Firsthand Technology Value Fund Announces Commencement of Tender Offer
December 16 2019 - 4:15PM
Firsthand Technology Value Fund, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVVC) (the “Fund”),
a publicly-traded venture capital fund that invests in technology
and cleantech companies, announced today the commencement of a
“modified Dutch auction” tender offer (the “Tender Offer”) to
purchase up to $4 million of its common stock at a price per share
not less than $6.00 and not greater than $8.00 per share, in $0.10
increments.
The Tender Offer will commence today and will
expire at 5:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time on January 30, 2020, or
on such later date to which the offer is extended. The Fund and Mr.
Kevin Landis, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief
Executive Officer of the Fund (“Mr. Landis”), will purchase up
to $4 million of the Fund’s outstanding common shares for
cash. If the Tender Offer is fully subscribed, the Fund and Mr.
Landis will collectively purchase between 500,000 shares and
666,666 shares, or between 6.97% and 9.29%, respectively, of the
Fund’s outstanding shares of its common stock.
“Our Board has made it a priority to enhance
shareholder value by returning cash to shareholders as we achieve
exits from portfolio holdings,” noted Kevin Landis, the Fund’s CEO
and chairman of its Board of Directors. “We listened to shareholder
inputs and determined that a modified Dutch auction approach is an
efficient way to return a portion of the proceeds of our recent
sales of Pivotal Systems and Revasum common stock.”
A “modified Dutch auction” tender offer allows
shareholders to indicate how many shares and at what price within
the range described above they wish to tender their shares. Based
on the number of shares tendered and the prices specified by the
tendering shareholders, the Fund will determine the lowest
per-share price that will enable the purchase of up to $4.0 million
of its common stock. The Tender Offer will not be conditioned upon
any minimum number of shares of common stock being tendered. All
shares accepted in the Tender Offer will be purchased at the same
price even if tendered at a lower price. Additional terms and
conditions of the Tender Offer are set forth in the Fund’s tender
offer materials, which will be distributed to the Fund’s
shareholders shortly.
While the Fund’s Board of Directors has
authorized the Fund to make the Tender Offer, neither the Fund nor
its Board of Directors makes any recommendation to any shareholder
as to whether to tender or refrain from tendering any shares of
common stock or as to the price or prices at which shareholders may
choose to tender their shares. Shareholders must decide whether to
tender their shares of common stock and, if so, how many shares to
tender and at what price or prices to tender. In the future, the
Fund’s Board of Directors may consider additional tender offers or
other measures to enhance shareholder value based on a variety of
factors, including the market price of the Fund’s common stock and
its net asset value.
This announcement is not a recommendation, an
offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of
the Fund. The Tender Offer will be made only by an offer to
purchase, a related letter of transmittal and other documents,
which have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
as exhibits to the tender offer statement on Schedule TO. Common
shareholders of the Fund should read the offer to purchase and
tender offer statement on Schedule TO and related exhibits as they
contain important information about the Tender Offer. The offer to
purchase and related letter of transmittal will be available free
of charge at http://www.sec.gov and from the Fund by calling
Georgeson LLC, the Fund’s information agent for the Tender Offer at
(888) 219-8320.
About Firsthand Technology Value
FundFirsthand Technology Value Fund, Inc. is a
publicly-traded venture capital fund that invests in technology and
cleantech companies. More information about the Fund and its
holdings can be found online at www.firsthandtvf.com.
The Fund is a non-diversified, closed-end
investment company that elected to be treated as a business
development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The
Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term growth of capital.
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of
its total assets for investment purposes in technology and
cleantech companies.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS: This press release contains "forward-looking
statements" as defined under the U.S. federal securities laws.
Generally, the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate,"
"anticipate," "project," "will," and similar expressions identify
forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in
nature. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to materially differ
from the Fund’s historical experience and its present expectations
or projections indicated in any forward-looking statement. These
risks include, but are not limited to, changes in economic and
political conditions, regulatory and legal changes, technology and
cleantech industry risk, valuation risk, non-diversification risk,
interest rate risk, tax risk, and other risks discussed in the
Fund’s filings with the SEC. You should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they
are made. The Fund undertakes no obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statements made herein. There is no
assurance that the Fund’s investment objectives will be attained.
We acknowledge that, notwithstanding the foregoing, the safe harbor
for forward-looking statements under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 does not apply to investment
companies such as us.
Contact:
Phil MosakowskiFirsthand Capital Management,
Inc. (408) 624-9526vc@firsthandtvf.com
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