions to the holders of our common
stock and preferred stock, both by the 1940 Act and by requirements imposed by rating agencies, might impair our ability to maintain
our ability to be subject to tax as a RIC.
Your interest in us may be diluted
if you do not fully exercise your subscription rights in any rights offering. In addition, if the subscription price is less than
our NAV per share, then you will experience an immediate dilution of the aggregate NAV of your shares.
In the event we issue
subscription rights, stockholders who do not fully exercise their rights should expect that they will, at the completion of a rights
offering, own a smaller proportional interest in us than would otherwise be the case if they fully exercised their rights. Such
dilution is not currently determinable because it is not known what proportion of the shares will be purchased as a result of such
rights offering. Any such dilution will disproportionately affect nonexercising stockholders. If the subscription price per share
is substantially less than the current NAV per share, this dilution could be substantial.
In addition, if the
subscription price is less than our NAV per share, our stockholders would experience an immediate dilution of the aggregate NAV
of their shares as a result of such rights offering. The amount of any decrease in NAV is not predictable because it is not known
at this time what the subscription price and NAV per share will be on the expiration date of the rights offering or what proportion
of the shares will be purchased as a result of such rights offering. Such dilution could be substantial.
Investors in offerings of our common
stock may incur immediate dilution upon the closing of an offering.
If the public offering
price for any offering of shares of our common stock is higher than the book value per share of our outstanding common stock, investors
purchasing shares of common stock in any offering will pay a price per share that exceeds the tangible book value per share after
such offering.
If we sell common stock at a discount
to our NAV per share, stockholders who do not participate in such sale will experience immediate dilution in an amount that may
be material.
The issuance or sale
by us of shares of our common stock at a discount to NAV poses a risk of dilution to our current stockholders. In particular, stockholders
who do not purchase additional shares at or below the discounted price in proportion to their current ownership will experience
an immediate decrease in NAV per share (as well as in the aggregate NAV of their shares if they do not participate at all). These
stockholders will also experience a disproportionately greater decrease in their participation in our earnings and assets and their
voting power than the increase we experience in our assets, potential earning power and voting interests from such issuance or
sale. In addition, such sales may adversely affect the price at which our common stock trades.
Stockholders will experience dilution
in their ownership percentage if they do not participate in our dividend reinvestment plan.
All distributions
payable to stockholders that are participants in our dividend reinvestment plan, or DRIP, are automatically reinvested in shares
of our common stock. As a result, stockholders that do not participate in the DRIP will experience dilution in their ownership
interest over time.
The trading market or market value
of our publicly issued debt securities that we may issue may fluctuate.
Upon issuance,
any publicly issued debt securities that we may issue will not have an established trading market. We cannot assure you that a
trading market for our publicly issued debt securities will ever develop or, if developed, will be maintained. In addition to our
creditworthiness, many factors may materially adversely affect the trading market for, and market value of, our publicly issued
debt securities. These factors include:
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the time remaining to the maturity of these debt securities;
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the outstanding principal amount of debt securities with terms identical to these debt securities;
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the supply of debt securities trading in the secondary market, if any;
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the redemption or repayment features, if any, of these debt securities;
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the level, direction and volatility of market interest rates generally; and
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market rate of interest higher or lower than the rate borne by the debt securities.
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You should
also be aware that there may be a limited number of buyers when you decide to sell your debt securities. This too may materially
adversely affect the market value of the debt securities or the trading market for the debt securities.
Terms relating to redemption may
materially adversely affect your return on the debt securities that we may issue.
If we issue
debt securities that are redeemable at our option, we may choose to redeem the debt securities at times when prevailing interest
rates are lower than the interest rate paid on the debt securities. In addition, if such debt securities are subject to mandatory
redemption, we may be required to redeem the debt securities at times when prevailing interest rates are lower than the interest
rate paid on the debt securities. In this circumstance, you may not be able to reinvest the redemption proceeds in a comparable
security at an effective interest rate as high as your debt securities being redeemed.
Credit ratings provided by
third party credit rating agencies may not reflect all risks of an investment in debt securities that we may issue.
Credit ratings
provided by third party credit rating agencies are an assessment by third parties of our ability to pay our obligations. Consequently,
real or anticipated changes in our credit ratings will generally affect the market value of debt securities that we may issue.
Credit ratings provided by third party credit rating agencies, however, may not reflect the potential impact of risks related to
market conditions generally or other factors discussed above on the market value of or trading market for any publicly issued debt
securities that we may issue.
Sales in the public market of substantial
amounts of our common stock may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock, and the registration of a substantial
amount of insider shares, whether or not actually sold, may have a negative impact on the market price of our common stock.
Sales of substantial
amounts of our common stock, or the availability of such common stock for sale, whether or not actually sold, could adversely affect
the prevailing market price of our common stock. If this occurs and continues, it could impair our ability to raise additional
capital through the sale of equity securities should we desire to do so.