As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 6, 2021

Securities Act File No. 333-          

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM N-2

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Pre-Effective Amendment No.    ☐

Post-Effective Amendment No.    ☐

 

 

OWL ROCK TECHNOLOGY INCOME CORP.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

 

 

399 Park Avenue

38th Floor

New York, NY 10022

(212) 419-3000

(Address and telephone number, including area code, of principal executive offices)

 

 

Bryan Cole

Chief Operating Officer and

Chief Financial Officer

399 Park Avenue

38th Floor

New York, NY 10022

(Name and address of agent for service)

 

 

COPIES TO:

Cynthia M. Krus, Esq. Kristin H. Burns, Esq. Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP 700 Sixth Street, NW Washington, DC 20004 Tel: (202) 383-0100 Fax: (202) 637-3593		Blake E. Estes, Esq. Martin H. Dozier, Esq. Alston & Bird LLP 90 Park Avenue New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 210-9400 Fax: (212) 210-9444

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed public offering:

As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

☐  Check box if the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans.

☒  Check box if any securities being registered on this Form will be offered on a delayed or continuous basis in reliance on Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”), other than securities offered in connection with a dividend reinvestment plan.

☐  Check box if this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction A.2 or a post-effective amendment thereto.

☐  Check box if this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction B or a post-effective amendment thereto that will become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act.

☐  Check box if this Form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction B to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act.

It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box):

☒  when declared effective pursuant to Section 8(c) of the Securities Act.

If appropriate, check the following box:

☐  This [post-effective] amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed [post-effective amendment] [registration statement].

☐  This Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, and the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering is:             .

☐  This Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, and the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering is:             .

☐  This Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, and the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering is:             .

Check each box that appropriately characterizes the Registrant:

☐  Registered Closed-End Fund (closed-end company that is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“Investment Company Act”)).

☒  Business Development Company (closed-end company that intends or has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act).

☐  Interval Fund (Registered Closed-End Fund or a Business Development Company that makes periodic repurchase offers under Rule 23c-3 under the Investment Company Act).

☐  A.2 Qualified (qualified to register securities pursuant to General Instruction A.2 of this Form).

☐  Well-Known Seasoned Issuer (as defined by Rule 405 under the Securities Act).

☒  Emerging Growth Company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”).

☐  If an Emerging Growth Company, indicate by check mark if the Registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of Securities Act.

☒  New Registrant (registered or regulated under the Investment Company Act for less than 12 calendar months preceding this filing).

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

Title of Securities Being Registered(1)		Amount to be Registered(2)		Proposed Maximum Offering Price per Share(3)		Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price(2)		Amount of Registration Fee(2)(3)
Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share				$10.00		$5,000,000,000		$463,500.00

(1)

The Registrant relies on an order for exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission that permits the Registrant to offer multiple classes of common stock. The Registrant hereby offers up to a maximum aggregate amount of $5,000,000,000 of the following classes of common stock in any combination of: “Class S shares,” “Class D shares” and “Class I shares.” The Registrant also may register other classes of common stock, which may be included in this offering.

(2)	Estimated pursuant to Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933 solely for the purpose of determining the registration fee.

(3)	Based on initial offering price of $10.00 for shares for Class I common stock.

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

 

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. The securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED OCTOBER 6, 2021

Preliminary Prospectus

 

Owl Rock Technology Income Corp.

Maximum Offering of up to $5,000,000,000 in

Class S, Class D and Class I Shares of Common Stock

 

 

We are an externally managed closed-end 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 (the “1940 Act”). We will be managed by Owl Rock Technology Advisors LLC (our “Adviser”) pursuant to an investment advisory agreement. Our Adviser is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), an indirect subsidiary of Blue Owl Capital, Inc. (“Blue Owl”) (NYSE: OWL) and part of Owl Rock, a division of Blue Owl focused on direct lending. We also intend to elect to be treated for federal income tax purposes, and intend to qualify annually thereafter, as a regulated investment company (a “RIC”) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

We are an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements.

We intend to invest in a broad range of established and high growth technology companies that capitalize on the large and growing demand for technology products and services. These companies use technology extensively to improve business processes, applications and opportunities or seek to grow through technological developments and innovations. These companies operate in technology-related industries or sectors which include, but are not limited to, application software, systems software, healthcare information technology, technology services and infrastructure, financial technology and internet and digital media. Within each industry or sector, we intend to invest in companies that develop or offer goods and services to businesses and consumers which utilize scientific knowledge, including techniques, skills, methods, devices and processes, to solve problems. We refer to all of these companies as “technology-related” companies and intend, under normal circumstances, to invest at least 80% of the value of its total assets in such businesses.

We expect that generally our portfolio composition will be majority debt or income producing securities, which may include “covenant-lite” loans (i.e., loans that do not have a complete set of financial maintenance covenants), with a lesser allocation to equity-related opportunities. To a lesser extent, we may make investments in syndicated loan opportunities, including in publicly traded debt instruments, for cash management purposes. In addition, our portfolio composition may fluctuate from time to time based on market conditions and interest rates.

We intend to rely on exemptive relief that has been granted to Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC (“ORCA”), an affiliate of our Adviser, which permits us to offer multiple classes of shares of common stock and to impose varying sales loads, asset-based service and/or distribution fees and early withdrawal fees. We are offering on a best efforts, continuous basis up to $5 billion in any combination of amount of shares of Class S, Class D and Class I common stock. Class S, Class D and Class I shares are each offered at an initial public offering price per share of $10.00. Each class of common stock will be offered through Blue Owl Securities LLC (d/b/a Blue Owl Securities) (the “Dealer Manager”). This is our initial public offering of Class S, Class D and Class I shares, and there has been no public market for, or historical valuation of, our shares. The initial minimum permitted purchase by each individual investor will be $25,000 in Class S or Class D shares, or $1 million in Class I shares unless such minimums are waived by the Dealer Manager.

We will sell shares in this offering upon raising gross proceeds of $50 million, which we may raise through one or more private placements of shares of our common stock to our Adviser, our directors, officers and/or other affiliated persons and entities within one year after the date of this prospectus. This is referred to as our minimum offering requirement. Subscriptions solicited prior to meeting the minimum offering requirement will be placed in

an account held by the escrow agent, UMB Bank, N.A. in trust for our subscribers’ benefit, pending release to us upon meeting the minimum offering requirement. If we do not satisfy the minimum offering requirement within one year from the initial effective date of this prospectus, we will promptly return all funds to subscribers, with interest and without deduction for fees or expenses, and we will stop this offering. See “Plan of Distribution.”

No upfront selling commission, dealer manager fees, or other similar placement fees (together, the “Upfront Sales Load”) will be paid to the Company or Dealer Manager with respect to the Class S and Class D shares, however, if such Class S shares or Class D shares are purchased through certain financial intermediaries, those financial intermediaries may directly charge transaction or other fees, including upfront placement fees or brokerage commissions, in such amount as they may determine, provided that the selling agents limit such charges to 3.50% of the net offering price per share for each Class S share and 1.50% of the net offering price per share for each Class D share. Financial intermediaries will not charge such fees on Class I shares.

 

•

This is an initial public offering.

 

•

This is a “blind pool” offering and thus you will not have the opportunity to evaluate our investments before we make them.

 

•

You should not expect to be able to sell your shares regardless of how we perform.

 

•

If you are able to sell your shares, you likely will receive less than your purchase price.

 

•

We do not intend to list our shares on any securities exchange and we do not expect a secondary market in our shares to develop.

 

•

Beginning no later than the first full calendar quarter after the date that we sell shares to a person or entity other than our Adviser, our directors, officers and/or other affiliated persons and entities, we may, from time to time, determine to repurchase a portion of the shares of our common stock, and if we do, we expect that only a limited number of shares will be eligible for repurchase. In addition, any such repurchases will be at prices determined by our board of directors, which may be at a discount to the price at which you purchased shares of our common stock in this offering.

 

•

You should consider that you may not have access to the money you invest for an indefinite period of time.

 

•

The Incentive Fees payable by the Company to the Adviser may create an incentive for the Adviser to pursue investments that are riskier or more speculative than would be the case in the absence of such compensation arrangement.

 

•

Investors in our Class S and Class D shares will be subject to ongoing servicing fees of 0.85% and 0.25%, respectively. See “Share Class Specifications.”

 

•

An investment in shares of our common stock is not suitable for you if you need access to the money you invest. See “Suitability Standards” and “Perpetual-Life BDC.”

 

•

Because you will be unable to sell your shares, you will be unable to reduce your exposure in any market downturn.

 

•

Distributions on our common stock may exceed our taxable earnings and profits, particularly during the period before we have substantially invested the net proceeds from our public offering. Therefore, portions of the distributions that we pay may represent a return of capital to you for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A return of capital is a return of a portion of your original investment in shares of our common stock. As a result, a return of capital will (i) lower your tax basis in your shares and thereby increase the amount of capital gain (or decrease the amount of capital loss) realized upon a subsequent sale or redemption of such shares, and (ii) reduce the amount of funds we have for investment in portfolio companies. We have not established any limit on the extent to which we may use offering proceeds to fund distributions.

 

•

Distributions also may be funded in significant part, directly or indirectly, from the deferral of certain investment advisory fees, that may be subject to repayment to our Adviser and/or the reimbursement of certain operating expenses, that may be subject to repayment to our Adviser and its affiliates. Significant portions of distributions may not be based on investment performance. In the event distributions are funded from deferrals of fees and reimbursements by our affiliates, such funding may not continue in the future. If our affiliates do not agree to reimburse certain of our operating

expenses, then significant portions of our distributions may come from offering proceeds or borrowings. The repayment of any amounts owed to our affiliates will reduce future distributions to which you would otherwise be entitled.

 

•

We intend to invest in securities that are rated below investment grade by rating agencies or that would be rated below investment grade if they were rated. Below investment grade securities, which are often referred to as “junk,” have predominantly speculative characteristics with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay interest and repay principal. They may also be illiquid and difficult to value.

 

•

Our investment strategy focuses on technology companies, which are subject to many risks, including volatility, intense competition, shortened product life cycles, changes in regulatory and governmental programs and periodic downturns, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

 

 

We intend to sell each class of our shares at a net offering price that we believe reflects the net asset value per share of such class of shares as determined in accordance with the Company’s share pricing policy. See “Determination of Net Asset Value – Value Determinations in Connection with this Continuous Offering.” We will modify our public offering prices to the extent necessary to comply with the requirements of the 1940 Act, including the requirement that we not sell any class of our shares at a net offering price that is below the net asset value per share of the relevant class of shares unless we obtain the requisite approval from our shareholders. Accordingly, subscriptions for this offering will be for a specific dollar amount rather than a specified quantity of shares, which may result in subscribers receiving fractional shares rather than full share amounts.

We intend to file post-effective amendments to our registration statement that will allow us to continue this offering. We reserve the right to change our investment and operating policies without shareholder approval, except to the extent such approval is required by the 1940 Act.

Shares of our common stock are highly illiquid and appropriate only as a long-term investment. Investing in our common stock may be considered speculative and involves a high degree of risk, including the risk of a substantial loss of investment. See “Suitability Standards” beginning on page 2 and “Risk Factors” beginning on page 41 to read about our suitability standards and the risks you should consider before buying shares of our common stock. Depending upon the terms and pricing of any additional offerings and the value of our investments, you may experience dilution in the book value and fair value of your shares. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to an Investment in Our Common Stock — A shareholder’s interest in us will be diluted if we issue additional shares, which could reduce the overall value of an investment in us” on page 81 for more information. As an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act we intend to take advantage of extended transition periods for complying with new or revised accounting standards. See “Prospectus Summary — Emerging Growth Company Status.”

 

		Offering Price to Public(1)				Net Proceeds (Before Expenses)(2)(3)(4)
Per Class S Share		$	10.00			$	1,666,666,666.67
Per Class D Share		$	10.00			$	1,666,666,666.67
Per Class I Share		$	10.00			$	1,666,666,666.67
Minimum Offering		$	50,000,000			$	50,000,000
Maximum Offering		$	5,000,000,000			$	5,000,000,000

 

(1)

All subscription payments will be held in an escrow account for our subscribers’ benefit pending release to us after we satisfy the minimum offering requirement. If we do not satisfy the minimum offering requirement within one year from the initial effective date of this prospectus, we will promptly return all funds to subscribers, with interest and without deduction for fees or expenses, and we will stop this offering. Information in the table reflects the initial public offering prices.

(2)

No Upfront Sales Loads will be paid to the Company or Dealer Manager with respect to Class S shares, Class D shares or Class I shares, however, if subscribers buy Class S shares or Class D shares through certain financial intermediaries, those financial intermediaries may directly charge subscribers transaction or other fees, including upfront placement fees or brokerage commissions, in such amount as they may determine, provided that the selling agents limit such charges to 3.50% of the net offering price per share for each Class S share and 1.50% of the net offering price per share for each Class D share. Selling agents will not charge such fees on Class I shares. We will also pay the following ongoing servicing fees to the Dealer Manager, subject to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) limitations on underwriting compensation: (a) for Class S shares, an ongoing servicing fee equal to 0.85% per annum of the aggregate net asset value for such Class S shares and (b) for Class D shares, an ongoing servicing fee equal to 0.25% per annum of the aggregate net asset value for such Class D shares, in each case, payable monthly in arrears. No ongoing servicing fees will be paid with respect to the Class I shares. The total amount that will be paid over time for other underwriting compensation depends on the average length of time for which shares remain outstanding, the term over which such amount is measured and the performance of our investments. We will also pay or reimburse certain organization and offering expenses, including, subject to FINRA limitations on underwriting compensation, certain wholesaling expenses. See “Plan of Distribution” and “Estimated Use of Proceeds.” The total underwriting compensation and total organization and offering expenses (including total underwriting compensation) will not exceed 10% and 15%, respectively, of the gross proceeds from this offering. Proceeds are calculated before deducting ongoing servicing fees or organization and offering expenses payable by us, which are paid over time.

(3)

Assumes all shares are sold in the primary offering, with approximately 33% of the gross offering proceeds from the sale of Class S shares, approximately 33% from the sale of Class D shares and approximately 33% from the sale of Class I shares. ORCA has received an exemptive order that permits us to offer multiple classes of shares of common stock and to impose varying sales loads, asset-based service and/or distribution fees and early withdrawal fees.

(4)	We will also pay or reimburse certain organization and offering expenses, including, subject to FINRA limitations on underwriting compensation, certain wholesaling expenses. See “Plan of Distribution” and “Estimated Use of Proceeds.”

This prospectus contains important information about us that a prospective investor should know before investing in our common stock. Please read this prospectus before investing and keep it for future reference. We were recently formed and have not been in the business described in this prospectus for at least three years. We will file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information about us with the SEC. This information will be available free of charge by contacting us at 399 Park Avenue, 38th Floor, New York, New York 10022, or by telephone at (212) 419-3000 or on our website at http://www.owlrockbdcs.com. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus, and you should not consider that information to be part of this prospectus. The SEC also maintains a website at http://www.sec.gov, which contains such information.

Neither the SEC, the Attorney General of the State of New York nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. An investment in our shares is NOT a bank deposit and is NOT insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The use of forecasts in this offering is prohibited. Any representation to the contrary, and any predictions, written or oral, as to the amount or certainty of any present or future cash benefit or tax consequence which may flow from an investment in this program, is not permitted. Securities regulators have not passed upon whether this offering can be sold in compliance with existing or future suitability or conduct standards including the ‘Regulation Best Interest’ standard to any or all purchasers.

 

 

Blue Owl Securities

Prospectus dated                    , 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

		Page
ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS			1
SUITABILITY STANDARDS			2
PROSPECTUS SUMMARY			4
FEES AND EXPENSES			29
CERTAIN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS			33
RISK FACTORS			41
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			93
ESTIMATED USE OF PROCEEDS			94
DISCUSSION OF EXPECTED OPERATING PLANS			97
BUSINESS			106
MANAGEMENT OF THE COMPANY			124
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT			133
MANAGEMENT AND OTHER AGREEMENTS AND FEES			137
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS			146
CONTROL PERSONS AND PRINCIPAL SHAREHOLDERS			149
DISTRIBUTIONS			150
DESCRIPTION OF OUR CAPITAL STOCK			153
SHARE CLASS SPECIFICATIONS			164
DETERMINATION OF NET ASSET VALUE			166
SUBSCRIPTION PROCESS			169
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION			171
DISTRIBUTION REINVESTMENT PLAN			178
SHARE REPURCHASE PROGRAM			179
PERPETUAL-LIFE BDC			180
REGULATION			180
TAX MATTERS			186
CUSTODIAN, TRANSFER AND DISTRIBUTION PAYING AGENT AND REGISTRAR			194
BROKERAGE ALLOCATION AND OTHER PRACTICES			194
INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM			194
LEGAL MATTERS			195
AVAILABLE INFORMATION			195
SHAREHOLDER PRIVACY NOTICE			195
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS			C-1
APPENDIX A: FORM OF SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT			196

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement we have filed with the SEC, in connection with a continuous offering process, to raise capital for us. As we make material investments or have other material developments, we will periodically provide prospectus supplements or may amend this prospectus to add, update or change information contained in this prospectus.

This prospectus relates to our shares of Class S, Class D and Class I common stock, which are each offered at an initial public offering price equal to $10.00 per share. ORCA has received an exemptive order that permits us to offer multiple classes of shares of common stock and to impose varying sales loads, asset-based service and/or distribution fees and early withdrawal fees. We will seek to avoid interruptions in the continuous offering of shares of our common stock; we may, however, to the extent permitted or required under the rules and regulations of the SEC, supplement this prospectus or file an amendment to the registration statement with the SEC if our net asset value per share: (i) declines more than 10% from the net asset value per share as of the effective date of this registration statement or (ii) increases to an amount that is greater than the net proceeds per share as stated in this prospectus. There can be no assurance that our continuous offering will not be interrupted during the SEC’s review of any such registration statement amendment.

We intend to sell each class of our shares at a net offering price that we believe reflects the net asset value per share of the relevant class of shares as determined in accordance with the Company’s share pricing policy. We will modify our public offering prices to the extent necessary to comply with the requirements of the 1940 Act, including the requirement that we not sell any class of our shares at a net offering price that is below the net asset value per share of the relevant class of shares unless we obtain the requisite approval from our shareholders.

We will supplement this prospectus to the extent required by applicable law and we will also post updated information on our website at http://www.owlrockbdcs.com.

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. Our Dealer Manager is Blue Owl Securities. Neither we nor our Dealer Manager has authorized any other person to provide you with different information from that contained in this prospectus. The information contained in this prospectus is complete and accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or sale of shares of our common stock. If there is a material change in our affairs, we will amend or supplement this prospectus. Any statement that we make in this prospectus may be modified or superseded by us in a subsequent prospectus supplement. The registration statement we filed with the SEC includes exhibits that provide more detailed descriptions of the matters discussed in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus, all prospectus supplements and the related registration statement exhibits, together with additional information described below under “Available Information.” In this prospectus, we use the term “day” to refer to a calendar day, and we use the term “business day” to refer to any day other than Saturday, Sunday, a legal holiday or a day on which banks in New York City are authorized or required to close.

We maintain a website at http://www.owlrockbdcs.com. We will disclose the net asset value per share of each class of our common stock for each month, as determined pursuant to our share pricing policy, when available on our website. See “Determination of Net Asset Value — Value Determinations in Connection with this Continuous Offering.” Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus, and you should not consider that information to be part of this prospectus.

 

1

SUITABILITY STANDARDS

Shares of our common stock offered through this prospectus are suitable only as a long-term investment for persons of adequate financial means such that they do not have a need for liquidity in this investment. The initial minimum purchase amounts are $25,000 in Class S, Class D shares and $1 million in Class I shares unless waived by the Dealer Manager.

We have established financial suitability standards for initial shareholders in this offering which require that a purchaser of shares have either:

 

•

a gross annual income of at least $70,000 and a net worth of at least $70,000, or

 

•

a net worth of at least $250,000.

For purposes of determining the suitability of an investor, net worth in all cases should be calculated excluding the value of an investor’s home, home furnishings and automobiles. In the case of sales to fiduciary accounts, these minimum standards must be met by the beneficiary, the fiduciary account or the donor or grantor who directly or indirectly supplies the funds to purchase the shares if the donor or grantor is the fiduciary.

In addition, we will not sell shares to investors in the states named below unless they meet special suitability standards set forth below:

Alabama — In addition to the suitability standards set forth above, an investment in us will only be sold to Alabama residents that have a liquid net worth of at least 10 times their investment in us and our affiliates.

Those selling shares on our behalf, and participating broker-dealers and registered investment advisers recommending the purchase of shares in this offering, are required to make every reasonable effort to determine that the purchase of shares in this offering is a suitable and appropriate investment for each investor based on information provided by the investor regarding the investor’s financial situation and investment objectives, and must maintain records for at least six years after the information is used to determine that an investment in our shares is suitable and appropriate for each investor. In making this determination, the participating broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, authorized representative or other person selling shares will, based on a review of the information provided by the investor, consider whether the investor:

 

•

meets the minimum income and net worth standards established in the investor’s state;

 

•

can reasonably benefit from an investment in our common stock based on the investor’s overall investment objectives and portfolio structure;

 

•

is able to bear the economic risk of the investment based on the investor’s overall financial situation, including the risk that the investor may lose its entire investment; and

 

•

has an apparent understanding of the following:

 

•

the fundamental risks of the investment;

 

•

the lack of liquidity of our shares;

 

•

the background and qualification of our Adviser; and

 

•

the tax consequences of the investment.

In purchasing shares, custodians, trustees or directors of, or any other person providing investment advice to, employee pension benefit plans or individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”) may be subject to the fiduciary duties imposed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, including the regulations and published interpretations thereunder (“ERISA”), or other applicable laws and to the prohibited transaction rules prescribed by ERISA and related provisions of the Code. These additional fiduciary duties may require the custodian, trustee, director, or any other person providing investment advice to employee pension benefit plans or

 

2

IRAs to provide information about the services provided and fees received, separate and apart from the disclosures in this prospectus. In addition, prior to purchasing shares, the custodian, trustee or director of an employee pension benefit plan or an IRA should determine that such an investment would be permissible under the governing instruments of such plan or account and applicable law.

In addition to investors who meet the minimum income and net worth requirements set forth above, our shares may be sold to financial institutions that qualify as “institutional investors” under the state securities laws of the state in which they reside. “Institutional investor” is generally defined to include banks, insurance companies, investment companies as defined in the 1940 Act, pension or profit sharing trusts and certain other financial institutions. A financial institution that desires to purchase shares will be required to confirm that it is an “institutional investor” under applicable state securities laws.

In addition to the suitability standards established herein, (i) a participating broker-dealer may impose additional suitability requirements and investment concentration limits to which an investor could be subject and (ii) various states may impose additional suitability standards, investment amount limits and alternative investment limitations.

On June 5, 2019, the SEC adopted Regulation Best Interest, which establishes a new standard of conduct for broker-dealers and natural persons who are associated persons of a broker-dealer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), that enhances the standard beyond suitability. Broker-dealers must comply with Regulation Best Interest commencing June 30, 2020. Regulation Best Interest includes the general obligation that broker-dealers shall act in the “best interest” of retail customers in making any recommendation of any securities transaction or investment strategy, without putting the financial or other interests of the broker-dealer ahead of the retail customer. The general obligation can be satisfied by the broker-dealer’s compliance with four specified component obligations: (i) provide certain required disclosure before or at the time of the recommendation, about the recommendation and the relationship between the broker-dealer and the retail customer; (ii) exercise reasonable diligence, care, and skill in making the recommendation; (iii) establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to address conflicts of interest; and (iv) establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to achieve compliance with Regulation Best Interest. Regulation Best Interest imposes a duty of care for broker-dealers to evaluate reasonable alternatives in the best interests of their clients. Reasonable alternatives to us exist and may have lower expenses or lower investment risk than us. Under Regulation Best Interest, broker-dealers participating in the offering must consider such alternatives in the best interests of their clients. Like existing suitability obligations, the component obligations of Regulation Best Interest contain a quantitative standard. Such quantitative standard may be more or less restrictive pursuant to Regulation Best Interest than under the suitability standard. In addition, broker-dealers are required to provide retail investors a brief relationship summary, or Form CRS, that summarizes for the investor key information about the broker-dealer. Form CRS is different from this prospectus, which contains information regarding this offering and our company. The impact of Regulation Best Interest on broker-dealers cannot be determined at this time as no administrative or case law exists under Regulation Best Interest and the full scope of its applicability is uncertain.

 

3

 

4

 

5

 

6

 

7

 

8

 

9

 

10

 

11

 

12

 

13

 

14

 

15

 

16

 

17

 

18

 

19

 

20

 

21

 

22

 

23

 

24

 

25

 

26

 

27

 

28

 

29

 

30

 

31

 

32

 

33

 

34

 

35

 

36

 

37

 

38

 

39

 

40

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a number of significant risks. The following information is a discussion of the material risk factors associated with an investment in our common stock specifically, as well as those factors generally associated with an investment in a company with investment objectives, investment policies, capital structure, or trading markets similar to ours. In addition to the other information contained in this prospectus, you should consider carefully the following information before making an investment in our common stock. The risks below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or not presently deemed material by us may also impair our operations and performance. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In such cases, the net asset value of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to the Economy

Political, social and economic uncertainty, including uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic, creates and exacerbates risks.

Social, political, economic and other conditions and events (such as natural disasters, epidemics and pandemics, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) will occur that create uncertainty and have significant impacts on issuers, industries, governments and other systems, including the financial markets, to which companies and their investments are exposed. As global systems, economies and financial markets are increasingly interconnected, events that once had only local impact are now more likely to have regional or even global effects. Events that occur in one country, region or financial market will, more frequently, adversely impact issuers in other countries, regions or markets, including in established markets such as the U.S. These impacts can be exacerbated by failures of governments and societies to adequately respond to an emerging event or threat.

Uncertainty can result in or coincide with, among other things: increased volatility in the financial markets for securities, derivatives, loans, credit and currency; a decrease in the reliability of market prices and difficulty in valuing assets (including portfolio company assets); greater fluctuations in spreads on debt investments and currency exchange rates; increased risk of default (by both government and private obligors and issuers); further social, economic, and political instability; nationalization of private enterprise; greater governmental involvement in the economy or in social factors that impact the economy; changes to governmental regulation and supervision of the loan, securities, derivatives and currency markets and market participants and decreased or revised monitoring of such markets by governments or self-regulatory organizations and reduced enforcement of regulations; limitations on the activities of investors in such markets; controls or restrictions on foreign investment, capital controls and limitations on repatriation of invested capital; the significant loss of liquidity and the inability to purchase, sell and otherwise fund investments or settle transactions (including, but not limited to, a market freeze); unavailability of currency hedging techniques; substantial, and in some periods extremely high, rates of inflation, which can last many years and have substantial negative effects on credit and securities markets as well as the economy as a whole; recessions; and difficulties in obtaining and/or enforcing legal judgments.

For example, in December 2019, COVID-19 emerged in China and has since spread rapidly to other countries, including the United States. This outbreak has led and for an unknown period of time may continue to lead to disruptions in local, regional, national and global markets and economies affected thereby. Any future outbreaks could have, an adverse impact on the markets and the economy in general, which could have a material adverse impact on, among other things, the ability of lenders to originate loans, the volume and type of loans originated, and the volume and type of amendments and waivers granted to borrowers and remedial actions taken in the event of a borrower default, each of which could negatively impact the amount and quality of loans available for investment by us and returns to us, among other things.

 

41

While several countries, as well as certain states, counties and cities in the United States, have relaxed initial COVID-19 public health restrictions with a view to partially or fully reopening their economies, partly due to comprehensive vaccination programs, many cities world-wide have since experienced a surge in the reported number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic, due to slower vaccine distribution and new variants of COVID-19. These increases have led to the re-introduction of restrictions and business shutdowns in certain states, counties and cities in the United States and globally, and could continue to lead to the re-introduction of such restrictions and business shutdowns elsewhere. Additionally, as of September 2021, various international travel restrictions remain in place for United States travelers, which may prolong the global economic downturn. In addition, although the Federal Food and Drug Administration authorized vaccines for emergency use starting in December 2020 and granted full approval for the vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech in August 2021, it remains unclear how quickly the vaccines will be distributed nationwide and globally or when “herd immunity” will be achieved and the restrictions that were imposed to slow the spread of the virus will be lifted entirely. The delay in distributing the vaccines could lead people to continue to self-isolate and not participate in the economy at pre-pandemic levels for a prolonged period of time. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, the U.S. economy and most other major global economies may continue to experience a recession, and we anticipate our business and operations could be materially adversely affected by a prolonged recession in the U.S. and other major markets.

The impact of COVID-19 led to significant volatility and declines in the global public equity markets and it is uncertain how long this volatility will continue. If COVID-19 continues to spread and new variants continue to emerge, the potential impacts, including a global, regional or other economic recession, are uncertain and difficult to assess. Some economists and major investment banks have expressed concern that the continued spread of the virus globally could lead to a world-wide economic downturn, the impacts of which could last for some period after the pandemic is controlled and/or abated.

General uncertainty surrounding the dangers and impact of COVID-19 (including the preventative measures taken in response thereto) and additional uncertainty regarding new variants of COVID-19, most notably the Delta variant, has to date created significant disruption in supply chains and economic activity and are having a particularly adverse impact on transportation, hospitality, tourism, entertainment and other industries, including industries in which certain of our portfolio companies operate which has in turn created significant business disruption issues for certain of our portfolio companies, and materially and adversely impacted the value and performance of certain of our portfolio companies.

In addition, disruptions in the capital markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the spread between the yields realized on risk-free and higher risk securities, resulting in illiquidity in parts of the capital markets. These and future market disruptions and/or illiquidity would be expected to have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Unfavorable economic conditions also would be expected to increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. These events could limit our investment originations, limit our ability to grow and have a material negative impact on our and our prospective portfolio companies’ operating results and the fair values of our debt and equity investments.

The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing as of the filing date of this prospectus, and its extended duration may have further adverse impacts on our prospective portfolio companies, including for the reasons described herein.

Any public health emergency, including the COVID-19 pandemic or any outbreak of other existing or new epidemic diseases, or the threat thereof, and the resulting financial and economic market uncertainty could have a significant adverse impact on us and the fair value of our investments and our prospective portfolio companies.

The extent of the impact of any public health emergency, including the COVID-19 pandemic, on our and our portfolio companies’ operational and financial performance will depend on many factors, including the duration and scope of such public health emergency, the actions taken by governmental authorities to contain its financial and economic impact, the extent of any related travel advisories and restrictions implemented, the impact of such public health emergency on overall supply and demand, goods and services, investor liquidity, consumer confidence and levels of economic activity and the extent of its disruption to important global, regional

 

42

and local supply chains and economic markets, all of which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. In addition, our and our portfolio companies’ operations may be significantly impacted, or even temporarily or permanently halted, as a result of government quarantine measures, voluntary and precautionary restrictions on travel or meetings and other factors related to a public health emergency, including its potential adverse impact on the health of any of our or our portfolio companies’ personnel. This could create widespread business continuity issues for us and our prospective portfolio companies.

These factors may also cause the valuation of our investments to differ materially from the values that we may ultimately realize. Valuations, and particularly valuations of private investments and private companies, are inherently uncertain, may fluctuate over short periods of time and are often based on estimates, comparisons and qualitative evaluations of private information.

Any public health emergency, including the COVID-19 pandemic or any outbreak of other existing or new epidemic diseases, or the threat thereof, and the resulting financial and economic market uncertainty could have a significant adverse impact on us and the fair value of our prospective investments and our prospective portfolio companies.

The capital markets are currently in a period of disruption and economic uncertainty. Such market conditions have materially and adversely affected debt and equity capital markets may have a negative impact on our business and operations.

The U.S. capital markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruption following the global outbreak of COVID-19 that began in December 2019, as evidenced by the volatility in global stock markets as a result of, among other things, uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the fluctuating price of commodities such as oil. Despite actions of the U.S. federal government and foreign governments, these events have contributed to unpredictable general economic conditions that are materially and adversely impacting the broader financial and credit markets and reducing the availability of debt and equity capital for the market as a whole. These conditions could continue for a prolonged period of time or worsen in the future.

Given the ongoing and dynamic nature of the circumstances, it is difficult to predict the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. The extent of such impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain, including when the coronavirus can be controlled and abated and whether there will be additional economic shutdowns. As the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related adverse local and national economic consequences, we could be subject to any of the following risks, any of which could have a material, adverse effect on our business, financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations:

 

•

Significant changes or volatility in the capital markets may also have a negative effect on the valuations of our prospective investments. While we expect that most of our investments will not be publicly traded, applicable accounting standards will require us to assume as part of our valuation process that our investments are sold in a principal market to market participants (even if we plan on holding an investment through its maturity).

 

•

Significant changes in the capital markets, such as the recent disruption in economic activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may adversely affect the pace of our investment activity and economic activity generally. Additionally, the recent disruption in economic activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may have a negative effect on the potential for liquidity events involving our prospective investments. The illiquidity of our prospective investments may make it difficult for us to sell such investments to access capital if required, and as a result, we could realize significantly less than the value at which we will record our investments if we were required to sell them for liquidity purposes. An inability to raise or access capital, and any required sale of all or a portion of our investments as a result, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

The current period of capital markets disruption and economic uncertainty may make it difficult to obtain indebtedness and any failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Current market conditions may make it difficult to obtain indebtedness and any failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business. The debt capital that will be available to us in the future, if at all, may be

 

43

at a higher cost and on less favorable terms and conditions than what we currently expect to experience, including being at a higher cost in rising rate environments. If we are unable to raise debt, then our equity investors may not benefit from the potential for increased returns on equity resulting from leverage and we may be limited in our ability to make commitments. An inability to obtain indebtedness could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Price declines in the corporate leveraged loan market, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the fair value of our portfolio, reducing our net asset value through increased net unrealized depreciation and the incurrence of realized losses.

Conditions in the U.S. corporate debt market may experience disruption or deterioration, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may cause pricing levels to decline or be volatile. As a result, our net asset value could decline through an increase in unrealized depreciation and incurrence of realized losses in connection with the sale or other disposition of our investments, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Global economic, political and market conditions, including uncertainty about the financial stability of the United States, could have a significant adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Downgrades by rating agencies to the U.S. government’s credit rating or concerns about its credit and deficit levels in general could cause interest rates and borrowing costs to rise, which may negatively impact both the perception of credit risk associated with our debt portfolio and our ability to access the debt markets on favorable terms. In addition, a decreased U.S. government credit rating could create broader financial turmoil and uncertainty, which may weigh heavily on our financial performance and the value of our common stock.

Deterioration in the economic conditions in the Eurozone and globally, including instability in financial markets, may pose a risk to our business. In recent years, financial markets have been affected at times by a number of global macroeconomic and political events, including the following: large sovereign debts and fiscal deficits of several countries in Europe and in emerging markets jurisdictions, levels of non-performing loans on the balance sheets of European banks, the potential effect of any European country leaving the Eurozone, the effect of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union (the “EU”), and market volatility and loss of investor confidence driven by political events. The decision made in the United Kingdom to leave the EU has led to volatility in global financial markets and may lead to weakening in consumer, corporate and financial confidence in the United Kingdom and Europe. Market and economic disruptions have affected, and may in the future affect, consumer confidence levels and spending, personal bankruptcy rates, levels of incurrence and default on consumer debt and home prices, among other factors. We cannot assure you that market disruptions in Europe, including the increased cost of funding for certain governments and financial institutions, will not impact the global economy, and we cannot assure you that assistance packages will be available, or if available, be sufficient to stabilize countries and markets in Europe or elsewhere affected by a financial crisis. To the extent uncertainty regarding any economic recovery in Europe negatively impacts consumer confidence and consumer credit factors, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be significantly and adversely affected.

The Chinese capital markets have also experienced periods of instability over the past several years. The current political climate has also intensified concerns about a potential trade war between the U.S. and China in connection with each country’s recent or proposed tariffs on the other country’s products. These market and economic disruptions and the potential trade war with China have affected, and may in the future affect, the U.S. capital markets, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

The current global financial market situation, as well as various social and political circumstances in the U.S. and around the world (including wars and other forms of conflict, terrorist acts, security operations and catastrophic events such as fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and global health epidemics), may contribute to increased market volatility and economic uncertainties or deterioration in the U.S. and worldwide, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Additionally, these market

 

44

and economic disruptions could cause interest rates to be volatile, which may negatively impact our ability to access the debt and capital markets on favorable terms. See “— Political, social and economic uncertainty, including uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic, creates and exacerbates risks.”

Economic recessions or downturns, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could impair our portfolio companies and harm our operating results.

The companies in which we intend to invest may be susceptible to economic slowdowns or recessions and may be unable to repay our debt investments during these periods. The global outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted economic markets and the prolonged economic impact is uncertain. Some economists and major investment banks have expressed concern that the continued spread of the virus globally could lead to a world-wide economic downturn. In the past, instability in the global capital markets resulted in disruptions in liquidity in the debt capital markets, significant write-offs in the financial services sector, the re-pricing of credit risk in the broadly syndicated credit market and the failure of major domestic and international financial institutions. In particular, in past periods of instability, the financial services sector was negatively impacted by significant write-offs as the value of the assets held by financial firms declined, impairing their capital positions and abilities to lend and invest. In addition, continued uncertainty surrounding the negotiation of trade deals between Britain and the European Union following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union and uncertainty between the United States and other countries, including China, with respect to trade policies, treaties, and tariffs, among other factors, have caused disruption in the global markets. There can be no assurance that market conditions will not worsen in the future.

In an economic downturn, we may have non-performing assets or non-performing assets may increase, and the value of our portfolio is likely to decrease during these periods. Adverse economic conditions may also decrease the value of any collateral securing our loans. A severe recession may further decrease the value of such collateral and result in losses of value in our portfolio and a decrease in our revenues, net income, assets and net worth. Unfavorable economic conditions also could increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us on terms we deem acceptable. These events could prevent us from increasing investments and harm our operating results.

The occurrence of recessionary conditions and/or negative developments in the domestic and international credit markets may significantly affect the markets in which we do business, the value of our investments, and our ongoing operations, costs and profitability. Any such unfavorable economic conditions, including rising interest rates, may also increase our funding costs, limit our access to capital markets or negatively impact our ability to obtain financing, particularly from the debt markets. In addition, any future financial market uncertainty could lead to financial market disruptions and could further impact our ability to obtain financing. These events could limit our investment originations, limit our ability to grow and negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Terrorist attacks, acts of war, global health emergencies or natural disasters may impact the businesses in which we invest and harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Terrorist acts, acts of war, global health emergencies or natural disasters may disrupt our operations, as well as the operations of the businesses in which we invest. Such acts have created, and continue to create, economic and political uncertainties and have contributed to global economic instability. Future terrorist activities, military or security operations, global health emergencies or natural disasters could further weaken the domestic/global economies and create additional uncertainties, which may negatively impact the businesses in which we invest directly or indirectly and, in turn, could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Losses from terrorist attacks, global health emergencies and natural disasters are generally uninsurable.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have a limited operating history.

We are a new company and are subject to all of the business risks and uncertainties associated with any business with a limited operating history, including the risk that we will not achieve or sustain our investment

 

45

objective and that the value of our common stock could decline substantially or your investment could become worthless.

The lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our business.

We may acquire a significant percentage of our portfolio company investments from privately held companies in directly negotiated transactions. We expect that substantially all of these investments will be subject to legal and other restrictions on resale or otherwise will be less liquid than exchange-listed securities or other securities for which there is an active trading market. We typically will be unable to exit these investments unless and until the portfolio company has a liquidity event such as a sale, refinancing, or initial public offering.

The illiquidity of our investments may make it difficult or impossible for us to sell such investments if the need arises. 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 have previously recorded our investments, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Moreover, investments purchased by us that are liquid at the time of purchase may subsequently become illiquid due to events relating to the issuer, market events, economic conditions or investor perceptions.

We may borrow money, which may magnify the potential for gain or loss and may increase the risk of investing in us.

As part of our business strategy, we may borrow from and issue senior debt securities to banks, insurance companies and other lenders or investors. Holders of these senior securities will have fixed-dollar claims on our assets that are superior to the claims of our shareholders. If the value of our assets decreases, leverage would cause our net asset value to decline more sharply than it otherwise would have if we did not employ leverage. Similarly, any decrease in our income would cause net income to decline more sharply than it would have had we not borrowed. Such a decline could negatively affect our ability to make common stock dividend payments.

Our ability to service any borrowings that we incur will depend largely on our financial performance and will be subject to prevailing economic conditions and competitive pressures. Moreover, the management fee will be payable based on our average gross assets excluding cash and cash equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts, which may give our Adviser an incentive to use leverage to make additional investments. See “— Our fee structure may create incentives for our Adviser to make speculative investments or use substantial leverage.” The amount of leverage that we employ will depend on our Adviser’s and our board of directors’ assessment of market and other factors at the time of any proposed borrowing. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain credit at all or on terms acceptable to us, which could affect our return on capital.

In addition to having fixed-dollar claims on our assets that are superior to the claims of our common shareholders, obligations to lenders may be secured by a first priority security interest in our portfolio of investments and cash.

To the extent that we borrow money, the potential for gain or loss on amounts invested in us will be magnified and may increase the risk of investing in us. Borrowed money may also adversely affect the return on our assets, reduce cash available to service our debt or for distribution to our shareholders, and result in losses.

The use of borrowings, also known as leverage, increases the volatility of investments by magnifying the potential for gain or loss on invested equity capital. To the extent that we use leverage to partially finance our investments through borrowing from banks and other lenders, you will experience increased risks of investing in our securities. If the value of our assets decreases, leverage would cause our net asset value to decline more sharply than it otherwise would if we had not borrowed and employed leverage. Similarly, any decrease in our income would cause net income to decline more sharply than it would have if we had not borrowed and

 

46

employed leverage. Such a decline could negatively affect our ability to service our debt or make distributions to our shareholders. In addition, our shareholders will bear the burden of any increase in our expenses as a result of our use of leverage, including interest expenses and any increase in the base management or incentive fees payable to our Adviser attributable to the increase in assets purchased using leverage.

The amount of leverage that we employ will depend on our Adviser’s and our board of directors’ assessment of market and other factors at the time of any proposed borrowing. There can be no assurance that leveraged financing will be available to us on favorable terms or at all. However, to the extent that we use leverage to finance our assets, our financing costs will reduce cash available for distributions to shareholders. Moreover, we may not be able to meet our financing obligations and, to the extent that we cannot, we risk the loss of some or all of our assets to liquidation or sale to satisfy the obligations. In such an event, we may be forced to sell assets at significantly depressed prices due to market conditions or otherwise, which may result in losses.

A BDC generally is required to meet a coverage ratio of total assets to total borrowings and other senior securities, which include all of its borrowings and any preferred stock that it may issue in the future, of at least 200%; however, recent legislation has modified the 1940 Act by allowing a BDC to increase the maximum amount of leverage it may incur from an asset coverage ratio of 200% to an asset coverage ratio of 150%, if certain requirements are met. Because our Adviser, as our sole initial shareholder, has approved a proposal that allows the reduced asset coverage ratio to apply to us, the reduced asset coverage ratio is currently effective. For additional information about the asset coverage requirements, see “Regulation — Senior Securities.” If this ratio declines 150%, we cannot incur additional debt and could be required to sell a portion of our investments to repay some indebtedness when it is disadvantageous to do so. This could have a material adverse effect on our operations, and we may not be able to service our debt or make distributions.

Our ability to achieve our investment objective depends on our Adviser’s ability to manage and support our investment process. If our Adviser were to lose a significant number of its key professionals, or terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement, our ability to achieve our investment objective could be significantly harmed.

We do not have any employees. Additionally, we have no internal management capacity other than our appointed executive officers and will be dependent upon the investment expertise, skill and network of business contacts of our Adviser to achieve our investment objective. Our Adviser will evaluate, negotiate, structure, execute, monitor, and service our investments. Our success will depend to a significant extent on the continued service and coordination of our Adviser, including its key professionals. The departure of a significant number of key professionals from our Adviser could have a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve our investment objective. The Adviser does not have an employment agreement with any of these key professionals and we cannot guarantee that all, or any particular one, will remain affiliated with us and/or our Adviser. Further, we do not intend to separately maintain key person life insurance on any of these individuals.

Our ability to achieve our investment objective also depends on the ability of our Adviser to identify, analyze, invest in, finance, and monitor companies that meet our investment criteria. Our Adviser’s capabilities in structuring the investment process, and providing competent, attentive and efficient services to us, depend on the involvement of investment professionals of adequate number and sophistication to match the corresponding flow of transactions. To achieve our investment objective, our Adviser may need to retain, hire, train, supervise, and manage new investment professionals to participate in our investment selection and monitoring process. Our Adviser may not be able to find qualified investment professionals in a timely manner or at all. Any failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the Investment Advisory Agreement has a termination provision that allows the agreement to be terminated by us on 60 days’ notice without penalty by the vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock or by the vote of our independent directors. The Investment Advisory Agreement generally may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by our Adviser upon 120 days’ notice to us. Furthermore, the Investment Advisory Agreement automatically terminates in the event of its assignment, as defined in the 1940

 

47

Act, by our Adviser. If our Adviser resigns or is terminated, or if we do not obtain the requisite approvals of shareholders and our board of directors to approve an agreement with our Adviser after an assignment, we may not be able to find a new investment adviser or hire internal management with similar expertise and ability to provide the same or equivalent services on acceptable terms prior to the termination of the Investment Advisory Agreement, or at all. If we are unable to do so quickly, our operations are likely to experience a disruption and costs under any new agreements that we enter into could increase.

Our financial condition, business and results of operations, as well as our ability to meet our payment obligations under our indebtedness future indebtedness, if any, and pay distributions, are likely to be adversely affected, and the value of our common stock may decline.

Distributions on our common stock may exceed our taxable earnings and profits, particularly during the period before we have substantially invested the net proceeds from our public offering. Therefore, portions of the distributions that we pay may represent a return of capital to you. A return of capital is a return of a portion of your original investment in shares of our common stock. As a result, a return of capital will (i) lower your tax basis in your shares and thereby increase the amount of capital gain (or decrease the amount of capital loss) realized upon a subsequent sale or redemption of such shares, and (ii) reduce the amount of funds we have for investment in portfolio companies. We have not established any limit on the extent to which we may use sources other than cash flows from operations to fund distributions.

We may pay our distributions from sources other than cash flows from operations in anticipation of future cash flow, which may constitute a return of your capital and will lower your tax basis in your shares, thereby increasing the amount of capital gain (or decreasing the amount of capital loss) realized upon a subsequent sale or redemption of such shares, even if such shares have not increased in value or have, in fact, lost value. Distributions from sources other than cash flows from operations also could reduce the amount of capital we ultimately have available to invest in portfolio companies.

Because our business model depends to a significant extent upon Blue Owl’s relationships with corporations, financial institutions and investment firms, the inability of Blue Owl to maintain or develop these relationships, or the failure of these relationships to generate investment opportunities, could adversely affect our business.

We expect that Blue Owl will depend on its relationships with corporations, financial institutions and investment firms, and we will rely to a significant extent upon these relationships to provide us with potential investment opportunities. If Blue Owl fails to maintain its existing relationships or develop new relationships or sources of investment opportunities, we may not be able to grow our investment portfolio. In addition, individuals with whom Blue Owl has relationships are not obligated to provide us with investment opportunities, and, therefore, there is no assurance that such relationships will generate investment opportunities for us.

We may have difficulty sourcing investment opportunities.

Other than the Warehousing Transaction, we have not identified the potential investments for our portfolio that we will acquire after breaking escrow. We cannot assure investors that we will be able to locate a sufficient number of suitable investment opportunities to allow us to deploy all investments successfully. In addition, privately-negotiated investments in loans and illiquid securities of private middle market companies require substantial due diligence and structuring, and we cannot assure investors that we will achieve our anticipated investment pace. As a result, investors will be unable to evaluate any future portfolio company investments prior to purchasing our shares. Additionally, the Adviser will select our investments subsequent to this offering, and our shareholders will have no input with respect to such investment decisions. These factors increase the uncertainty, and thus the risk, of investing in our shares. To the extent we are unable to deploy all investments, our investment income and, in turn, our results of operations, will likely be materially adversely affected. Although we have entered into agreements for the Warehousing Transaction, there is no assurance that we will

 

48

be able to consummate such transactions or that such transactions will be successful. The Adviser, the Company and their affiliates may also face certain conflicts of interests in connection with any Warehousing Transaction involving an affiliate.

Risks related to the Warehousing Transaction

We may not be able to consummate or realize the anticipated benefits from the Warehousing Transaction. Under the Warehousing Transaction, we have agreed to purchase assets from the Financing Provider at prices based on cost plus adjustments or fees designed to compensate the Financing Provider for holding the assets before we purchase them from it. As a result, we will pay additional cost in connection with acquiring assets through the warehouse compared to purchasing them directly.

Purchases of assets from the Financing Provider would be at prices determined under the Warehousing Transaction regardless of the assets’ market prices at the time of acquisition. As a result, we may pay more or less than the current market value of such assets when we acquire them. We may purchase such assets even if they are in default.

We may not be able to raise sufficient funds to purchase all of the assets in the Warehousing Transaction. In that case, we may determine to purchase some but not all of the assets held by the Financing Provider. In that case, there is no guarantee that the assets we purchase from the Warehousing Transaction will ultimately be the best performing assets of those available. Even if we have sufficient funds to purchase the assets in the Warehousing Transaction, we may not have sufficient funds to make other investments. We may also borrow to obtain funds necessary to purchase assets from the Warehousing Transaction. See “Structure of Investments — Warehousing Transaction.”

We may face increasing competition for investment opportunities, which could delay further deployment of our capital, reduce returns and result in losses.

We may compete for investments with other BDCs and investment funds (including registered investment companies, private equity funds and mezzanine funds), including the Owl Rock Clients and other clients of our Adviser or its affiliates, as well as traditional financial services companies such as commercial banks and other sources of funding. These other BDCs and investment funds might be reasonable investment alternatives to us and may be less costly or complex with fewer or different risks than we have. Moreover, alternative investment vehicles, such as hedge funds, continue to increase their investment focus in our target market of privately owned U.S. companies. We may experience increased competition from banks and investment vehicles who may continue to lend to the middle market. Additionally, the U.S. Federal Reserve and other bank regulators may periodically provide incentives to U.S. commercial banks to originate more loans to U.S. middle market private companies. As a result of these market participants and regulatory incentives, competition for investment opportunities in privately owned U.S. companies is strong and may intensify. Many of our competitors are substantially larger and have considerably greater financial, technical, and marketing resources than we do. For example, some competitors may have a lower cost of capital and access to funding sources that are not available to us. In addition, some competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments than us. These characteristics could allow our competitors to consider a wider variety of investments, establish more relationships and offer better pricing and more flexible structuring than we are able to do.

We may lose investment opportunities if we do not match our competitors’ pricing, terms, and investment structure criteria. If we are forced to match these competitors’ investment terms criteria, we may not be able to achieve acceptable returns on our investments or may bear substantial risk of capital loss. A significant increase in the number and/or the size of our competitors in our target market could force us to accept less attractive investment terms. Furthermore, many competitors are not subject to the regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act imposes on us as a BDC or the source of income, asset diversification and distribution requirements we must satisfy to maintain our RIC tax treatment. The competitive pressures we face, and the manner in which we react

 

49

or adjust to competitive pressures, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, effective yield on investments, investment returns, leverage ratio, and cash flows. As a result of this competition, we may not be able to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities from time to time. Also we may not be able to identify and make investments that are consistent with our investment objective.

Our investment portfolio will be recorded at fair value as determined in good faith in accordance with procedures established by our board of directors and, as a result, there is and will be uncertainty as to the value of our portfolio investments.

Under the 1940 Act, we are required to carry our portfolio investments at market value or, if there is no readily available market value, at fair value as determined in accordance with procedures established by our board of directors. There is not a public market or active secondary market for many of the types of investments in privately held companies that we intend to make. The majority of our investments may not be publicly traded or actively traded on a secondary market but, instead, may be traded on a privately negotiated over-the-counter secondary market for institutional investors, if at all. As a result, we will value a majority of these investments at least quarterly at fair value as determined in good faith in accordance with valuation policy and procedures approved by our board of directors.

The determination of fair value, and thus the amount of unrealized appreciation or depreciation we may recognize in any reporting period, is to a degree subjective, and our Adviser has a conflict of interest in making recommendations of fair value. We will value our investments at least quarterly at fair value as determined in good faith by our board of directors based on, among other things, input from our Adviser and our Audit Committee. Our board of directors will utilize the services of an independent third-party valuation firm(s), engaged at the direction of our board of directors, to aid us in determining the fair value of our investments. The types of factors that may be considered in determining the fair values of our investments include the nature and realizable value of any collateral, the portfolio company’s ability to make payments and its earnings, the markets in which the portfolio company does business, comparison to publicly traded companies, discounted cash flow, current market interest rates and other relevant factors. Because such valuations, and particularly valuations of private securities and private companies, are inherently uncertain, the valuations may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time due to changes in current market conditions. The determinations of fair value in accordance with procedures established by our board of directors may differ materially from the values that would have been used if an active market and market quotations existed for such investments. Our net asset value could be adversely affected if the determinations regarding the fair value of the investments were materially higher than the values that we ultimately realize upon the disposal of such investments.

Our board of directors may change our operating policies and strategies without prior notice or shareholder approval, the effects of which may be adverse to our shareholders.

We intend to adopt a policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of our assets in technology-related companies. Other than with respect to this policy, the board of directors has the authority to modify or waive current operating policies, investment criteria and strategies without prior notice and without shareholder approval. We cannot predict the effect any changes to current operating policies, investment criteria and strategies would have on our business, net asset value, operating results and the value of our securities. However, the effects might be adverse, which could negatively impact our ability to pay you distributions and cause you to lose all or part of your investment. Moreover, we will have significant flexibility in investing the net proceeds of this offering and may use the net proceeds from this offering in ways with which our investors may not agree.

Any unrealized depreciation we experience on our portfolio 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 market value or, if no market value is ascertainable, at the fair value as determined in good faith in accordance with procedures established by our board of directors.

 

50

Decreases in the market values or fair values of our investments relative to amortized cost will be recorded as unrealized depreciation. Any unrealized losses in our portfolio could be an indication of a portfolio company’s inability to meet its repayment obligations to us with respect to the affected loans. This could result in realized losses in the future and ultimately in reductions of our income available for distribution in future periods. In addition, decreases in the market value or fair value of our investments will reduce our net asset value. See “Determination of Net Asset Value.”

We are not limited with respect to the portion of our assets that may be invested in a single issuer.

Beyond the asset diversification requirements associated with our intended qualification as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we do not have fixed guidelines for diversification. We intend to adopt a policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of our assets in technology-related companies. To the extent that we hold large positions in a small number of issuers, or within a particular industry, our net asset value may fluctuate as a result of changes in the issuer’s financial condition or the market’s assessment of the issuer. We may also be more susceptible to any single economic or regulatory occurrence or a downturn in particular industry in which we may invest significantly than a diversified investment company otherwise would be.

We are an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act, and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our securities less attractive to investors.

We are and we will remain an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act until the earlier of (a) the last day of the fiscal year (i) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the initial offering of common equity securities, (ii) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.0 billion, or (iii) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (b) the date on which we have issued more than $1.07 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. For so long as we remain an “emerging growth company” we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We cannot predict if investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on some or all of these exemptions.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of such extended transition periods.

Our status as an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act may make it more difficult to raise capital as and when we need it.

Because of the exemptions from various reporting requirements provided to us as an “emerging growth company” and because we will have an extended transition period for complying with new or revised financial accounting standards, we may be less attractive to investors and it may be difficult for us to raise additional capital as and when we need it. Investors may be unable to compare our business with other companies in our industry if they believe that our financial accounting is not as transparent as other companies in our industry. If we are unable to raise additional capital as and when we need it, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

 

51

We are dependent on information systems and systems failures could significantly disrupt our business, which may, in turn, negatively affect our liquidity, financial condition or results of operations.

Our business is dependent on our and third parties’ 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, portfolio monitoring, 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. There could be:

 

•

sudden electrical or telecommunications outages;

 

•

natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes;

 

•

disease pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic;

 

•

events arising from local or larger scale political or social matters, including terrorist acts;

 

•

outages due to idiosyncratic issues at specific service providers; and

 

•

cyber-attacks.

These events, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and negatively affect the net asset value of our common stock and our ability to pay distributions to our shareholders.

The term loans that we intend to make may be subject to change based on recent regulatory changes.

The London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) is the basic rate of interest used in lending transactions between banks on the London interbank market and is widely used as a reference for setting the interest rate on loans globally. We generally expect to use LIBOR as a reference rate in term loans that we anticipate extending to portfolio companies such that the interest due to us pursuant to a term loan extended to a portfolio company will be calculated using LIBOR. The terms of our debt investments generally will include minimum interest rate floors which are calculated based on LIBOR.

On March 5, 2021, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”), which regulates LIBOR, announced that it will not compel panel banks to contribute to the overnight and 1, 3, 6, and 12 month USD LIBOR tenors after June 30, 2023 and all other tenors after December 31, 2021. It is unclear if at that time LIBOR will cease to exist or if new methods of calculating LIBOR will be established such that it continues to exist after 2021. Central banks and regulators in a number of major jurisdictions (for example, United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland and Japan) have convened working groups to find, and implement the transition to, suitable replacements for interbank offered rates (“IBORs”). In addition, on March 25, 2020, the FCA stated that although the central assumption that firms cannot rely on LIBOR being published after the end of 2021 has not changed, the outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted the timing of many firms’ transition planning, and the FCA will continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on transition timelines and update the marketplace as soon as possible.

To identify a successor rate for U.S. dollar LIBOR, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”), a U.S.-based group convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, was formed. The ARRC has identified the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as its preferred alternative rate for LIBOR. SOFR is a measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight, collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities, and is based on directly observable U.S. Treasury-backed repurchase transactions.

On July 29, 2021, the ARCC formally recommended SOFR as its preferred alternative replacement rate for LIBOR. Although SOFR appears to be the preferred replacement rate for U.S. dollar LIBOR, at this time, it is not possible to predict the effect of any such changes, any establishment of alternative reference rates or other reforms to LIBOR that may be enacted in the United States, United Kingdom or elsewhere or, whether the COVID-19 outbreak will have further effect on LIBOR transition plans.

 

52

The elimination of LIBOR or any other changes or reforms to the determination or supervision of LIBOR could have an adverse impact on the market value and/or transferability of any LIBOR-linked securities, loans, and other financial obligations or extensions of credit held by or due to us or on our overall financial condition or results of operations. In addition, while the majority of the LIBOR-linked loans that we anticipate offering generally will contemplate that LIBOR may cease to exist and allow for amendment to a new base rate without the approval of 100% of the lenders, if LIBOR ceases to exist, we may need to renegotiate the credit agreements extending beyond 2021 with our portfolio companies that utilize LIBOR as a factor in determining the interest rate, in order to replace LIBOR with the new standard that is established, which may have an adverse effect on our overall financial condition or results of operations. Following the replacement of LIBOR, some or all of these credit agreements may bear interest at a lower interest rate, which could have an adverse impact on the value and liquidity of our investments in these portfolio companies and, as a result, on our results of operations. Moreover, if LIBOR ceases to exist, we may need to renegotiate certain terms of our credit facilities. If we are unable to do so, amounts drawn under our credit facilities may bear interest at a higher rate, which would increase the cost of our borrowings and, in turn, affect our results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Adviser and Its Affiliates

Because the Dealer Manager is an affiliate of our Adviser, you will not have the benefit of an independent review of this prospectus customarily performed in underwritten offerings.

The Dealer Manager, Blue Owl Securities, is an affiliate of our Adviser and will not make an independent review of us or the offering. Accordingly, you will have to rely on your own broker-dealer to make an independent review of the terms of this offering. If your broker-dealer does not conduct such a review, you will not have the benefit of an independent review of the terms of this offering. Further, the due diligence investigation of us by the Dealer Manager cannot be considered to be an independent review and, therefore, may not be as meaningful as a review conducted by an unaffiliated broker-dealer or investment banker. You will not have the benefit of an independent review and investigation of this offering of the type normally performed by an unaffiliated, independent underwriter in an underwritten public securities offering. In addition, we do not, and do not expect to, have research analysts reviewing our performance or our securities on an ongoing basis. Therefore, you will not have an independent review of our performance and the value of our common stock relative to publicly traded companies.

The Adviser and its affiliates, including our officers and some of our directors, may face conflicts of interest caused by compensation arrangements with us and our affiliates, which could result in increased risk-taking by us.

The Owl Rock Advisers will receive substantial fees from us in return for their services, including certain incentive fees based on the amount of appreciation of our investments. These fees could influence the advice provided to us. Generally, the more equity we sell in public offerings and the greater the risk assumed by us with respect to our investments, including through the use of leverage, the greater the potential for growth in our assets and profits, and, correlatively, the fees payable by us to the Dealer Manager and our Adviser. These compensation arrangements could affect our Adviser’s or its affiliates’ judgment with respect to public offerings of equity and investments made by us, which allow our Adviser or its affiliates to earn increased fees.

The time and resources that individuals associated with our Adviser devote to us may be diverted, and we may face additional competition due to, among other things, the fact that neither our Adviser nor its affiliates is prohibited from raising money for or managing another entity that makes the same types of investments that we target.

Blue Owl is not prohibited from raising money for and managing future investment entities, in addition to the Blue Owl Clients, that make the same or similar types of investments as those we target. As a result, the time and resources that our Adviser devotes to us may be diverted, and during times of intense activity in other

 

53

investment programs they may devote less time and resources to our business than is necessary or appropriate. In addition, we may compete with any such investment entity also managed by the Adviser or its affiliates for the same investors and investment opportunities. Furthermore, certain members of the Investment Committee are officers of Blue Owl and will devote a portion of their time to the operations of Blue Owl, including with respect to public company compliance, investor relations and other matters that did not apply to Owl Rock prior to the formation of Blue Owl.

The Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts of interest with respect to services performed for issuers in which we may invest.

Our Adviser and its affiliates may provide a broad range of financial services to companies in which we may invest, including providing arrangement, syndication, origination structuring and other services to portfolio companies, and will generally be paid fees for such services, in compliance with applicable law, by the portfolio company. Any compensation received by our Adviser or its affiliates for providing these services will not be shared with us and may be received before we realize a return on our investment. In addition, we may invest in companies managed by entities in which Dyal Clients have acquired a minority interest. Our Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts of interest with respect to services performed for these companies, on the one hand, and investments recommended to us, on the other hand and could, in certain instances, have an incentive not to pursue actions against a portfolio company that would be in our best interest.

The Adviser or its affiliates may have incentives to favor their respective other accounts and clients and/or Blue Owl over us, which may result in conflicts of interest that could be harmful to us.

Because our Adviser and its affiliates manage assets for, or may in the future manage assets for, other investment companies, pooled investment vehicles and/or other accounts (including institutional clients, pension plans, co-invest vehicles and certain high net worth individuals), certain conflicts of interest are present. For instance, our Adviser and its affiliates may receive asset management performance-based, or other fees from certain accounts that are higher than the fees received by our Adviser from us. In addition, certain members of the Investment Committee and other executives and employees of our Adviser will hold and receive interests in Blue Owl and its affiliates, in addition to cash and carried interest compensation. In these instances, a portfolio manager for our Adviser may have an incentive to favor the higher fee and/or performance-based fee accounts over us and/or to favor Blue Owl. In addition, a conflict of interest exists to the extent our Adviser, its affiliates, or any of their respective executives, portfolio managers or employees have proprietary or personal investments in other investment companies or accounts or when certain other investment companies or accounts are investment options in our Adviser’s or its affiliates’ employee benefit plans. In these circumstances, our Adviser has an incentive to favor these other investment companies or accounts over us. Our board of directors will seek to monitor these conflicts but there can be no assurances that such monitoring will fully mitigate any such conflicts.

Our fee structure may create incentives for our Adviser to make speculative investments or use substantial leverage.

The incentive fee payable by us to our Adviser may create an incentive for our Adviser to make investments on our behalf that are risky or more speculative than would be the case in the absence of such compensation arrangements. The way in which the incentive fee is determined may encourage our Adviser to use leverage to increase the leveraged return on our investment portfolio.

In addition, the fact that our base management fee is payable based upon our average gross assets (which includes any borrowings used for investment purposes) may encourage our Adviser to use leverage to make additional investments. Such a practice could make such investments more risky than would otherwise be the case, which could result in higher investment losses, particularly during cyclical economic downturns. Under certain circumstances, the use of substantial leverage (up to the limits prescribed by the 1940 Act) may increase the likelihood of our defaulting on our borrowings, which would be detrimental to holders of our securities.

 

54

The Adviser may have an incentive to delay a liquidity event, which may result in actions that are not in the best interest of our shareholders.

The ongoing servicing fee will be payable by us to compensate our affiliated Dealer Manager and its affiliates for services rendered to shareholders, including, among other things, responding to customer inquiries of a general nature regarding the Company; crediting distributions from us to customer accounts; arranging for bank wire transfer of funds to or from a customer’s account; responding to customer inquiries and requests regarding shareholder reports, notices, proxies and proxy statements, and other Company documents; forwarding prospectuses, tax notices and annual and quarterly reports to beneficial owners of our shares; assisting us in establishing and maintaining shareholder accounts and records; assisting customers in changing account options, account designations and account addresses, and providing such other similar services as we may reasonably request to the extent the an authorized service provider is permitted to do so under applicable statutes, rules, or regulations. The ongoing servicing fee will terminate for all Class S and Class D shareholders upon a liquidity event. Although we do not intend to complete a liquidity event within any specific time period, if at all, the Adviser, an affiliate of our Dealer Manager, may have an incentive to delay a liquidity event if such amounts receivable by our Dealer Manager have not been fully paid. A delay in a liquidity event may not be in the best interests of our shareholders.

We may compete for capital and investment opportunities with other entities managed by our Adviser or its affiliates, subjecting our Adviser to certain conflicts of interest.

Our Adviser will experience conflicts of interest in connection with the management of our business affairs relating to and arising from a number of matters, including: the allocation of investment opportunities by our Adviser and its affiliates; compensation to our Adviser; services that may be provided by our Adviser and its affiliates to issuers in which we may invest; investments by us and other clients of our Adviser, subject to the limitations of the 1940 Act; the formation of additional investment funds managed by our Adviser; differing recommendations given by our Adviser to us versus other clients; our Adviser’s use of information gained from issuers in our portfolio for investments by other clients, subject to applicable law; and restrictions on our Adviser’s use of “inside information” with respect to potential investments by us.

Specifically, we may compete for investments with the other Blue Owl Clients, subjecting our Adviser and its affiliates to certain conflicts of interest in evaluating the suitability of investment opportunities and making or recommending investments on our behalf. To mitigate these conflicts, the Owl Rock Advisers will seek to execute such transactions for all of the participating investment accounts, including us, on a fair and equitable basis and in accordance with the Owl Rock Advisers’ investment allocation policy, taking into account such factors as the relative amounts of capital available for new investments; cash on hand; existing commitments and reserves; the investment programs and portfolio positions of the participating investment accounts, including portfolio construction, diversification and concentration considerations; the investment objectives, guidelines and strategies of each client; the clients for which participation is appropriate’ each client’s life cycle; targeted leverage level; targeted asset mix and any other factors deemed appropriate.

We may be prohibited under the 1940 Act from participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our directors who are not interested persons and, in some cases, the prior approval of the SEC. We expect to rely on exemptive relief that has been granted by the SEC to an affiliate of our Adviser to co-invest with other funds managed by our Adviser or certain of its affiliates in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. Pursuant to such exemptive relief, we generally are permitted to co-invest with certain of our affiliates if a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of our independent directors make certain conclusions in connection with a co-investment transaction, including that (1) the terms of the transaction, including the consideration to be paid, are reasonable and fair to us and our shareholders and do not involve overreaching in respect of us or our shareholders on the part of any person concerned, (2) the transaction is consistent with the interests of our shareholders and is consistent with our investment objective and strategies,

 

55

(3) the investment by our affiliates would not disadvantage us, and our participation would not be on a basis different from or less advantageous than that on which our affiliates are investing, and (4) the proposed investment by us would not benefit our Adviser or its affiliates or any affiliated person of any of them (other than the parties to the transaction), except to the extent permitted by the exemptive relief and applicable law, including the limitations set forth in Section 57(k) of the 1940 Act. The Owl Rock Advisers’ allocation policy seeks to ensure equitable allocation of investment opportunities between us and/or other funds managed by our Adviser or its affiliates. As a result of the exemptive relief, there could be significant overlap in our investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of other funds managed by Owl Rock that could avail themselves of the exemptive relief and that have an investment objective similar to ours.

Actions by our Adviser or its affiliates on behalf of their other accounts and clients may be adverse to us and our investments and harmful to us.

The Owl Rock Advisers and their affiliates manage assets for accounts other than us, including, but not limited to, the Blue Owl Clients. Actions taken by the Owl Rock Advisers and their affiliates on behalf of the Blue Owl Clients may be adverse to us and our investments, which could harm our performance. For example, we may invest in the same credit obligations as other Blue Owl Clients, although, to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act, our investments may include different obligations or levels of the capital structure of the same issuer. Decisions made with respect to the securities held by one of the Blue Owl Clients may cause (or have the potential to cause) harm to the different class of securities of the issuer held by other Blue Owl Clients (including us). While the Owl Rock Advisers and their affiliates have developed general guidelines regarding when two or more funds can invest in different parts of the same company’s capital structure and created a process that they employ to handle those conflicts when they arise, their decision to permit the investments to occur in the first instance or their judgment on how to minimize the conflict could be challenged. If the Owl Rock Advisers and their affiliates fail to appropriately address those conflicts, it could negatively impact their reputation and ability to raise additional funds and the willingness of counterparties to do business with them or result in potential litigation against them.

Our access to confidential information may restrict our ability to take action with respect to some investments, which, in turn, may negatively affect our results of operations.

We, directly or through our Adviser, may obtain confidential information about the companies in which we have invested or may invest or be deemed to have such confidential information. Our Adviser may come into possession of material, non-public information through its members, officers, directors, employees, principals or affiliates. In addition, Dyal Clients may invest in entities that manage our portfolio companies and, as a result, may obtain additional confidential information about our portfolio companies. The possession of such information may, to our detriment, limit the ability of us and our Adviser to buy or sell a security or otherwise to participate in an investment opportunity. In certain circumstances, employees of our Adviser may serve as board members or in other capacities for portfolio or potential portfolio companies, which could restrict our ability to trade in the securities of such companies. For example, if personnel of our Adviser come into possession of material non-public information with respect to our investments, such personnel will be restricted by our Adviser’s information-sharing policies and procedures or by law or contract from sharing such information with our management team, even where the disclosure of such information would be in our best interests or would otherwise influence decisions taken by the members of the management team with respect to that investment. This conflict and these procedures and practices may limit the freedom of our Adviser to enter into or exit from potentially profitable investments for us, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will be able to fully leverage the resources and industry expertise of our Adviser in the course of its duties. Additionally, there may be circumstances in which one or more individuals associated with our Adviser will be precluded from providing services to us because of certain confidential information available to those individuals or to other parts of our Adviser.

 

56

We may be obligated to pay our Adviser incentive fees even if we incur a net loss due to a decline in the value of our portfolio and even if our earned interest income is not payable in cash.

The Investment Advisory Agreement entitles our Adviser to receive an incentive fee based on our pre-incentive fee net investment income regardless of any capital losses. In such case, we may be required to pay our Adviser an incentive fee for a fiscal quarter even if there is a decline in the value of our portfolio or if we incur a net loss for that quarter. Any incentive fee payable by us that relates to the pre-incentive fee net investment income may be computed and paid on income that may include interest that has been accrued but not yet received or interest in the form of securities received rather than cash (“payment-in-kind”, or “PIK”, income). PIK income will be included in the pre-incentive fee net investment income used to calculate the incentive fee to our Adviser even though we do not receive the income in the form of cash. If a portfolio company defaults on a loan that is structured to provide accrued interest income, it is possible that accrued interest income previously included in the calculation of the incentive fee will become uncollectible. Our Adviser is not obligated to reimburse us for any part of the incentive fee it received that was based on accrued interest income that we never receive as a result of a subsequent default.

For federal income tax purposes, we may be required to recognize taxable income in some circumstances in which we do not receive a corresponding payment in cash and to make distributions with respect to such income to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC and/or minimize corporate-level U.S. federal income or excise tax. Under such circumstances, we may have difficulty meeting the Annual Distribution Requirement necessary to maintain RIC tax treatment under the Code. This difficulty in making the required distribution may be amplified to the extent that we are required to pay the incentive fee on income with respect to such accrued income. As a result, we may have to sell some of our investments at times and/or at prices we would not consider advantageous, raise additional debt or equity capital, or forgo new investment opportunities for this purpose. If we are not able to obtain cash from other sources, we may fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment and thus become subject to corporate-level U.S. federal income tax.

Our Investment Adviser will be paid the management fee even if the value of the shareholders’ investments declines and our Adviser’s incentive fee may create incentives for it to make certain kinds of investments.

Our Adviser is entitled to an incentive fee from us based on our investment performance. The incentive fee payable by us to our Adviser may create an incentive for our Adviser to make investments on behalf of us that are risky or more speculative than would be the case in the absence of such a compensation arrangement, and also to incur leverage, which will tend to enhance returns where our portfolio has positive returns. Additionally, the management fee is payable even in the event the value of shareholders’ investments declines.

Our ability to enter into transactions with our affiliates will be restricted.

We will be prohibited under the 1940 Act from participating in certain transactions with certain of our affiliates without the prior approval of a majority of our independent directors and, in some cases, the SEC. Any person that owns, directly or indirectly, 5% or more of our outstanding voting securities will be our affiliate for purposes of the 1940 Act, and we will generally be prohibited from buying or selling any securities from or to such affiliate on a principal basis, absent the prior approval of our board of directors and, in some cases, the SEC. The 1940 Act also prohibits certain “joint” transactions with certain of our affiliates, including other funds or clients advised by our Adviser or its affiliates, which in certain circumstances could include investments in the same portfolio company (whether at the same or different times to the extent the transaction involves a joint investment), without prior approval of our board of directors and, in some cases, the SEC. If a person acquires more than 25% of our voting securities, we will be prohibited from buying or selling any security from or to such person or certain of that person’s affiliates, or entering into prohibited joint transactions with such persons, absent the prior approval of the SEC. Similar restrictions limit our ability to transact business with our officers or directors or their affiliates or anyone who is under common control with us. The SEC has interpreted the BDC regulations governing transactions with affiliates to prohibit certain joint transactions involving entities that share

 

57

a common investment adviser. As a result of these restrictions, we may be prohibited from buying or selling any security from or to any portfolio company that is controlled by a fund managed by either of our Adviser or its affiliates without the prior approval of the SEC, which may limit the scope of investment or disposition opportunities that would otherwise be available to us.

We rely on exemptive relief that has been granted by the SEC to ORCA and certain of its affiliates that permits us to co-invest with other funds managed by our Adviser or its affiliates in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. Pursuant to such exemptive relief, we generally are permitted to co-invest with certain of our affiliates if a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of our independent directors make certain conclusions in connection with a co-investment transaction, including that (1) the terms of the transaction, including the consideration to be paid, are reasonable and fair to us and our shareholders and do not involve overreaching in respect of us or our shareholders on the part of any person concerned, (2) the transaction is consistent with the interests of our shareholders and is consistent with our investment objective and strategies, (3) the investment by our affiliates would not disadvantage us, and our participation would not be on a basis different from or less advantageous than that on which our affiliates are investing, and (4) the proposed investment by us would not benefit our Adviser or its affiliates or any affiliated person of any of them (other than the parties to the transaction), except to the extent permitted by the exemptive relief and applicable law, including the limitations set forth in Section 57(k) of the 1940 Act.

In situations when co-investment with our Adviser’s or its affiliates’ other clients is not permitted under the 1940 Act and related rules, existing or future staff guidance, or the terms and conditions of the exemptive relief granted to us by the SEC, our Adviser will need to decide which client or clients will proceed with the investment. Generally, we will not be entitled to make a co-investment in these circumstances and, to the extent that another client elects to proceed with the investment, we will not be permitted to participate. Moreover, except in certain circumstances, we will not invest in any issuer in which an affiliate’s other client holds a controlling interest.

We may make investments that could give rise to a conflict of interest.

We do not expect to invest in, or hold securities of, companies that are controlled by an affiliate’s other clients. However, our Adviser or an affiliate’s other clients may invest in, and gain control over, one of our portfolio companies. If our Adviser or an affiliate’s other client, or clients, gains control over one of our portfolio companies, it may create conflicts of interest and may subject us to certain restrictions under the 1940 Act. As a result of these conflicts and restrictions our Adviser may be unable to implement our investment strategies as effectively as they could have in the absence of such conflicts or restrictions. For example, as a result of a conflict or restriction, our Adviser may be unable to engage in certain transactions that it would otherwise pursue. In order to avoid these conflicts and restrictions, our Adviser may choose to exit such investments prematurely and, as a result, we may forego any positive returns associated with such investments. In addition, to the extent that an affiliate’s other client holds a different class of securities than us as a result of such transactions, our interests may not be aligned.

The recommendations given to us by our Adviser may differ from those rendered to their other clients.

Our Adviser and its affiliates may give advice and recommend securities to other clients which may differ from advice given to, or securities recommended or bought for, us even though such other clients’ investment objectives may be similar to ours, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

58

Our Adviser’s liability is limited under the Investment Advisory Agreement, and we are required to indemnify our Adviser against certain liabilities, which may lead our Adviser to act in a riskier manner on our behalf than it would when acting for its own account.

Our Adviser has not assumed any responsibility to us other than to render the services described in the Investment Advisory Agreement (and, separately, under the Administration Agreement), and it will not be responsible for any action of our board of directors in declining to follow our Adviser’s advice or recommendations. Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, our Adviser and its directors, officers, shareholders, members, agents, employees, controlling persons, and any other person or entity affiliated with, or acting on behalf of, our Adviser will not be liable to us for their acts under the Investment Advisory Agreement, absent willful malfeasance, bad faith, or gross negligence in the performance of their duties. We have also agreed to indemnify, defend and protect our Adviser and its directors, officers, shareholders, members, agents, employees, controlling persons and any other person or entity affiliated with, or acting on behalf of, our Adviser with respect to all damages, liabilities, costs and expenses resulting from acts of our Adviser not arising out of negligence or misconduct in the performance of their duties. However, in accordance with Section 17(i) of the 1940 Act, neither our Adviser nor any of its affiliates, directors, officers, members, employees, agents, or representatives may be protected against any liability to us or our investors to which it would otherwise be subject by reason of willful malfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of its office. In addition, the Investment Advisory Agreement provides that we will not indemnify our Adviser nor any of its affiliates, directors, officers, members, employees, agents, or representatives for any loss suffered by for any liability or loss suffered by such party, nor will we provide that such party will be held harmless for any loss or liability we suffer, unless all of the following conditions are met: (i) we have determined in good faith that the conduct that caused the loss or liability was in the best interests of the Company; (ii) we have determined in good faith that such party was acting on behalf of or performing services for the Company; (iii) we have determined, in good faith, that such liability or loss was not the result of (A) negligence or misconduct, in the case that such part is our Adviser or an affiliate of our Adviser, or (B) gross negligence or willful misconduct, in the case that such party is a director of the Company who is not also an officer of the Company or our Adviser or an affiliate of our Adviser; and (iv) such indemnification or agreement to hold harmless is recoverable only out of our net assets and not from our shareholders. In addition, such party will not be indemnified for any losses, liabilities or expenses arising from or out of an alleged violation of federal or state securities laws by such party unless one or more of the following conditions are met: (i) there has been a successful adjudication on the merits of each count involving alleged material securities law violations as to such party; (ii) such claims have been dismissed with prejudice on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction as to such party; or (iii) a court of competent jurisdiction approves a settlement of the claims against the Indemnified Party and finds that indemnification of the settlement and the related costs should be made, and the court considering the request for indemnification has been advised of the position of the SEC and of the published position of any state securities regulatory authority in which shares of our stock were offered or sold as to indemnification for violations of securities laws. These protections may lead our Adviser to act in a riskier manner when acting on our behalf than it would when acting for its own account.

There are risks associated with any potential merger with or purchase of assets of another fund.

The Adviser may in the future recommend to the board of directors that we merge with or acquire all or substantially all of the assets of one or more funds including a fund that could be managed by our Adviser and its affiliates (including another BDC). We do not expect that our Adviser would recommend any such merger or asset purchase unless it determines that it would be in our best interests, with such determination dependent on factors it deems relevant, which may include our historical and projected financial performance and any that of any proposed merger partner, portfolio composition, potential synergies from the merger or asset sale, available alternative options and market conditions. In addition, no such merger or asset purchase would be consummated absent the meeting of various conditions required by applicable law or contract, at such time, which may include approval of the board of directors and common equity holders of both funds. If our Adviser is the investment adviser of both funds, various conflicts of interest would exist with respect to any such transaction. Such

 

59

conflicts of interest may potentially arise from, among other things, differences between the compensation payable to our Adviser by us and by the entity resulting from such a merger or asset purchase or efficiencies or other benefits to our Adviser as a result of managing a single, larger fund instead of two separate funds.

The Adviser’s failure to comply with pay-to-play laws, regulations and policies could have an adverse effect on our Adviser, and thus, us.

A number of U.S. states and municipal pension plans have adopted so-called “pay-to-play” laws, regulations or policies which prohibit, restrict or require disclosure of payments to (and/or certain contacts with) state officials by individuals and entities seeking to do business with state entities, including those seeking investments by public retirement funds. The SEC has adopted a rule that, among other things, prohibits an investment adviser from providing advisory services for compensation to a government client for two years after the adviser or certain of its executives or employees makes a contribution to certain elected officials or candidates. If our Adviser, any of its employees or affiliates or any service provider acting on its behalf, fails to comply with such laws, regulations or policies, such non-compliance could have an adverse effect on our Adviser, and thus, us.

Our Adviser’s net worth is not available to satisfy our liabilities and other obligations.

The North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”), in its Omnibus Guidelines Statement of Policy adopted on March 29, 1992 and as amended on May 7, 2007 and from time to time, requires that our affiliates and Adviser, or our Sponsor under the Omnibus Guidelines, have an aggregate financial net worth, exclusive of home, automobiles and home furnishings, of 5.0% of the first $20 million of both the gross amount of securities currently being offered in this offering and the gross amount of any originally issued direct participation program securities sold by our affiliates and sponsors within the past 12 months, plus 1.0% of all amounts in excess of the first $20 million. Based on these requirements, our Adviser and its affiliates have an aggregate financial net worth in excess of those amounts required by the Omnibus Guidelines. However, no portion of such net worth will be available to us to satisfy any of our liabilities or other obligations. The use of our own funds to satisfy such liabilities or other obligations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Business Development Companies

The requirement that we invest a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets could preclude us from investing in accordance with our current business strategy; conversely, the failure to invest a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets could result in our failure to maintain our status as a BDC.

As a BDC, the 1940 Act prohibits us from acquiring any assets other than certain qualifying assets unless, at the time of and after giving effect to such acquisition, at least 70% of our total assets are qualifying assets. Therefore, we may be precluded from investing in what we believe are attractive investments if such investments are not qualifying assets. Conversely, if we fail to invest a sufficient portion of our assets in qualifying assets, we could lose our status as a BDC, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Similarly, these rules could prevent us from making additional investments in existing portfolio companies, which could result in the dilution of our position, or could require us to dispose of investments at an inopportune time to comply with the 1940 Act. If we were forced to sell non-qualifying investments in the portfolio for compliance purposes, the proceeds from such sale could be significantly less than the current value of such investments.

Failure to maintain our status as a BDC would reduce our operating flexibility.

If we do not remain a BDC, we might be regulated as a closed-end investment company under the 1940 Act, which would subject us to substantially more regulatory restrictions, including a greater required asset coverage ratio and additional restrictions on transactions with affiliates, and correspondingly decrease our operating flexibility.

 

60

Regulations governing our operation as a BDC and RIC affect our ability to raise capital and the way in which we raise additional capital or borrow for investment purposes, which may have a negative effect on our growth. As a BDC, the necessity of raising additional capital may expose us to risks, including risks associated with leverage.

As a result of the requirement that we distribute to our shareholders on an annual basis at least 90% of our investment company taxable income (the “Annual Distribution Requirement”) to qualify for tax treatment as a RIC, we may need to access the capital markets periodically to raise cash to fund new investments in portfolio companies. Currently, we may issue “senior securities,” including borrowing money from banks or other financial institutions only in amounts such that the ratio of our total assets (less total liabilities other than indebtedness represented by senior securities) to our total indebtedness represented by senior securities plus preferred stock, if any, equals at least 150% after such incurrence or issuance. If we issue senior securities, we will be exposed to risks associated with leverage, including an increased risk of loss. Our ability to issue different types of securities is also limited. Compliance with RIC distribution requirements may unfavorably limit our investment opportunities and reduce our ability in comparison to other companies to profit from favorable spreads between the rates at which we can borrow and the rates at which we can lend. Therefore, we intend to seek to continuously issue equity securities, which may lead to shareholder dilution.

We may borrow to fund investments. If the value of our assets declines, we may be unable to satisfy the asset coverage test under the 1940 Act, which would prohibit us from paying distributions and could prevent us from qualifying for tax treatment as a RIC, which would generally result in a corporate-level U.S. federal income tax on any income and net gains. If we cannot satisfy the asset coverage test, we may be required to sell a portion of our investments and, depending on the nature of our debt financing, repay a portion of our indebtedness at a time when such sales may be disadvantageous. In addition, any amounts that we use to service our indebtedness would not be available for distribution to our shareholders.

In addition, we anticipate that as market conditions permit, we may securitize our loans to generate cash for funding new investments. To securitize loans, we may create a wholly owned subsidiary, contribute a pool of loans to the subsidiary and have the subsidiary issue primarily investment grade debt securities to purchasers who would be expected to be willing to accept a substantially lower interest rate than the loans earn. We would retain all or a portion of the equity in the securitized pool of loans. Our retained equity would be exposed to any losses on the portfolio of loans before any of the debt securities would be exposed to such losses.

Risks Related to Our Investments

Investing in publicly traded companies can involve a high degree of risk and can be speculative.

We may invest a portion of our portfolio in publicly traded companies or companies that are in the process of completing their initial public offering (“IPO”). As publicly traded companies, the securities of these companies may not trade at high volumes, and prices can be volatile, particularly during times of general market volatility, which may restrict our ability to sell our positions and may have a material adverse impact on us.

Our ability to invest in public companies may be limited in certain circumstances.

To maintain our status as a business development company, we are not permitted to acquire any assets other than “qualifying assets” specified in the 1940 Act unless, at the time the acquisition is made, at least 70% of our total assets are qualifying assets (with certain limited exceptions).

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.

 

61

Our investment strategy focuses on technology companies, which are subject to many risks, including volatility, intense competition, shortened product life cycles, changes in regulatory and governmental programs and periodic downturns.

We intend to invest in technology-related companies, many of which 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 technology-related companies can and often do fluctuate suddenly and dramatically. In addition, technology-related industries are generally characterized by abrupt business cycles and intense competition. Overcapacity in technology-related industries, together with cyclical economic downturns, may result in substantial decreases in the market capitalization of many technology-related companies. Such decreases in market capitalization may occur again, and any future decreases in technology- related company valuations may be substantial and may not be temporary in nature. Therefore, our portfolio companies may face considerably more risk of loss than do companies in other industry sectors.

Because of rapid technological change, the average selling prices of products and some services provided by technology companies have historically decreased over their productive lives. As a result, the average selling prices of products and services offered by technology companies may decrease over time, which could adversely affect their operating results, 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.

A natural disaster may also impact the operations of our portfolio companies, including the technology companies in our portfolio. The nature and level of natural disasters cannot be predicted and may be exacerbated by global climate change. Technology companies rely on items assembled or produced in areas susceptible to natural disasters, and may sell finished goods into markets susceptible to natural disasters. A major disaster, such as an earthquake, tsunami, flood or other catastrophic event could result in disruption to the business and operations of the technology companies in our portfolio.

We may invest in technology companies that are reliant on U.S. and foreign regulatory and governmental programs. Any material changes or discontinuation, due to change in administration or U.S. Congress or otherwise could have a material adverse effect on the operations of a portfolio company in these industries and, in turn, impair our ability to timely collect principal and interest payments owed to us to the extent applicable.

Our investments in portfolio companies may be risky, and we could lose all or part of our investments.

We intend to pursue a strategy that focuses primarily on originating and making loans to, and making debt and equity investments in, U.S. middle market companies in a broad range of technology-related industries, with a focus on originated transactions sourced through the networks of our Adviser. Short transaction closing timeframes associated with originated transactions coupled with added tax or accounting structuring complexity and international transactions may result in higher risk in comparison to non-originated transactions.

First-Lien Debt. When we make a first-lien loan, we generally will take a security interest in the available assets of the portfolio company, including the equity interests of its subsidiaries, which we expect to help mitigate the risk that we will not be repaid. However, there is a risk that the collateral securing our loans may decrease in value over time, may be difficult to sell in a timely manner, may be difficult to appraise, and may fluctuate in value based upon the success of the business and market conditions, including as a result of the inability of the portfolio company to raise additional capital. In some circumstances, our lien is, or could become, subordinated to claims of other creditors. Consequently, the fact that a loan is secured does not guarantee that we will receive principal and interest payments according to the loan’s terms, or at all, or that we will be able to collect on the loan should we need to enforce our remedies.

Unitranche Loans. In addition, in connection with any unitranche loans (including “last out” portions of such loans) in which we may invest, we would enter into agreements among lenders. Under these agreements,

 

62

our interest in the collateral of the first-lien loans may rank junior to those of other lenders in the loan under certain circumstances. This may result in greater risk and loss of principal on these loans.

Second-Lien and Mezzanine Debt. Our investments in second-lien and mezzanine debt generally will be subordinated to senior loans and will either have junior security interests or be unsecured. As such, other creditors may rank senior to us in the event of insolvency. This may result in greater risk and loss of principal.

Equity Investments. When we invest in first-lien debt, second-lien debt or mezzanine debt, we may acquire equity securities, such as warrants, options and convertible instruments, as well. In addition, we may invest directly in the equity securities of portfolio companies. We will seek to dispose of these equity interests and realize gains upon our disposition of these interests. However, the equity interests we receive may not appreciate in value and, in fact, may decline in value. Accordingly, we may not be able to realize gains from our equity interests, and any gains that we do realize on the disposition of any equity interests may not be sufficient to offset any other losses we experience.

Most debt securities in which we intend to invest will not be rated by any rating agency and, if they were rated, they would be rated as below investment grade quality and are commonly referred to as “leveraged loans,” “high yield” or “junk”. Debt securities rated below investment grade quality are generally regarded as having predominantly speculative characteristics and may carry a greater risk with respect to a borrower’s capacity to pay interest and repay principal. In addition, some of the loans in which we may invest may be “covenant-lite” loans. We use the term “covenant-lite” loans to refer generally to loans that do not have a complete set of financial maintenance covenants. Generally, “covenant-lite” loans will provide borrower companies more freedom to negatively impact lenders because their covenants are incurrence-based, which means they are only tested and can only be breached following an affirmative action of the borrower, rather than by a deterioration in the borrower’s financial condition. Accordingly, to the extent we invest in “covenant-lite” loans, we may have fewer rights against a borrower and may have a greater risk of loss on such investments as compared to investments in or exposure to loans with financial maintenance covenants.

We may invest through joint ventures, partnerships or other special purpose vehicles and our investments through these vehicles may entail greater risks, or risks that we otherwise would not incur, if we otherwise made such investments directly.

We may make indirect investments in portfolio companies through joint ventures, partnerships or other special purpose vehicles (“Investment Vehicles”). In general, the risks associated with indirect investments in portfolio companies through a joint venture, partnership or other special purpose vehicle are similar to those associated with a direct investment in a portfolio company. While we intend to analyze the credit and business of a potential portfolio company in determining whether to make an investment in an Investment Vehicle, we will nonetheless be exposed to the creditworthiness of the Investment Vehicle. In the event of a bankruptcy proceeding against the portfolio company, the assets of the portfolio company may be used to satisfy its obligations prior to the satisfaction of our investment in the Investment Vehicle (i.e., our investment in the Investment Vehicle could be structurally subordinated to the other obligations of the portfolio company). In addition, if we are to invest in an Investment Vehicle, we may be required to rely on our partners in the Investment Vehicle when making decisions regarding such Investment Vehicle’s investments, accordingly, the value of the investment could be adversely affected if our interests diverge from those of our partners in the Investment Vehicle.

We expect our investments to be concentrated in technology-related industries, some of which are subject to extensive government regulation, which exposes us to the risk of significant loss if any of these industry sectors experiences a downturn.

A consequence of our investment strategy is that our investment returns will be materially and adversely affected if the companies or the industries we target perform poorly. Beyond the asset diversification

 

63

requirements associated with our intended qualification as a RIC and the policy we expect to adopt to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of our assets in technology-related companies, we do not have fixed guidelines for diversification or limitations on the size of our investments in any one company and our investments could be concentrated in relatively few industries.

Our investments may be subject to extensive regulation by U.S. and foreign 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.

Furthermore, if any of our portfolio companies were to 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.

To the extent we invest in publicly traded companies, we may be unable to obtain financial covenants and other contractual rights, which subjects us to additional risks.

If we invest in instruments issued by publicly-held companies, we may be subject to risks that differ in type or degree from those involved with investments in privately-held companies. Such risks include, without limitation, greater volatility in the valuation of such companies, increased obligations to disclose information regarding such companies, limitations on our ability to dispose of such instruments at certain times, increased likelihood of shareholder litigation against such companies’ board members and increased costs associated with each of the aforementioned risks. In addition, to the extent we invest in publicly traded debt instruments, we may not be able to obtain financial covenants or other contractual rights that we might otherwise be able to obtain when making privately-negotiated investments. We may not have the same access to information in connection with investments in public debt instruments that we would expect to have in connection with privately-negotiated investments. If we or the Adviser were deemed to have material, nonpublic information regarding the issuer of a publicly traded instrument in which we have invested, we may be limited in our ability to make new investments or sell existing investments in such issuer.

Our investments may be in portfolio companies that have limited operating histories and resources.

Our portfolio may include investments in companies that may have relatively limited operating histories. These companies may be particularly vulnerable to U.S. and foreign economic downturns may have more limited access to capital and higher funding costs, may have a weaker financial position and may need more capital to expand or compete. These businesses also may experience substantial variations in operating results. They may face intense competition, including from larger, more established companies with greater financial, technical and marketing resources. Furthermore, some of these companies do business in regulated industries and could be affected by changes in government regulation applicable to their given industry. 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 adversely affect the return on, or the recovery of, our investment in these companies. We cannot assure you that any of our investments in our portfolio companies will be successful. We may lose our entire investment in any or all of our portfolio companies.

A lack of IPO or merger and acquisition opportunities may cause companies to stay in our portfolio longer, leading to lower returns, unrealized depreciation, or realized losses.

A lack of IPO or merger and acquisition (“M&A”) opportunities for venture capital-backed companies could lead to companies staying longer in our portfolio as private entities still requiring funding. This situation

 

64

may adversely affect the amount of available funding for early-stage companies in particular as, in general, venture-capital firms are being forced to provide additional financing to late-stage companies that cannot complete an IPO or M&A transaction. In the best case, such stagnation would dampen returns, and in the worst case, could lead to unrealized depreciation and realized losses as some companies run short of cash and have to accept lower valuations in private fundings or are not able to access additional capital at all. A lack of IPO or M&A opportunities for venture capital-backed companies can also cause some venture capital firms to change their strategies, leading some of them to reduce funding of their portfolio companies and making it more difficult for such companies to access capital and to fulfill their potential, which can result in unrealized depreciation and realized losses in such companies by other companies such as ourselves who are co-investors in such companies.

The inability of our portfolio companies to commercialize their technologies or create or develop commercially viable products or businesses would have a negative impact on our investment returns.

The possibility that our portfolio companies will not be able to commercialize their technology, products or business concepts presents significant risks to the value of our investments. Additionally, although some of our portfolio companies may already have a commercially successful product or product line when we invest, 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 continually innovate, or raise additional capital, in increasingly competitive markets. Their inability to do so could affect our investment return. In addition, the intellectual property held by our portfolio companies often represents a substantial portion of the collateral, if any, securing our investments. We cannot assure you that any of our portfolio companies will successfully acquire or develop any new technologies, or that the intellectual property the companies currently hold will 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.

If our portfolio companies are unable to protect their intellectual property rights, or are required to devote significant resources to protecting their intellectual property rights, then our investments could be harmed.

Our success and competitive position depend in part upon the ability of our portfolio companies to obtain and maintain proprietary technology used in their products and services, which will often represent a significant portion of the collateral, if any, securing our investment. The portfolio companies will 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 in order to enforce their patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights, to protect their trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others or to 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 upon or misappropriate a third party’s patent or other proprietary rights, that portfolio company could be required to pay damages to such third party, alter its own products or processes, obtain a license from the third party and/or cease activities utilizing such proprietary rights, including making or selling products utilizing such 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 any collateral securing our investment.

Our relationship with certain portfolio companies may expose us to our portfolio companies’ trade secrets and confidential information which may require us to be parties to non-disclosure agreements and restrict us from engaging in certain transactions.

Our relationship with some of our portfolio companies may expose us to our portfolio companies’ trade secrets and confidential information (including transactional data and personal data about their employees and

 

65

clients) that may require us to be parties to nondisclosure agreements and restrict us from engaging in certain transactions. Unauthorized access or disclosure of such information may occur, resulting in theft, loss or other misappropriation. Any theft, loss, improper use, such as insider trading or other misappropriation of confidential information could have a material adverse impact on our competitive positions, our relationship with our portfolio companies and our reputation and could subject us to regulatory inquiries, enforcement and fines, civil litigation and possible financial liability or costs.

If the assets securing the loans that we make decrease in value, then we may lack sufficient collateral to cover losses.

To attempt to mitigate credit risks, we intend to take a security interest in the available assets of our portfolio companies. There is no assurance that we will obtain or properly perfect any such liens.

There is a risk that the collateral securing our loans may decrease in value over time, may be difficult to sell in a timely manner, may be difficult to appraise and may fluctuate in value based upon the success of the business and market conditions, including as a result of the inability of a portfolio company to raise additional capital. In some circumstances, our lien could be subordinated to claims of other creditors. Consequently, the fact that a loan is secured does not guarantee that we will receive principal and interest payments according to the loan’s terms, or that we will be able to collect on the loan should we be forced to enforce our remedies.

In addition, because we invest in technology-related companies, a substantial portion of the assets securing our investment may be in the form of intellectual property, if any, inventory and equipment and, to a lesser extent, cash and accounts receivable. Intellectual property, if any, that is securing our loan could lose value if, among other things, the company’s rights to the intellectual property are challenged or if the company’s license to the intellectual property is revoked or expires, the technology fails to achieve its intended results or a new technology makes the intellectual property functionally obsolete. Inventory may not be adequate to secure our loan if our valuation of the inventory at the time that we made the loan was not accurate or if there is a reduction in the demand for the inventory.

Similarly, any equipment securing our loan 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 earned interest and principal in a foreclosure.

We may suffer a loss if a portfolio company defaults on a loan and the underlying collateral is not sufficient.

In the event of a default by a portfolio company on a secured loan, we will only have recourse to the assets collateralizing the loan. If the underlying collateral value is less than the loan amount, we will suffer a loss. In addition, we may make loans that are unsecured, which are subject to the risk that other lenders may be directly secured by the assets of the portfolio company. In the event of a default, those collateralized lenders would have priority over us with respect to the proceeds of a sale of the underlying assets. In cases described above, we may lack control over the underlying asset collateralizing our loan or the underlying assets of the portfolio company prior to a default, and as a result the value of the collateral may be reduced by acts or omissions by owners or managers of the assets.

In the event of bankruptcy of a portfolio company, we may not have full recourse to its assets in order to satisfy our loan, or our loan may be subject to “equitable subordination.” This means that depending on the facts and circumstances, including the extent to which we actually provided significant “managerial assistance,” if any, to that portfolio company, a bankruptcy court might re-characterize our debt holding and subordinate all or a portion of our claim to that of other creditors. In addition, certain of our loans are subordinate to other debt of the portfolio company. If a portfolio company defaults on our loan or on debt senior to our loan, or in the event of a portfolio company bankruptcy, our loan will be satisfied only after the senior debt receives payment. Where debt

 

66

senior to our loan exists, the presence of inter-creditor arrangements may limit our ability to amend our loan documents, assign our loans, accept prepayments, exercise our remedies (through “standstill” periods) and control decisions made in bankruptcy proceedings relating to the portfolio company. Bankruptcy and portfolio company litigation can significantly increase collection losses and the time needed for us to acquire the underlying collateral in the event of a default, during which time the collateral may decline in value, causing us to suffer losses.

If the value of collateral underlying our loan declines or interest rates increase during the term of our loan, a portfolio company may not be able to obtain the necessary funds to repay our loan at maturity through refinancing. Decreasing collateral value and/or increasing interest rates may hinder a portfolio company’s ability to refinance our loan because the underlying collateral cannot satisfy the debt service coverage requirements necessary to obtain new financing. If a borrower is unable to repay our loan at maturity, we could suffer a loss which may adversely impact our financial performance.

We may not realize any income or gains from our equity investments

We may invest in equity-related securities, including publicly-traded debt instruments, common equity, warrants, preferred stock and convertible preferred securities. These equity interests we acquire may not appreciate in value and, in fact, may decline in value if the company fails to perform financially or achieve its growth objectives. We will generally have little, if any, control over the timing of any gains we may realize from our equity investments since these securities may have restrictions on their transfer or may not have an active trading market.

Equity investments also have experienced significantly more volatility in their returns and may under-perform relative to fixed income securities during certain periods. An adverse event, such as an unfavorable earnings report, may depress the value. Also, prices of equity investments are sensitive to general movements in the stock market and a drop in the stock market may depress the price of common stock investments to which we have exposure. Equity prices fluctuate for several reasons including changes in investors’ perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant stock market, or when political or economic events affecting the issuers occur. In addition, common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase.

Although we expect to receive current income in the form of dividend payments on any convertible preferred equity investments, a substantial portion of the gains we expect to receive from our investments in such securities will likely be from the capital gains generated from the sale of our equity investments upon conversion of our convertible securities, the timing of which we cannot predict. We do not expect to generate capital gains from the sale of our portfolio investments on a level or uniform basis from quarter to quarter. In addition, any convertible preferred stock instruments will generally provide for conversion upon the portfolio companies’ achievement of certain milestone events, including a qualified public offering and/or a senior exchange listing for their common stock. However, there can be no assurance that our portfolio companies will obtain either a junior or senior exchange listing or, even if a listing is obtained, that an active trading market will ever develop in the common stock of our publicly traded portfolio companies.

Accordingly, we may not be able to realize gains from our equity interests, and any gains that we do realize on the disposition of any equity interests may not be sufficient to offset any other losses we experience. Furthermore, due to the expected growth of our portfolio companies, we do not generally expect to receive dividend income from our common stock investments. In the case of cumulative preferred stock, there is no assurance that any dividends will ever be paid by a portfolio company.

The credit ratings of certain of our investments may not be indicative of the actual credit risk of such rated instruments.

Rating agencies rate debt securities based upon their assessment of the likelihood of the receipt of principal and interest payments. Rating agencies do not consider the risks of fluctuations in market value or other factors

 

67

that may influence the value of debt securities. Therefore, the credit rating assigned to a particular instrument may not fully reflect the true risks of an investment in such instrument. Credit rating agencies may change their methods of evaluating credit risk and determining ratings. These changes may occur quickly and often. While we may give some consideration to ratings, ratings may not be indicative of the actual credit risk of our investments in rated instruments.

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. When this occurs, we will generally reinvest these proceeds in temporary investments, pending their future investment in new portfolio companies. These temporary investments will typically 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 elect to prepay amounts owed to us. Additionally, prepayments, net of prepayment fees, could negatively impact our return on equity. This risk will be more acute when interest rates decrease, as we may be unable to reinvest at rates as favorable as when we made our initial investment.

A redemption of convertible securities held by us could have an adverse effect on our ability to achieve our investment objective.

A convertible security may be subject to redemption at the option of the issuer at a price established in the convertible security’s governing instrument. If a convertible security held by us is called for redemption, we will be required to permit the issuer to redeem the security, convert it into the underlying common stock or sell it to a third party. Any of these actions could have an adverse effect on our ability to achieve our investment objective.

To the extent original issue discount (OID) and payment-in-kind (PIK) interest income constitute a portion of our income, we will be exposed to risks associated with the deferred receipt of cash representing such income.

Our investments may include OID and PIK instruments. To the extent OID and PIK constitute a portion of our income, we will be exposed to risks associated with such income being required to be included in income for financial reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP and taxable income prior to receipt of cash, including the following:

 

•

Original issue discount instruments may have unreliable valuations because the accruals require judgments about collectability or deferred payments and the value of any associated collateral;

 

•

Original issue discount instruments may create heightened credit risks because the inducement to the borrower to accept higher interest rates in exchange for the deferral of cash payments typically represents, to some extent, speculation on the part of the borrower;

 

•

For U.S. GAAP purposes, cash distributions to shareholders that include a component of OID income do not come from paid-in capital, although they may be paid from the sources other than cash flows from operations. Thus, although a distribution of OID income may come from the cash invested by the shareholders, the 1940 Act does not require that shareholders be given notice of this fact;

 

•

The presence of OID and PIK creates the risk of non-refundable cash payments to our Adviser in the form of incentive fees on income based on non-cash OID and PIK accruals that may never be realized; and

 

•

In the case of PIK, “toggle” debt, which gives the issuer the option to defer an interest payment in exchange for an increased interest rate in the future, the PIK election has the simultaneous effect of increasing the investment income, thus increasing the potential for realizing incentive fees.

 

68

Our portfolio companies may incur debt that ranks equally with, or senior to, our investments in such companies.

We intend to pursue a strategy that focuses on investing primarily in the debt of privately owned U.S. companies in a broad range of technology-related industries with a focus on originated transactions sourced through the networks of our Adviser. Our portfolio companies may have, or may be permitted to incur, other debt that ranks equally with, or senior to, the debt in which we may invest. By their terms, such debt instruments may entitle the holders to receive payment of interest or principal on or before the dates on which we are entitled to receive payments with respect to the debt instruments in which we may invest. Also, in the event of insolvency, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization or bankruptcy of a portfolio company, any 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 distribution. After repaying such senior creditors, such portfolio company may not have any remaining assets to use for repaying its obligation to us. In the case of debt ranking equally with debt instruments in which we may invest, 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 of the relevant portfolio company and our portfolio company may not have sufficient assets to pay all equally ranking credit even if we hold senior, first-lien debt.

If we cannot obtain debt financing or equity capital on acceptable terms, our ability to acquire investments and to expand our operations will be adversely affected.

The net proceeds from the sale of our shares will be used for our investment opportunities, and, if necessary, the payment of operating expenses and the payment of various fees and expenses such as base management fees, incentive fees, other fees and distributions. Any working capital reserves we maintain may not be sufficient for investment purposes, and we may require additional debt financing or equity capital to operate. Pursuant to tax rules that apply to RICs, we will be required to distribute at least 90% of our net ordinary income and net short-term capital gains in excess of net long-term capital losses, if any, to our shareholders to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC. Accordingly, in the event that we need additional capital in the future for investments or for any other reason we may need to access the capital markets periodically to issue debt or equity securities or borrow from financial institutions in order to obtain such additional capital. These sources of funding may not be available to us due to unfavorable economic conditions, which could increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. Consequently, if we cannot obtain further debt or equity financing on acceptable terms, our ability to acquire additional investments and to expand our operations will be adversely affected. As a result, we would be less able to diversify our portfolio and achieve our investment objective, which may negatively impact our results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.

Defaults by our portfolio companies could jeopardize a portfolio company’s ability to meet its obligations under the debt or equity investments that we hold, which could harm our operating results.

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 debt financing and foreclosure on its secured assets, which could trigger cross-defaults under other agreements and jeopardize a portfolio company’s ability to meet its obligations under the debt or equity investments that we hold. We may incur expenses to the extent necessary to seek recovery upon default or to negotiate new terms, which may include the waiver of certain financial covenants, with a defaulting portfolio company. In addition, some of the loans in which we may invest may be “covenant-lite” loans, which means the loans contain fewer or no financial maintenance covenants or restrictions in comparison to loans that include financial maintenance covenants. Non-financial maintenance covenants can only be breached by an affirmative action of the borrower, rather than by a deterioration in the borrower’s financial condition. Accordingly, the Company may have fewer rights against a borrower when it invests in or has exposure to “covenant-lite” loans and, accordingly, may have a greater risk of loss on such investments as compared to investments in or exposure to loans with financial maintenance covenants.

 

69

As part of our lending activities, we may in certain opportunistic circumstances originate loans to companies that are experiencing significant financial or business difficulties, including companies involved in bankruptcy or other reorganization and liquidation proceedings. Any such investment would involve a substantial degree of risk. In any reorganization or liquidation proceeding relating to a company that we fund, we may lose all or part of the amounts advanced to the borrower or may be required to accept collateral with a value less than the amount of the loan advanced by us to the borrower.

Subordinated liens on collateral securing debt investments that we may make to portfolio companies may be subject to control by senior creditors with first priority liens. If there is a default, the value of the collateral may not be sufficient to repay in full both the first priority creditors and us.

Certain debt investments that we will make in portfolio companies will be secured on a second priority lien basis by the same collateral securing senior debt of such companies. We also make debt investments in portfolio companies secured on a first priority basis. The first priority liens on the collateral will secure the portfolio company’s obligations under any outstanding senior debt and may secure certain other future debt that may be permitted to be incurred by the portfolio company under the agreements governing the debt. In the event of a default, the holders of obligations secured by the first priority liens on the collateral will generally control the liquidation of and be entitled to receive proceeds from any realization of the collateral to repay their obligations in full before us. In addition, the value of the collateral in the event of liquidation will depend on market and economic conditions, the availability of buyers and other factors. There can be no assurance that the proceeds, if any, from the sale or sales of all of the collateral would be sufficient to satisfy the debt obligations secured by the first priority or second priority liens after payment in full of all obligations secured by the first priority liens on the collateral. If such proceeds are not sufficient to repay amounts outstanding under the debt obligations secured by the first priority or second priority liens, then we, to the extent not repaid from the proceeds of the sale of the collateral, will only have an unsecured claim against the portfolio company’s remaining assets, if any.

We may also make unsecured debt investments in portfolio companies, meaning that such investments will not benefit from any interest in collateral of such companies. Liens on any such portfolio company’s collateral, if any, will secure the portfolio company’s obligations under its outstanding secured debt and may secure certain future debt that is permitted to be incurred by the portfolio company under its secured debt agreements. The holders of obligations secured by such liens will generally control the liquidation of, and be entitled to receive proceeds from, any realization of such collateral to repay their obligations in full before us. In addition, the value of such collateral in the event of liquidation will depend on market and economic conditions, the availability of buyers and other factors. There can be no assurance that the proceeds, if any, from sales of such collateral would be sufficient to satisfy our unsecured debt obligations after payment in full of all secured debt obligations. If such proceeds were not sufficient to repay the outstanding secured debt obligations, then our unsecured claims would rank equally with the unpaid portion of such secured creditors’ claims against the portfolio company’s remaining assets, if any.

The rights we may have with respect to the collateral securing the debt investments we make in our portfolio companies with senior debt outstanding may also be limited pursuant to the terms of one or more inter-creditor agreements that we enter into with the holders of senior debt. Under such an inter-creditor agreement, at any time obligations that have the benefit of the first priority liens are outstanding, any of the following actions that may be taken in respect of the collateral will be at the direction of the holders of the obligations secured by the first priority liens: the ability to cause the commencement of enforcement proceedings against the collateral; the ability to control the conduct of such proceedings; the approval of amendments to collateral documents; releases of liens on the collateral; and waivers of past defaults under collateral documents. We may not have the ability to control or direct such actions, even if our rights are adversely affected.

 

70

Certain of our investments may be adversely affected by laws relating to fraudulent conveyance or voidable preferences.

Certain of our investments could be subject to federal bankruptcy law and state fraudulent transfer laws, which vary from state to state, if the debt obligations relating to certain investments were issued with the intent of hindering, delaying or defrauding creditors or, in certain circumstances, if the issuer receives less than reasonably equivalent value or fair consideration in return for issuing such debt obligations. If the debt proceeds are used for a buyout of shareholders, this risk is greater than if the debt proceeds are used for day-to-day operations or organic growth. If a court were to find that the issuance of the debt obligations was a fraudulent transfer or conveyance, the court could void or otherwise refuse to recognize the payment obligations under the debt obligations or the collateral supporting such obligations, further subordinate the debt obligations or the liens supporting such obligations to other existing and future indebtedness of the issuer or require us to repay any amounts received by us with respect to the debt obligations or collateral. In the event of a finding that a fraudulent transfer or conveyance occurred, we may not receive any repayment on such debt obligations.

Under certain circumstances, payments to us and distributions by us to our shareholders may be reclaimed if any such payment or distribution is later determined to have been a fraudulent conveyance, preferential payment or similar transaction under applicable bankruptcy and insolvency laws. Furthermore, investments in restructurings may be adversely affected by statutes relating to, among other things, fraudulent conveyances, voidable preferences, lender liability and the court’s discretionary power to disallow, subordinate or disenfranchise particular claims or recharacterize investments made in the form of debt as equity contributions.

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.

Although we intend to structure certain of our investments as senior debt, if one of our portfolio companies were to go bankrupt, depending on the facts and circumstances, including the extent to which we provided managerial assistance to that portfolio company or a representative of us or our Adviser sat on the board of directors of such portfolio company, a bankruptcy court might re-characterize our debt investment and subordinate all or a portion of our claim to that of other creditors. In situations where a bankruptcy carries a high degree of political significance, our legal rights may be subordinated to other creditors.

In addition, a number of U.S. judicial decisions have upheld judgments obtained by borrowers against lending institutions on the basis of various evolving legal theories, collectively termed “lender liability.” Generally, lender liability is founded on the premise that a lender has violated a duty (whether implied or contractual) of good faith, commercial reasonableness and fair dealing, or a similar duty owed to the borrower or has assumed an excessive degree of control over the borrower resulting in the creation of a fiduciary duty owed to the borrower or its other creditors or shareholders. Because of the nature of our investments in portfolio companies (including that, as a BDC, we may be required to provide managerial assistance to those portfolio companies if they so request upon our offer), we may be subject to allegations of lender liability.

We generally will not control the business operations of our portfolio companies and, due to the illiquid nature of our holdings in our portfolio companies, we may not be able to dispose of our interests in our portfolio companies.

We do not currently, and do not expect in the future to control most of our portfolio companies, although we may have board representation or board observation rights, and our debt agreements may impose certain restrictive covenants on our borrowers. As a result, we are subject to the risk that a portfolio company in which we expect to 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 a debt investor. Due to the lack of liquidity for our investments in private companies, we may not be able to dispose of our interests in our portfolio companies as readily as we would like or at a favorable value. As a result, a portfolio company may make decisions that could decrease the value of our portfolio holdings.

 

71

We are exposed to risks resulting from the current low interest rate environment.

Because we may borrow money to make investments, our net investment income will depend, in part, upon the difference between the rate at which we borrow funds and the rate at which we invest those funds. The current, historically low interest rate environment can, depending on our cost of capital, depress our net investment income, even though the terms of our investments generally will include a minimum interest rate. In addition, any reduction in the level of interest rates on new investments relative to interest rates on our current investments could adversely impact our net investment income, reducing our ability to service the interest obligations on, and to repay the principal of, our indebtedness, as well as our capacity to pay distributions. Any such developments would result in a decline in our net asset value and in our net asset value per share.

We will be exposed to risks associated with changes in interest rates.

Because we may borrow money to make investments, our net investment income will depend, in part, upon the difference between the rate at which we may borrow funds and the rate at which we may invest these funds. As a result, there can be no assurance that a significant change in market interest rates will not have a material adverse effect on our net investment income.

A reduction in the interest rates on new investments relative to interest rates on current investments could have an adverse impact on our net investment income. However, an increase in interest rates could decrease the value of any investments we hold which earn fixed interest rates and also could increase our interest expense, thereby decreasing our net income. Also, an increase in interest rates available to investors could make an investment in our common stock less attractive if we are not able to increase our dividend rate, which could reduce the value of our common stock. Further, rising interest rates could also adversely affect our performance if such increases cause our borrowing costs to rise at a rate in excess of the rate that our investments yield.

Our debt investments may be based on floating interest rates, such as LIBOR, the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (“EURIBOR”), the Federal Funds Rate or the Prime Rate, that reset on a periodic basis, and that many of our investments will be subject to interest rate floors. A reduction in the interest rates on new investments relative to interest rates on current investments could have an adverse impact on our net investment income, which also could be negatively impacted by our borrowers making prepayments on their loans. On the other hand, an increase in interest rates could increase the interest repayment obligations of our borrowers and result in challenges to their financial performance and ability to repay their obligations. In addition, our cost of funds likely will increase because the interest rates on the majority of amounts we may borrow are likely to be floating, which could reduce our net investment income to the extent any debt investments have fixed interest rates, and the interest rate on investments with an interest rate floor will not increase until interest rates exceed the applicable floor.

Trading prices for debt that pays a fixed rate of return tend to fall as interest rates rise. Trading prices tend to fluctuate more for fixed-rate securities that have longer maturities. Moreover, an increase in interest rates available to investors could make investment in our common stock less attractive if we are not able to increase our dividend rate, which could reduce the value of our common stock. Federal Reserve policy, including with respect to certain interest rates and the decision to end its quantitative easing policy, may also adversely affect the value, volatility and liquidity of dividend- and interest-paying securities. Market volatility, rising interest rates and/or a return to unfavorable economic conditions could adversely affect our business.

We may enter into certain hedging transactions, such as interest rate swap agreements, in an effort to mitigate our exposure to adverse fluctuations in interest rates and we may increase our floating rate investments to position the portfolio for rate increases. However, we cannot assure you that such transactions will be successful in mitigating our exposure to interest rate risk or if we will enter into such interest rate hedges. Hedging transactions may also limit our ability to participate in the benefits of lower interest rates with respect to our portfolio investments.

 

72

We do not have a policy governing the maturities of our investments. This means that we are subject to greater risk (other things being equal) than a fund invested solely in shorter-term securities. A decline in the prices of the debt we own could adversely affect our net asset value. Also, an increase in interest rates available to investors could make an investment in our common stock less attractive if we are not able to increase our dividend rate.

In periods of rising interest rates, to the extent we borrow money subject to a floating interest rate, our cost of funds would increase, which could reduce our net investment income. Further, rising interest rates could also adversely affect our performance if we hold investments with floating interest rates, subject to specified minimum interest rates (such as a LIBOR floor), while at the same time engaging in borrowings subject to floating interest rates not subject to such minimums. In such a scenario, rising interest rates may increase our interest expense, even though our interest income from investments is not increasing in a corresponding manner as a result of such minimum interest rates.

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 interest 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, 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.

To the extent that we make floating rate debt investments, a rise in the general level of interest rates would lead to higher interest rates applicable to our debt investments. Accordingly, an increase in interest rates may result in an increase in the amount of the incentive fee payable to our Adviser.

International investments create additional risks.

We may make investments in portfolio companies that are domiciled outside of the United States. Our investments in foreign portfolio companies are deemed “non-qualifying assets”, which means that, as required by the 1940 Act, such investments, along with other investments in non-qualifying assets, may not constitute more than 30% of our total assets at the time of our acquisition of any such asset, after giving effect to the acquisition. Notwithstanding the limitation on our ownership of foreign portfolio companies, such investments subject us to many of the same risks as our domestic investments, as well as certain additional risks, including the following:

 

•

foreign governmental laws, rules and policies, including those relating to taxation and bankruptcy and restricting the ownership of assets in the foreign country or the repatriation of profits from the foreign country to the United States and any adverse changes in these laws;

 

•

foreign currency devaluations that reduce the value of and returns on our foreign investments;

 

•

adverse changes in the availability, cost and terms of investments due to the varying economic policies of a foreign country in which we may invest;

 

•

adverse changes in tax rates, the tax treatment of transaction structures and other changes in operating expenses of a particular foreign country in which we may invest;

 

•

the assessment of foreign-country taxes (including withholding taxes, transfer taxes and value added taxes, any or all of which could be significant) on income or gains from our investments in the foreign country;

 

•

changes that adversely affect the social, political and/or economic stability of a foreign country in which we may invest;

 

•

high inflation in the foreign countries in which we may invest, which could increase the costs to us of investing in those countries;

 

73

•

deflationary periods in the foreign countries in which we may invest, which could reduce demand for our assets in those countries and diminish the value of such investments and the related investment returns to us; and

 

•

legal and logistical barriers in the foreign countries in which we may invest that materially and adversely limit our ability to enforce our contractual rights with respect to those investments.

In addition, we may make investments in countries whose governments or economies may prove unstable. Certain of the countries in which we may invest may have political, economic and legal systems that are unpredictable, unreliable or otherwise inadequate with respect to the implementation, interpretation and enforcement of laws protecting asset ownership and economic interests. In some of the countries in which we may invest, there may be a risk of nationalization, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, which may have an adverse effect on our portfolio companies in those countries and the rates of return that we are able to achieve on such investments. We may also lose the total value of any investment which is nationalized, expropriated or confiscated. The financial results and investment opportunities available to us, particularly in developing countries and emerging markets, may be materially and adversely affected by any or all of these political, economic and legal risks.

We may acquire various structured financial instruments for purposes of “hedging” or reducing our risks, which may be costly and ineffective and could reduce the cash available to service our debt or for distribution to our shareholders.

We may seek to hedge against interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations and credit risk by using structured financial instruments such as futures, options, swaps and forward contracts, subject to the requirements of the 1940 Act. Use of structured financial instruments for hedging purposes may present significant risks, including the risk of loss of the amounts invested. Defaults by the other party to a hedging transaction can result in losses in the hedging transaction. Hedging activities also involve the risk of an imperfect correlation between the hedging instrument and the asset being hedged, which could result in losses both on the hedging transaction and on the instrument being hedged. Use of hedging activities may not prevent significant losses and could increase our losses. Further, hedging transactions may reduce cash available to service our debt or pay distributions to our shareholders.

We will expose ourselves to risks if we engage in hedging transactions.

We may enter into hedging transactions, which may expose us to risks associated with such transactions. We may seek to utilize instruments such as forward contracts, currency options and interest rate swaps, caps, collars and floors to seek to hedge against fluctuations in the relative values of our portfolio positions from changes in currency exchange rates and market interest rates and the relative value of certain debt securities from changes in market interest rates. Use of these hedging instruments may include counter-party credit risk. To the extent we have non-U.S. investments, particularly investments denominated in non-U.S. currencies, our hedging costs will increase.

Hedging against a decline in the values of our portfolio positions would not eliminate the possibility of fluctuations in the values of such positions or prevent losses if the values of such positions were to decline. However, such hedging can establish other positions designed to gain from those same developments, thereby offsetting the decline in the value of such portfolio positions. Such hedging transactions may also limit the opportunity for gain if the values of the underlying portfolio positions were to increase. It also may not be possible to hedge against an exchange rate or interest rate fluctuation that is so generally anticipated that we are not able to enter into a hedging transaction at an acceptable price.

The success of our hedging strategy, if any, will depend on our ability to correctly identify appropriate exposures for hedging. Unanticipated changes in currency exchange rates or other exposures that we might hedge

 

74

may result in poorer overall investment performance than if we had not engaged in any such hedging transactions. In addition, the degree of correlation between price movements of the instruments used in a hedging strategy and price movements in the portfolio positions being hedged may vary, as may the time period in which the hedge is effective relative to the time period of the related exposure.

For a variety of reasons, we may not seek to (or be able to) establish a perfect correlation between such hedging instruments and the positions being hedged. Any such imperfect correlation may prevent us from achieving the intended hedge and expose us to risk of loss. In addition, it may not be possible to hedge fully or perfectly against currency fluctuations affecting the value of securities denominated in non-U.S. currencies because the value of those securities is likely to fluctuate as a result of factors not related to currency fluctuations. Income derived from hedging transactions also is not eligible to be distributed to non-U.S. shareholders free from withholding taxes. Changes to the regulations applicable to the financial instruments we use to accomplish our hedging strategy could affect the effectiveness of that strategy. See “—The market structure applicable to derivatives imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and SEC may affect our ability to use over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives for hedging purposes. .” and “—We are, and will continue to be, exposed to risks associated with changes in interest rates.”

The market structure applicable to derivatives imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC and SEC may affect our ability to use OTC derivatives for hedging purposes.

The Dodd-Frank Act and the CFTC enacted and SEC has issued rules to implement, both broad new regulatory requirements and broad new structural requirements applicable to OTC derivatives markets and, to a lesser extent, listed commodity futures (and futures options) markets. Similar changes are in the process of being implemented in other major financial markets.

The CFTC and the SEC have issued final rules establishing that certain swap transactions are subject to CFTC regulation. Engaging in such swap or other commodity interest transactions such as futures contracts or options on futures contracts may cause us to fall within the definition of “commodity pool” under the Commodity Exchange Act and related CFTC regulations. The Adviser has claimed relief from CFTC registration and regulation as a commodity pool operator with respect to our operations, with the result that we are limited in our ability to use futures contracts or options on futures contracts or engage in swap transactions. Specifically, we are subject to strict limitations on using such derivatives other than for hedging purposes, whereby the use of derivatives not used solely for hedging purposes is generally limited to situations where (i) the aggregate initial margin and premiums required to establish such positions does not exceed five percent of the liquidation value of our portfolio, after taking into account unrealized profits and unrealized losses on any such contracts we have entered into; or (ii) the aggregate net notional value of such derivatives does not exceed 100% of the liquidation value of our portfolio.

The Dodd-Frank Act also imposed requirements relating to real-time public and regulatory reporting of OTC derivative transactions, enhanced documentation requirements, position limits on an expanded array of derivatives, and recordkeeping requirements. Taken as a whole, these changes could significantly increase the cost of using uncleared OTC derivatives to hedge risks, including interest rate and foreign exchange risk; reduce the level of exposure we are able to obtain for risk management purposes through OTC derivatives (including as the result of the CFTC imposing position limits on additional products); reduce the amounts available to us to make non-derivatives investments; impair liquidity in certain OTC derivatives; and adversely affect the quality of execution pricing obtained by us, all of which could adversely impact our investment returns.

Our ability to enter into transactions involving derivatives and financial commitment transactions may be limited.

In November 2020, the SEC adopted a rulemaking regarding the ability of a BDC (or a registered investment company) to use derivatives and other transactions that create future payment or delivery obligations.

 

75

Under the newly adopted rules, BDCs that use derivatives will be subject to a value-at-risk leverage limit, a derivatives risk management program and testing requirements and requirements related to board reporting. These new requirements will apply unless the BDC qualifies as a “limited derivatives user,” as defined under the adopted rules. Under the new rule, a BDC may enter into an unfunded commitment agreement that is not a derivatives transaction, such as an agreement to provide financing to a portfolio company, if the BDC has, among other things, a reasonable belief, at the time it enters into such an agreement, that it will have sufficient cash and cash equivalents to meet its obligations with respect to all of its unfunded commitment agreements, in each case as it becomes due. Collectively, these requirements may limit our ability to use derivatives and/or enter into certain other financial contracts.

We may enter into total return swaps that would expose us to certain risks, including market risk, liquidity risk and other risks similar to those associated with the use of leverage.

A total return swap is a contract in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to another party based on the change in the market value of the assets underlying the total return swap, which may include a specified security or loan, basket of securities or loans or securities or loan indices during the specified period, in return for periodic payments based on a fixed or variable interest rate. A total return swap is typically used to obtain exposure to a security, loan or market without owning or taking physical custody of such security or loan or investing directly in such market. A total return swap may effectively add leverage to our portfolio because, in addition to our total net assets, we would be subject to investment exposure on the amount of securities or loans subject to the total return swap. A total return swap is also subject to the risk that a counterparty will default on its payment obligations thereunder or that we will not be able to meet our obligations to the counterparty. In addition, because a total return swap is a form of synthetic leverage, such arrangements are subject to risks similar to those associated with the use of leverage.

Our investment strategy focuses on technology-related companies, which are subject to many risks, including volatility, intense competition, shortened product life cycles, changes in regulatory and governmental programs and periodic downturns, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

We intend to adopt a policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of our assets in technology-related companies, many of which 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 technology-related companies can and often do fluctuate suddenly and dramatically. In addition, technology-related industries are generally characterized by abrupt business cycles and intense competition. Overcapacity in technology-related industries, together with cyclical economic downturns, may result in substantial decreases in the market capitalization of many technology-related companies. Such decreases in market capitalization may occur again, and any future decreases in technology-related company valuations may be substantial and may not be temporary in nature. Therefore, our portfolio companies may face considerably more risk of loss than do companies in other industry sectors.

Because of rapid technological change, the average selling prices of products and some services provided by technology-related companies have historically decreased over their productive lives. As a result, the average selling prices of products and services offered by technology-related companies may decrease over time, which could adversely affect their operating results, 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.

A natural disaster may also impact the operations of our portfolio companies, including the technology companies in our portfolio. The nature and level of natural disasters cannot be predicted and may be exacerbated by global climate change. Technology companies rely on items assembled or produced in areas susceptible to natural disasters, and may sell finished goods into markets susceptible to natural disasters. A major disaster, such

 

76

as an earthquake, tsunami, flood or other catastrophic event could result in disruption to the business and operations of the technology companies in our portfolio.

We may invest in technology-related companies that are reliant on U.S. and foreign regulatory and governmental programs. Any material changes or discontinuation, due to change in administration or U.S. Congress or otherwise could have a material adverse effect on the operations of a portfolio company in these industries and, in turn, impair our ability to timely collect principal and interest payments owed to us to the extent applicable.

Any investments in life sciences-related companies may be subject to extensive government regulation, litigation risk and certain other risks particular to that industry.

We may invest in life sciences-related that may be subject to extensive regulation by federal, state and other foreign 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. Portfolio companies that produce medical devices or drugs are 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 addition, governmental budgetary constraints effecting the regulatory approval process, new laws, regulations or judicial interpretations of existing laws and regulations might adversely affect a portfolio company in this industry.

Life sciences-related portfolio companies 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 life sciences-related portfolio company and, in turn, impair our ability to timely collect principal and interest payments owed to us.

Our portfolio may be focused on a limited number of portfolio companies or industries, which will subject us to a risk of significant loss if any of these companies defaults on its obligations under any of its debt instruments or if there is a downturn in a particular industry.

Beyond the asset diversification requirements associated with our qualification as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we do not have fixed guidelines for diversification. While we do not intend to target any specific industries, our investments may be focused on relatively few industries. We intend to adopt a policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of our assets in technology-related companies. As a result, the aggregate returns we realize may be significantly adversely affected if a small number of investments perform poorly or if we need to write down the value of any one investment. Additionally, a downturn in any particular industry in which we may invest could significantly affect our aggregate returns.

We cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain various required licenses in U.S. states or in any other jurisdiction where they may be required in the future.

We may be required in the future to obtain various state licenses to, among other things, originate commercial loans, and may be required to obtain similar licenses from other authorities, including outside of the United States, in the future in connection with one or more investments. Applying for and obtaining required licenses can be costly and take several months. We cannot assure you that we will maintain or obtain all of the licenses that we need on a timely basis. We also will be subject to various information and other requirements to maintain and obtain these licenses, and we cannot assure you that we will satisfy those requirements. Our failure to obtain and/or maintain licenses that we require might restrict investment options and have other adverse consequences.

 

77

An investment strategy focused primarily on privately held companies presents certain challenges, including the lack of available information about these companies.

We intend to invest primarily in privately held companies. Investments in private companies pose certain incremental risks as compared to investments in public companies including that they:

 

•

have reduced access to the capital markets, resulting in diminished capital resources and ability to withstand financial distress;

 

•

may have limited financial resources and may be unable to meet their obligations under their debt obligations that we hold, which may be accompanied by a deterioration in the value of any collateral and a reduction in the likelihood of our realizing any guarantees we may have obtained in connection with our investment;

 

•

may have shorter operating histories, narrower product lines and smaller market shares than larger businesses, which tend to render them more vulnerable to competitors’ actions and changing market conditions, as well as general economic downturns;

 

•

are more likely to depend on the management talents and efforts of a small group of persons and, therefore, the death, disability, resignation or termination of one or more of these persons could have a material adverse impact on the company and, in turn, on us; and

 

•

generally have less predictable operating results, may from time to time be parties to litigation, may be engaged in rapidly changing businesses with products subject to a substantial risk of obsolescence, and may require substantial additional capital to support their operations, finance expansion or maintain their competitive position.

In addition, investments in private companies tend to be less liquid. The securities of private companies are not publicly traded or actively traded on the secondary market and are, instead, traded on a privately negotiated over-the-counter secondary market for institutional investors. These over-the-counter secondary markets may be inactive during an economic downturn or a credit crisis and in any event often have lower volumes than publicly traded securities even in normal market conditions. In addition, the securities in these companies will be subject to legal and other restrictions on resale or will otherwise be less liquid than publicly traded securities. If there is no readily available market for these investments, we are required to carry these investments at fair value as determined by our board of directors. As a result, 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. We may also face other restrictions on our ability to liquidate an investment in a portfolio company to the extent that we, our Adviser or any of its affiliates have material nonpublic information regarding such portfolio company or where the sale would be an impermissible joint transaction under the 1940 Act. The reduced liquidity of our investments may make it difficult for us to dispose of them at a favorable price, and, as a result, we may suffer losses.

Finally, little public information generally exists about private companies and these companies may not have third-party credit ratings or audited financial statements. We must therefore rely on the ability of our Adviser to obtain adequate information through due diligence to evaluate the creditworthiness and potential returns from investing in these companies, and to monitor the activities and performance of these investments. To the extent that we (or other clients of our Adviser) may hold a larger number of investments, greater demands will be placed on our Adviser’s time, resources and personnel in monitoring such investments, which may result in less attention being paid to any individual investment and greater risk that our investment decisions may not be fully informed. Additionally, these companies and their financial information will not generally be subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other rules that govern public 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.

 

78

Certain investment analyses and decisions by our Adviser may be required to be undertaken on an expedited basis.

Investment analyses and decisions by our Adviser may be required to be undertaken on an expedited basis to take advantage of certain investment opportunities. While we generally will not seek to make an investment until our Adviser has conducted sufficient due diligence to make a determination as to the acceptability of the credit quality of the investment and the underlying issuer, in such cases, the information available to our Adviser at the time of making an investment decision may be limited. Therefore, no assurance can be given that our Adviser will have knowledge of all circumstances that may adversely affect an investment. In addition, our Adviser may rely upon independent consultants in connection with its evaluation of proposed investments. No assurance can be given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by such independent consultants and we may incur liability as a result of such consultants’ actions, many of whom we will have limited recourse against in the event of any such inaccuracies.

We may not have the funds or ability to make additional investments in our portfolio companies.

After our initial investment in a portfolio company, we may be called upon from time to time to provide additional funds to such company or have the opportunity to increase our investment through the exercise of a warrant or other right to purchase common stock. There is no assurance that we will make, or will have sufficient funds to make, follow-on investments. Even if we do have sufficient capital to make a desired follow-on investment, we may elect not to make a follow-on investment because we may not want to increase our level of risk, we prefer other opportunities, we are limited in our ability to do so by compliance with BDC requirements or in order to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC. Our ability to make follow-on investments may also be limited by our Adviser’s allocation policies. Any decision not to make a follow-on investment or any inability on our part to make such an investment may have a negative impact on a portfolio company in need of such an investment, may result in a missed opportunity for us to increase our participation in a successful investment or may reduce the expected return to us on the investment.

We are subject to risks related to corporate social responsibility.

Our business faces increasing public scrutiny related to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) activities. We risk damage to our brand and reputation if we fail to act responsibly in a number of areas, such as environmental stewardship, corporate governance and transparency and considering ESG factors in our investment processes. Adverse incidents with respect to ESG activities could impact the value of our brand, the cost of our operations and relationships with investors, all of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. Additionally, new regulatory initiatives related to ESG could adversely affect our business.

Because we have received the approval of our sole initial shareholder, we will be subject to 150% Asset Coverage.

Recent legislation has modified the 1940 Act by allowing a BDC to increase the maximum amount of leverage it may incur from an asset coverage ratio of 200% to an asset coverage ratio of 150%, if certain requirements are met. The reduced asset coverage requirement would permit a BDC to double the amount of leverage it can incur. For example, under a 150% asset coverage ratio the Company may borrow $2 for investment purposes of every $1 of investor equity whereas under a 200% asset coverage ratio the Company may borrow only $1 for investment purposes for every $1 of investor equity. Because our Adviser, as our sole initial shareholder, has approved this proposal, the reduced asset coverage ratio applicable to our senior securities is 150%.

Leverage magnifies the potential for loss on investments in our indebtedness and on invested equity capital. As we may use leverage to partially finance our investments, you will experience increased risks of investing in our securities. If the value of our assets increases, then leveraging would cause the net asset value attributable to

 

79

our common stock to increase more sharply than it would have had we not leveraged. Conversely, if the value of our assets decreases, leveraging would cause net asset value to decline more sharply than it otherwise would have had we not leveraged our business. Similarly, any increase in our income in excess of interest payable on the borrowed funds would cause our net investment income to increase more than it would without the leverage, while any decrease in our income would cause net investment income to decline more sharply than it would have had we not borrowed. Such a decline could negatively affect our ability to pay common stock dividends, scheduled debt payments or other payments related to our securities. Leverage is generally considered a speculative investment technique. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Business — To the extent that we borrow money, the potential for gain or loss on amounts invested in us will be magnified and may increase the risk of investing in us. Borrowed money may also adversely affect the return on our assets, reduce cash available to service our debt or for distribution to our shareholders, and result in losses.

Risks Related to an Investment in Our Common Stock

Investors will not know the purchase price per share at the time they submit their subscription agreements and could receive fewer shares of our common stock than anticipated if our board of directors determines to increase the offering price to a price that we believe reflects the net asset value per share of the Class S, Class D and Class I shares in accordance with our share pricing policy.

The Class S, Class D and Class I shares each will be offered at an initial offering price of $10.00 per share, but may, to the extent permitted or required under the rules and regulations of the SEC, be sold at prices necessary to ensure that shares are not sold at prices per share that are below our net asset value per share for such class, if our net asset value per share: (i) declines more than 10% from the net asset value per share as of the effective date of this registration statement or (ii) increases to an amount that is greater than the net proceeds per share as stated in this prospectus.

We intend to sell our shares at net offering prices that we believe reflect the net asset value per share of the applicable class of shares as determined in accordance with the Company’s share pricing policy. See “Determination of Net Asset Value — Value Determinations in Connection with this Continuous Offering.” We will modify our public offering prices to the extent necessary to comply with the requirements of the 1940 Act, including the requirement that we not sell any class of our shares at a net offering price below our net asset value per share unless we obtain the requisite approval from our shareholders.

As a result, your purchase price may be higher than the prior subscription closing price per share, and therefore you may receive a smaller number of shares than if you had subscribed at the prior subscription closing price.

If we are unable to raise substantial funds in our ongoing, continuous “best efforts” offering, we may be limited in the number and type of investments we may make, and the value of your investment in us may be reduced in the event our assets under-perform.

Our continuous offering is being made on a best efforts basis, whereby our Dealer Manager and participating broker-dealers are only required to use their best efforts to sell our shares and have no firm commitment or obligation to purchase any of our shares. To the extent that less than the maximum number of shares is subscribed for, the opportunity for diversification of our investments may be decreased and the returns achieved on those investments may be reduced as a result of allocating all of our expenses among a smaller capital base.

 

80

Our shares are not listed, and we do not intend to list our shares, on an exchange, nor are our shares quoted through a quotation system. Therefore, our shareholders will have limited liquidity and may not receive a full return of invested capital (including front-end commissions, fees and expenses), upon selling their shares or upon liquidation of our company.

Our shares are illiquid investments for which there is not a secondary market nor is it expected that any such secondary market will develop in the future. We do not intend to complete a liquidity event within any specific time period, if at all. A liquidity event could include a merger or another transaction approved by our board of directors in which our shareholders will receive cash or shares of a listed company, or a sale of all or substantially all of our assets either on a complete portfolio basis or individually followed by a liquidation. A liquidity event also may include a sale, merger or rollover transaction with one or more affiliated investment companies managed by our Adviser with either an internal or external management structure. We do not intend to list our shares on a national securities exchange. Upon the occurrence of a liquidity event, if any, all Class S and Class D shares will automatically convert into Class I shares and the ongoing servicing fee will terminate.

We do not know at this time what circumstances will exist in the future and therefore we do not know what factors our board of directors will consider in determining whether to pursue a liquidity event in the future. Also, since a portion of the public offering price from the sale of shares in this offering will be used to pay offering expenses and recurring expenses, the full offering price paid by our shareholders will not be invested in portfolio companies. As a result, even if we do complete a liquidity event, you may not receive a return of all of your invested capital. If we do not complete a liquidity event, liquidity for your shares will be limited to participation in our share repurchase program, which may not be for a sufficient number of shares to meet your request and which we have no obligation to maintain. In addition, any shares repurchased pursuant to our share repurchase program may be purchased at a price which may reflect a discount from the purchase price shareholders paid for the shares being repurchased. See “Share Repurchase Program” for a detailed description of the share repurchase program. Because investors who participate in our distribution reinvestment plan will receive additional shares of our common stock in lieu of cash distributions, their exposure to the foregoing risks will be increased compared to their exposure if they had elected to receive cash distributions.

Our Dealer Manager in our continuous offering may be unable to sell a sufficient number of shares of common stock for us to achieve our investment objective. Our ability to conduct our continuous offering successfully is dependent, in part, on the ability of our Dealer Manager to successfully establish, operate and maintain relationships with a network of broker-dealers.

The success of our continuous public offering, and correspondingly our ability to implement our business strategy, is dependent upon the ability of our Dealer Manager to establish and maintain relationships with a network of licensed securities broker-dealers and other agents to sell our shares. If our Dealer Manager fails to perform, we may not be able to raise adequate proceeds through our public offering to implement our investment strategy. If we are unsuccessful in implementing our investment strategy, you could lose all or a part of your investment.

Purchases of shares of our common stock by persons affiliated with us or our Adviser should not influence investment decisions of independent, unaffiliated investors. Our officers, directors, and Adviser will determine when we satisfy the minimum offering amount for this offering.

We may satisfy the minimum offering requirement through purchases of shares of our common stock in a private placement transaction outside of this offering by an affiliate of our Adviser. If we do so, an affiliate of our Adviser will determine when we reach the minimum offering requirement. Except for certain share ownership and transfer restrictions contained in our charter, there is no limit on the number of shares that may be sold to our officers, directors, and Adviser, its affiliates and/or immediate family members. There is no assurance, however, that we will be successful in raising additional funds in this offering. If we are unsuccessful in raising additional funds, we may be unable to diversify our portfolio, and our operating expenses as a percentage of our gross offering proceeds will be higher.

 

81

We intend, but are not required, to offer to repurchase your shares on a periodic basis. As a result you will have limited opportunities to sell your shares.

Beginning with the first full calendar quarter after the date that we sell shares to a person or entity other than our Adviser, our directors, officers and/or other affiliated persons and entities, we may, from time to time, determine to repurchase a portion of the shares of our common stock, and if we do, we expect that only a limited number of shares will be eligible for repurchase. In addition, any such repurchases will be at a price equal to the net offering price per share on each Repurchase Date. As a result, the price at which we repurchase shares may be at a discount to the price at which you purchased shares of common stock in this offering. The share repurchase program, if implemented, will include numerous restrictions that limit your ability to sell your shares, and share repurchases may not be available each month. For example, to the extent we choose to repurchase shares in any particular period, we intend to limit the number of shares to be repurchased in each period to no more than 5.00% of our outstanding shares of common stock. Our board of directors reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to limit the number of shares to be repurchased for each class by applying the limitations on the number of shares to be repurchased on a per class basis. To the extent that the number of shares put to us for repurchase exceeds the number of shares that we are able to purchase, we will repurchase shares on a pro rata basis, not on a first-come, first-serve basis. Further, we will have no obligation to repurchase shares if the repurchase would violate the restrictions on distributions under federal law or Maryland law. These limits may prevent us from accommodating all repurchase requests made in any month.

We will notify our shareholders of such developments: (i) in our quarterly reports or (ii) by means of a separate mailing to you, accompanied by disclosure in a current or periodic report under the Exchange Act. In addition, under the quarterly share repurchase program, if implemented, we will have discretion to not repurchase shares, to suspend the program, and to cease repurchases. Further, the program may have many limitations and should not be relied upon as a method to sell shares promptly and at a desired price.

The timing of our repurchase offers pursuant to our share repurchase program may be at a time that is disadvantageous to our shareholders, and, to the extent you are able to sell your shares under the program, you may not be able to recover the amount of your investment in our shares.

When we make repurchase offers pursuant to the share repurchase program, we may offer to repurchase shares at a price that is lower than the price that you paid for our shares. As a result, to the extent you paid a price that includes the related Upfront Sales Load imposed by a financial intermediary, and to the extent you have the ability to sell your shares pursuant to our share repurchase program, the price at which you may sell shares, which will be at prices determined by our board of directors and paid on each date of repurchase, may be lower than the amount you paid in connection with the purchase of shares in this offering.

We may be unable to invest a significant portion of the net proceeds of this offering on acceptable terms in an acceptable timeframe.

Delays in investing the net proceeds of this offering may impair our performance. We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to identify investments that meet our investment objective or that any investment that we make will produce a positive return. We may be unable to invest the net proceeds of our offering on acceptable terms within the time period that we anticipate or at all, which could harm our financial condition and operating results.

Before making investments, we will invest the net proceeds of our continuous public offering primarily in cash, cash-equivalents, U.S. government securities, repurchase agreements, and/or other high-quality debt instruments maturing in one year or less from the time of investment. This will produce returns that are significantly lower than the returns which we expect to achieve when our portfolio is fully invested in securities and loans meeting our investment objective. As a result, any distributions that we pay while our portfolio is not fully invested may be lower than the distributions that we may be able to pay when our portfolio is fully invested in securities meeting our investment objective.

 

82

A shareholder’s interest in us will be diluted if we issue additional shares, which could reduce the overall value of an investment in us.

No class our common stock grants shareholders preemptive rights to purchase any shares we issue in the future. Our charter authorizes us to issue up to 3 billion shares of common stock. Pursuant to our charter, a majority of our entire board of directors may amend our charter to increase the number of shares of any class of common stock we may issue without shareholder approval. Our board may elect to sell additional shares in the future or issue equity interests in private offerings. To the extent we issue additional equity interests at or below net asset value, your percentage ownership interest in us may be diluted. In addition, depending upon the terms and pricing of any additional offerings and the value of our investments, you may also experience dilution in the book value and fair value of your shares.

Under the 1940 Act, we generally are prohibited from issuing or selling our common stock at a price below net asset value per share, which may be a disadvantage as compared with certain public companies. We may, however, sell our common stock, or warrants, options, or rights to acquire our common stock, at a price below the current net asset value of our common stock if our board of directors and independent directors determine that such sale is in our best interests and the best interests of our shareholders, and our shareholders, including a majority of those shareholders that are not affiliated with us, approve such sale. In any such case, the price at which our securities are to be issued and sold may not be less than a price that, in the determination of our board of directors, closely approximates the fair value of such securities (less any distributing commission or discount). If we raise additional funds by issuing common stock or senior securities convertible into, or exchangeable for, our common stock, then the percentage ownership of our shareholders at that time will decrease and you will experience dilution.

Certain provisions of our charter and actions of our board of directors could deter takeover attempts and have an adverse impact on the value of shares of our common stock.

Our charter, as well as certain statutory and regulatory requirements, contain certain provisions that may have the effect of discouraging a third party from attempting to acquire us. Our board of directors is divided into three classes of directors serving staggered three-year terms, which could prevent shareholders from removing a majority of directors in any given election. Our board of directors may, without shareholder action, authorize the issuance of shares in one or more classes or series, including shares of preferred stock; and our board of directors may, without shareholder action, amend our charter to increase the number of shares of our common stock, of any class or series, that we will have authority to issue. These anti-takeover provisions may inhibit a change of control in circumstances that could give the holders of shares of our common stock the opportunity to realize a premium over the value of shares of our common stock.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk.

The investments we make in accordance with our investment objective may result in a higher amount of risk than alternative investment options, including volatility or loss of principal. Our investments in portfolio companies may be highly speculative and aggressive and, therefore, an investment in our common stock may not be suitable for someone with lower risk tolerance.

The net asset value of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.

The net asset value and liquidity, if any, of the market for shares of our common stock may be significantly affected by numerous factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be directly related to our operating performance. These factors include:

 

•

changes in the value of our portfolio of investments and derivative instruments as a result of changes in market factors, such as interest rate shifts, and also portfolio specific performance, such as portfolio company defaults, among other reasons;

 

83

•

changes in regulatory policies or tax guidelines, particularly with respect to RICs or BDCs;

 

•

loss of RIC tax treatment or BDC status;

 

•

distributions that exceed our net investment income and net income as reported according to U.S. GAAP;

 

•

changes in earnings or variations in operating results;

 

•

changes in accounting guidelines governing valuation of our investments;

 

•

any shortfall in revenue or net income or any increase in losses from levels expected by investors;

 

•

departure of our Adviser or certain of its key personnel;

 

•

general economic trends and other external factors;

 

•

loss of a major funding source; and

 

•

the length and duration of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. as well as worldwide and the magnitude of the economic impact of that outbreak.

The amount of any distributions we may make is uncertain. We may pay distributions from sources other than cash from operations, including the sale of assets, borrowings or returns of capital to the extent our cash flows from operations, net investment income or earnings are not sufficient to fund declared distributions.

We may fund distributions from the uninvested proceeds of an offering, borrowings and Expense Support Payments from our Adviser, which are subject to recoupment. We have not established limits on the amount of funds we may use from such proceeds or borrowings or expense reimbursements to make any such distributions. We may pay distributions from the sale of assets to the extent distributions exceed our earnings or cash flows from operations. Distributions from sources other than cash flows from operations or from borrowings could reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest in our investment portfolio.

Our distributions to shareholders may be funded from expense reimbursements that are subject to repayment pursuant to our Expense Support Agreement.

Substantial portions of our distributions may be funded through the reimbursement of certain expenses by our Adviser and its affiliates. Any such distributions funded through expense reimbursements will not be based on our investment performance, and can only be sustained if we achieve positive investment performance in future periods and/or our Adviser and its affiliates continue to make such reimbursements. Our future repayments of amounts reimbursed by our Adviser or its affiliates will reduce the distributions that shareholders would otherwise receive in the future. There can be no assurance that we will achieve the performance necessary to be able to pay distributions at a specific rate or at all. Our Adviser and its affiliates have no obligation to reimburse expenses in future periods.

The amount of any distributions we may make on our common stock is uncertain. We may not be able to pay you distributions, or be able to sustain distributions at any particular level, and our distributions per share, if any, may not grow over time, and our distributions per share may be reduced. We have not established any limits on the extent to which we may use borrowings, if any, and we may use sources other than cash flows from operations to fund distributions (which may reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest in portfolio companies).

Subject to our board of directors’ discretion and applicable legal restrictions, we intend to authorize and declare cash distributions on a monthly or quarterly basis and pay such distributions on a monthly basis. We expect to pay distributions out of assets legally available for distribution. However, we cannot assure you that we will achieve investment results that will allow us to make a consistent targeted 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 the risks described in this prospectus. Further, the per share amount of distributions on Class S, Class D

 

84

and Class I shares may differ because of different allocations of class-specific expenses. For example, distributions on Class S and Class D shares will be lower than on Class I shares because Class S and Class D shares are subject to different ongoing servicing fees.

In addition, the inability to satisfy the asset coverage test applicable to us as a BDC under the 1940 Act can limit our ability to pay distributions. Distributions from sources other than cash flows from operations also could reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest in debt or equity securities of portfolio companies. We cannot assure you that we will pay distributions to our shareholders in the future.

Shareholders will experience dilution in their ownership percentage if they do not participate in our distribution reinvestment plan.

We have adopted a distribution reinvestment plan whereby shareholders (other than Maryland and North Carolina investors, and clients of certain participating brokers that do not permit automatic enrollment in our distribution reinvestment plan) will have their cash distributions automatically reinvested in additional shares of the same class of our common stock to which the distribution relates unless they elect to receive their distributions in cash. See “Distribution Reinvestment Plan.” Maryland and North Carolina investors, and clients of certain participating brokers that do not permit automatic enrollment in our distribution reinvestment plan, will automatically receive their distributions in cash unless they elect to have their cash distributions reinvested in additional shares of our common stock. As a result, shareholders that do not elect to participate in our distribution reinvestment plan will experience dilution over time.

Preferred stock could be issued with rights and preferences that would adversely affect holders of our common stock.

Under the terms of our charter, our board of directors is authorized to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series without shareholder approval, which could potentially adversely affect the interests of existing shareholders. In particular, holders of preferred stock are required to have certain voting rights when there are unpaid dividends and priority over other classes of securities as to distribution of assets or payment of dividends.

If we issue preferred stock or convertible debt securities, the net asset value of our common stock may become more volatile.

We cannot assure you that the issuance of preferred stock and/or convertible debt securities would result in a higher yield or return to the holders of our common stock. The issuance of preferred stock or convertible debt would likely cause the net asset value of our common stock to become more volatile. If the rate on the preferred stock, or the interest rate on the convertible debt securities, were to approach the net rate of return on our investment portfolio, the benefit of such leverage to the holders of our common stock would be reduced. If the distribution rate on the preferred stock, or the interest rate on the debt securities, were to exceed the net rate of return on our portfolio, the use of leverage would result in a lower rate of return to the holders of common stock than if we had not issued the preferred stock or convertible debt securities. Any decline in the net asset value of our investment would be borne entirely by the holders of our common stock. Therefore, if the market value of our portfolio were to decline, the leverage would result in a greater decrease in net asset value to the holders of our common stock than if we were not leveraged through the issuance of preferred stock or debt securities. This decline in net asset value would also tend to cause a greater decline in the market price, if any, for our common stock.

There is also a risk that, in the event of a sharp decline in the value of our net assets, we would be in danger of failing to maintain required asset coverage ratios, which may be required by the preferred stock or convertible debt, or our current investment income might not be sufficient to meet the dividend requirements on the preferred stock or the interest payments on the debt securities. In order to counteract such an event, we might need to liquidate investments in order to fund the redemption of some or all of the preferred stock or convertible debt. In addition, we would pay (and the holders of our common stock would bear) all costs and expenses relating to the

 

85

issuance and ongoing maintenance of the preferred stock, convertible debt, or any combination of these securities. Holders of preferred stock or convertible debt may have different interests than holders of common stock and may at times have disproportionate influence over our affairs.

Holders of any preferred stock that we may issue will have the right to elect certain members of our board of directors 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 dividends 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 shareholders could veto any such changes. Restrictions imposed on the declarations and payment of dividends or other 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 tax treatment as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Compliance with the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest by participating broker-dealers may negatively impact our ability to raise capital in this offering, which would harm our ability to achieve our investment objectives.

Commencing June 30, 2020, broker-dealers must comply with Regulation Best Interest, which, among other requirements, establishes a new standard of conduct for broker-dealers and their associated persons when making a recommendation of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities to a retail customer. Regulation Best Interest imposes a duty of care for broker-dealers to evaluate reasonable alternatives in the best interests of their clients. Reasonable alternatives to us exist and may have lower expenses or lower investment risk than us. Under Regulation Best Interest, broker-dealers participating in the offering must consider such alternatives in the best interests of their clients. The impact of Regulation Best Interest on participating dealers cannot be determined at this time, and it may negatively impact whether participating dealers and their associated persons recommend this offering to certain retail customers. If Regulation Best Interest reduces our ability to raise capital in this offering, it would harm our ability to create a diversified portfolio of investments and ability to achieve our investment objectives.

Federal Income Tax Risks

We cannot predict how tax reform legislation will affect us, our investments, or our shareholders, and any such legislation could adversely affect our business.

Legislative or other actions relating to taxes could have a negative effect on us. The rules dealing with U.S. federal income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department. For example, in December 2017, Congress passed tax reform legislation that made many changes to the Code, including significant changes to the taxation of business entities, the deductibility of interest expense, and the tax treatment of capital investment. We cannot predict with certainty how any changes in the tax laws might affect us, our shareholders, or our portfolio investments. New legislation and any U.S. Treasury regulations, administrative interpretations or court decisions interpreting such legislation could significantly and negatively affect our ability to qualify for tax treatment as a RIC or the U.S. federal income tax consequences to us and our shareholders of such qualification, or could have other adverse consequences. Shareholders are urged to consult with their tax adviser regarding tax legislative, regulatory, or administrative developments and proposals and their potential effect on an investment in our securities.

We will be subject to corporate-level U.S. federal income tax if we are unable to qualify for and maintain our tax treatment as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code or if we make investments through taxable subsidiaries.

To maintain RIC tax treatment under the Code, we must meet the following minimum annual distribution, income source and asset diversification requirements. See “Tax Matters.”

 

86

The Annual Distribution Requirement for a RIC will be satisfied if we distribute to our shareholders on an annual basis at least 90% of our “investment company taxable income,” which is generally our net ordinary income plus the excess, if any, of realized net short-term capital gains over realized net long-term capital losses. In addition, a RIC may, in certain cases, satisfy the 90% distribution requirement by distributing dividends relating to a taxable year after the close of such taxable year under the “spillback dividend” provisions of Subchapter M. We would be taxed, at regular corporate rates, on retained income and/or gains, including any short-term capital gains or long-term capital gains. We also must satisfy an additional annual distribution requirement with respect to each calendar year in order to avoid a 4% excise tax on the amount of the under-distribution. Because we may use debt financing, we are subject to (i) an asset coverage ratio requirement under the 1940 Act and may, in the future, be subject to (ii) certain financial covenants under loan and credit agreements that could, under certain circumstances, restrict us from making distributions necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements. If we are unable to obtain cash from other sources, or choose or are required to retain a portion of our taxable income or gains, we could (1) be required to pay excise taxes and (2) fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment, and thus become subject to corporate-level income tax on our taxable income (including gains).

The income source requirement will be satisfied if we obtain at least 90% of our annual income from dividends, interest, gains from the sale of stock or securities, or other income derived from the business of investing in stock or securities.

The asset diversification requirement will be satisfied if we meet certain asset diversification requirements at the end of each quarter of our taxable year. Specifically, at least 50% of the value of our assets must consist of cash, cash-equivalents (including receivables), U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs, and other acceptable securities if such securities or any one issuer do not represent more than 5% of the value of our assets or more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of the issuer; and no more than 25% of the value of our assets can be invested in the securities, other than U.S. government securities or securities of other RICs, of one issuer, of two or more issuers that are controlled, as determined under applicable Code rules, by us and that are engaged in the same or similar or related trades or businesses or of certain “qualified publicly traded partnerships.” Failure to meet these requirements may result in our having to dispose of certain investments quickly in order to prevent the loss of RIC status. Because most of our investments will be in private companies, and therefore will be relatively illiquid, any such dispositions could be made at disadvantageous prices and could result in substantial losses.

If we fail to qualify for or maintain RIC tax treatment for any reason and are subject to corporate income tax, the resulting corporate taxes could substantially reduce our net assets, the amount of income available for distribution, and the amount of our distributions.

We may invest in certain debt and equity investments through taxable subsidiaries and the net taxable income of these taxable subsidiaries will be subject to federal and state corporate income taxes. We may invest in certain foreign debt and equity investments which could be subject to foreign taxes (such as income tax, withholding, and value added taxes).

We may have difficulty paying our required distributions if we recognize income before or without receiving cash representing such income.

For U.S. federal income tax purposes, we may be required to recognize taxable income in circumstances in which we do not receive a corresponding payment in cash. For example, since we will likely hold debt obligations that are treated under applicable tax rules as having OID (such as debt instruments with PIK, secondary market purchases of debt securities at a discount to par, interest or, in certain cases, increasing interest rates or debt instruments that were issued with warrants), we must include in income each year a portion of the OID that accrues over the life of the obligation, regardless of whether cash representing such income is received by us in the same taxable year. We may also have to include in income other amounts that we have not yet

 

87

received in cash, such as unrealized appreciation for foreign currency forward contracts and deferred loan origination fees that are paid after origination of the loan or are paid in non-cash compensation such as warrants or stock. Furthermore, we may invest in non-U.S. corporations (or other non-U.S. entities treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes) that could be treated under the Code and U.S. Treasury regulations as “passive foreign investment companies” and/or “controlled foreign corporations.” The rules relating to investment in these types of non-U.S. entities are designed to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are either, in effect, taxed currently (or on an accelerated basis with respect to corporate-level events) or taxed at increased tax rates at distribution or disposition. In certain circumstances this could require us to recognize income where we do not receive a corresponding payment in cash.

Unrealized appreciation on derivatives, such as foreign currency forward contracts, may be included in taxable income while the receipt of cash may occur in a subsequent period when the related contract expires. Any unrealized depreciation on investments that the foreign currency forward contracts are designed to hedge are not currently deductible for tax purposes. This can result in increased taxable income whereby we may not have sufficient cash to pay distributions or we may opt to retain such taxable income and pay a 4% excise tax. In such cases we could still rely upon the “spillback provisions” to maintain RIC tax treatment.

We anticipate that a portion of our income may constitute OID or other income required to be included in taxable income prior to receipt of cash. Further, we may elect to amortize market discounts with respect to debt securities acquired in the secondary market and include such amounts in our taxable income in the current year, instead of upon disposition, as an election not to do so would limit our ability to deduct interest expenses for tax purposes. Because any OID or other amounts accrued will be included in our investment company taxable income for the year of the accrual, we may be required to make a distribution to our shareholders in order to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement, even if we will not have received any corresponding cash amount. As a result, we may have difficulty meeting the Annual Distribution Requirement necessary to maintain RIC tax treatment under the Code. We may have to sell some of our investments at times and/or at prices we would not consider advantageous, raise additional debt or equity capital, make a partial share distribution, or forgo new investment opportunities for this purpose. If we are not able to obtain cash from other sources, and choose not to make a qualifying share distribution, we may fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment and thus become subject to corporate-level U.S. federal income tax.

If we are not treated as a “publicly offered regulated investment company,” as defined in the Code, certain U.S. shareholders will be treated as having received a dividend from us in the amount of such U.S. shareholders’ allocable share of the base management fee and incentive fees paid to our Adviser and some of our expenses, and these fees and expenses will be treated as miscellaneous itemized deductions of such U.S. shareholders.

A “publicly offered regulated investment company” is a RIC whose shares are either (i) continuously offered pursuant to a public offering within the meaning of Section 4 of the Securities Act, (ii) regularly traded on an established securities market or (iii) held by at least 500 persons at all times during the taxable year. While we anticipate that we will constitute a publicly offered RIC, there can be no assurance that we will in fact so qualify for any of our taxable years. If we are not treated as a publicly offered regulated investment company for any calendar year, each U.S. shareholder that is an individual, trust or estate will be treated as having received a dividend from us in the amount of such U.S. shareholder’s allocable share of the base management fee and incentive fees paid to our Adviser and certain of our other expenses for the calendar year, and these fees and expenses will be treated as miscellaneous itemized deductions of such U.S. shareholder. Individuals are not allowed to take miscellaneous itemized deductions for the 2018 through 2025 tax years, and such deductions are not deductible for purposes of the alternative minimum tax and are subject to the overall limitation on itemized deductions under the Code.

 

88

General Risk Factors

There is uncertainty surrounding potential legal, regulatory and policy changes by new presidential administrations in the United States that may directly affect financial institutions and the global economy.

As a result of the United States presidential election, which occurred on November 3, 2020, commencing January 2021, the Democratic Party gained control of the executive and legislative branches of government. Changes in federal policy, including tax policies, and at regulatory agencies occur over time through policy and personnel changes following elections, which lead to changes involving the level of oversight and focus on the financial services industry or the tax rates paid by corporate entities. The nature, timing and economic and political effects of potential changes to the current legal and regulatory framework affecting financial institutions remain highly uncertain. Uncertainty surrounding future changes may adversely affect our operating environment and therefore our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

We cannot predict how new tax legislation will affect us, our investments, or our stockholders, and any such legislation could adversely affect our business.

Legislative or other actions relating to taxes could have a negative effect on us. The rules dealing with U.S. federal income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department. The Biden Administration has proposed significant changes to the existing U.S. tax rules, and there are a number of proposals in Congress that would similarly modify the existing U.S. tax rules. The likelihood of any such legislation being enacted is uncertain, but new legislation and any U.S. Treasury regulations, administrative interpretations or court decisions interpreting such legislation could significantly and negatively affect our ability to qualify for tax treatment as a RIC or the U.S. federal income tax consequences to us and our investors of such qualification, or could have other adverse consequences. Investors are urged to consult with their tax advisor regarding tax legislative, regulatory, or administrative developments and proposals and their potential effect on an investment in our common stock.

Changes in laws or regulations governing our operations may adversely affect our business or cause us to alter our business strategy.

We and our portfolio companies will be subject to regulation at the local, state, and federal levels. Changes to the laws and regulations governing our permitted investments may require a change to our investment strategy. Such changes could differ materially from our strategies and plans as set forth in this prospectus and may shift our investment focus from the areas of expertise of our Adviser. Thus, any such changes, if they occur, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment in us.

Government intervention in the credit markets could adversely affect our business.

The central banks and, in particular, the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken unprecedented steps since the financial crises of 2008-2009 and the COVID-19 global pandemic. It is impossible to predict if, how, and to what extent the United States and other governments would further intervene in the credit markets. Such intervention is often prompted by politically sensitive issues involving family homes, student loans, real estate speculation, credit card receivables, pandemics, etc., and could, as a result, be contrary to what we would predict from an “economically rational” perspective.

Changes to United States tariff and import/export regulations may have a negative effect on our portfolio companies and, in turn, harm us.

As a result of the 2020 U.S. election, the Democratic Party currently controls the executive branch of government. Significant changes to U.S. trade policy may occur as a result of the administration change, including the United States re-entering, withdrawing from or renegotiate various trade agreements or other actions that would change current trade policies of the United States. We cannot predict which, if any, of these actions will be taken or, if taken, their effect on the financial stability of the United States. Such actions could have a significant adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

89

Our Bylaws include an exclusive forum selection provision, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other agents.

Our Bylaws require that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City (or, if that court does not have jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division) shall be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of any standard of conduct or legal duty owed by any of the Company’s director, officer or other agent to the Company or to its shareholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the MGCL or the Charter or the Bylaws (as either may be amended from time to time), or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This exclusive forum selection provision in our Bylaws will not apply to claims arising under the federal securities laws, including the Securities Act and the Exchange Act. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a provision, and investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. In addition, this provision may increase costs for shareholders in bringing a claim against us or our directors, officers or other agents. Any investor purchasing or otherwise acquiring our shares is deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing provision. The exclusive forum selection provision in our Bylaws may limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other agents, which may discourage lawsuits against us and such persons. It is also possible that, notwithstanding such exclusive forum selection provision, a court could rule that such provision is inapplicable or unenforceable. If this occurred, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in another forum, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may expend significant financial and other resources to comply with the requirements of being a public entity.

As we intend to be a public entity, we will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting, which are discussed below. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls, significant resources and management oversight are required. We have implemented procedures, processes, policies and practices for the purpose of addressing the standards and requirements applicable to public companies. These activities may divert management’s attention from other business concerns, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We expect to incur significant annual expenses related to these steps and, among other things, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, director fees, reporting requirements of the SEC, transfer agent fees, additional administrative expenses payable to the Administrator to compensate them for hiring accounting, legal and administrative personnel, increased auditing and legal fees and similar expenses.

The systems and resources necessary to comply with public company reporting requirements will increase further once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act. As long as we remain an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies, including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We expect to remain an emerging growth company for up to five years following the completion of our initial public offering of common equity securities or until the earliest of (i) the last day of the first fiscal year in which our annual gross revenues exceed $1.07 billion, (ii) December 31 of the fiscal year that we become a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act which would occur if the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700.0 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter and we have been publicly reporting for at least 12 months or (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the preceding three-year period.

 

90

We may experience fluctuations in our operating results.

We may experience fluctuations in our operating results due to a number of factors, including our ability or inability to make investments in companies that meet our investment criteria, interest rates and default rates on the debt investments we make, the level of our expenses, variations in and the timing of the recognition of realized gains or losses, unrealized appreciation or depreciation, the degree to which we encounter competition in our markets, and general economic conditions. These occurrences could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, the value of your investment in us and our ability to pay distributions to you and our other shareholders.

Internal and external cyber threats, as well as other disasters, could impair our ability to conduct business effectively.

The occurrence of a disaster, such as a cyber-attack against us or against a third-party that has access to our data or networks, a natural catastrophe, an industrial accident, failure of our disaster recovery systems, or consequential employee error, could have an adverse effect on our ability to communicate or conduct business, negatively impacting our operations and financial condition. This adverse effect can become particularly acute if those events affect our electronic data processing, transmission, storage, and retrieval systems, or impact the availability, integrity, or confidentiality of our data.

We depend heavily upon computer systems to perform necessary business functions. Despite our implementation of a variety of security measures, our computer systems, networks, and data, like those of other companies, could be subject to cyber-attacks and unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction, such as from physical and electronic break-ins or unauthorized tampering. If one or more of these events occurs, it could potentially jeopardize the confidential, proprietary, and other information processed, stored in, and transmitted through our computer systems and networks. Such an attack could cause interruptions or malfunctions in our operations, which could result in financial losses, litigation, regulatory penalties, client dissatisfaction or loss, reputational damage, and increased costs associated with mitigation of damages and remediation.

Third parties with which we do business may also be sources of cybersecurity or other technological risk. We outsource certain functions and these relationships allow for the storage and processing of our information, as well as client, counterparty, employee, and borrower information. While we engage in actions to reduce our exposure resulting from outsourcing, ongoing threats may result in unauthorized access, loss, exposure, destruction, or other cybersecurity incidents that adversely affects our data, resulting in increased costs and other consequences as described above.

The service providers we may use may be impacted by quarantines and similar measures being enacted by governments in response to COVID-19, which are obstructing the regular functioning of business workforces (including requiring employees to work from external locations and their homes). In response to the outbreak, our Adviser instituted a work from home policy until it is deemed safe to return to the office. Policies of extended periods of remote working, whether by us or our service providers, could strain technology resources, introduce operational risks and otherwise heighten the risks described above. Remote working environments may be less secure and more susceptible to hacking attacks, including phishing and social engineering attempts that seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the risks described above are heightened under current conditions.

Cybersecurity risks and cyber incidents may adversely affect our business or the business of our portfolio companies by causing a disruption to our operations or the operations of our portfolio companies, a compromise or corruption of our confidential information or the confidential information of our portfolio companies and/or damage to our business relationships or the business relationships of our portfolio companies, all of which could negatively impact the business, financial condition and operating results of us or our portfolio companies.

A cyber incident is considered to be any adverse event that threatens the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the information resources of us or our portfolio companies. These incidents may be an intentional

 

91

attack or an unintentional event and could involve gaining unauthorized access to our information systems or those of our portfolio companies for purposes of misappropriating assets, stealing confidential information, corrupting data or causing operational disruption. Despite careful security and controls design, the information technology systems of the portfolio companies in which we may invest and third-party vendors that we may use, may be subject to security breaches and cyber-attacks the result of which could include disrupted operations, misstated or unreliable financial data, liability for stolen assets or information, increased cybersecurity protection and insurance costs, litigation and damage to business relationships. As our and our portfolio companies’ and our third-party vendors’ reliance on technology has increased, so have the risks posed to our information systems, both internal and those provided by third-party service providers, and the information systems of our portfolio companies and third-party vendors. We have implemented processes, procedures and internal controls to help mitigate cybersecurity risks and cyber intrusions, but these measures, as well as our increased awareness of the nature and extent of a risk of a cyber-incident, do not guarantee that a cyber-incident will not occur and/or that our financial results, operations or confidential information will not be negatively impacted by such an incident. Further, the remote working conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have heightened our and our portfolio companies’ vulnerability to a cybersecurity risk or incident.

 

92

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

In addition to factors previously identified elsewhere in this prospectus, including the “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance:

 

•

an economic downturn could impair our portfolio companies’ ability to continue to operate, which could lead to the loss of some or all of our investments in such portfolio companies;

 

•

an economic downturn could disproportionately impact the companies that we intend to target for investment, potentially causing us to experience a decrease in investment opportunities and diminished demand for capital from these companies;

 

•

an economic downturn could also impact availability and pricing of our financing and our ability to access the debt capital markets;

 

•

a contraction of available credit and/or an inability to access the equity markets could impair our lending and investment activities;

 

•

the impact of the novel strain of coronavirus known as “COVID-19” and related changes in base interest rates and significant market volatility on our business, our portfolio companies, our industry and the global economy;

 

•

interest rate volatility, including the decommissioning of LIBOR, could adversely affect our results, particularly if we elect to use leverage as part of our investment strategy;

 

•

currency fluctuations could adversely affect the results of our investments in foreign companies, particularly to the extent that we receive payments denominated in foreign currency rather than U.S. dollars;

 

•

our future operating results;

 

•

our business prospects and the prospects of our portfolio companies including our and their ability to achieve our respective objectives as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic;

 

•

our contractual arrangements and relationships with third parties;

 

•

the ability of our portfolio companies to achieve their objectives;

 

•

competition with other entities and our affiliates for investment opportunities;

 

•

the speculative and illiquid nature of our investments;

 

•

the use of borrowed money to finance a portion of our investments as well as any estimates regarding potential use of leverage;

 

•

the adequacy of our financing sources and working capital;

 

•

the loss of key personnel;

 

•

the timing of cash flows, if any, from the operations of our portfolio companies;

 

•

the ability of our Adviser to locate suitable investments for us and to monitor and administer our investments;

 

•

the ability of our Adviser to attract and retain highly talented professionals;

 

•

our ability to qualify for and maintain our tax treatment as a RIC under the Code, and as a BDC;

 

•

the effect of legal, tax and regulatory changes including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act signed into law in December 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, signed into law in March 2021; and

 

93

•

other risks, uncertainties and other factors previously identified in the reports and other documents we have filed with the SEC.

This prospectus and any prospectus supplement, and other statements that we may make, may contain forward-looking statements with respect to future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “potential,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve” and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we assume no duty to and do not undertake to update forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements do not meet the safe harbor for forward-looking statements pursuant to Section 27A of the Securities Act or Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

ESTIMATED USE OF PROCEEDS

Based on prevailing conditions, after meeting our minimum offering requirement, we anticipate that we will invest the proceeds from each monthly subscription closing generally within 30 to 90 days. The precise timing will depend on the availability of investment opportunities that are consistent with our investment objective and strategies. Until we are able to find such investment opportunities, we intend to invest the net proceeds of this offering primarily in cash, cash-equivalents, U.S. government securities, money market funds and high-quality debt instruments maturing in one year or less from the time of investment. This is consistent with our status as a BDC and our intention to qualify annually as a RIC. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to pay our operating expenses, fund distributions to shareholders and for general corporate purposes. Any distributions we make during such period may be substantially lower than the distributions that we expect to pay when our portfolio is fully invested.

Under the terms of our Investment Advisory Agreement, upon satisfaction of the minimum offering requirement, our Adviser is entitled to receive up to 1.50% of gross proceeds raised in our continuous public offering until all organization and offering costs funded by our Adviser or its affiliates have been recovered. However, we estimate that we will incur approximately $20 million of offering expenses in connection with this offering, or approximately 0.40% of the gross proceeds, assuming maximum gross proceeds of $5 billion. Any reimbursements will not exceed actual expenses incurred by our Adviser and its affiliates.

The following table sets forth our estimate of how we intend to use the gross proceeds from this offering. The tables assume that 33% of our gross offering proceeds are from the sale of Class S shares, 33% of our gross offering proceeds are from the sale of Class D shares and 33% of our gross offering proceeds are from the sale of Class I shares. The number of shares of each class sold and the relative proportions in which the classes of shares are sold are uncertain and may differ significantly from what is shown in the tables below. Because amounts in this table are estimates, they may not accurately reflect the actual receipt or use of the offering proceeds.

We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering to make investments in accordance with our investment objectives, and to fund repurchases under our share repurchase plan.

 

94

The following table presents information regarding the use of proceeds raised in this offering with respect to Class S shares:

 

		Maximum Offering of $1,666,666,667 in Class S shares
		Amount				%
Gross Proceeds(1)		$	1,666,666,667				100	%
Less Offering Expenses:
Upfront Sales Load(2)			$—				0.0%
Organizational and Offering Expenses(3)			$6,666,667				0.40%
Net Proceeds/Amount Available for Investments(4)		$	1,660,000,000				99.60%

The following table presents information regarding the use of proceeds raised in this offering with respect to Class D shares:

 

		Maximum Offering of $1,666,666,667 in Class D shares
		Amount				%
Gross Proceeds(1)		$	1,666,666,667				100	%
Less Upfront Sales Load and Offering Expenses:
Upfront Sales Load(2)			$—				0.0%
Organizational and Offering Expenses(3)			$6,666,667				0.40%
Net Proceeds/Amount Available for Investments(4)		$	1,660,000,000				99.60%

The following table presents information regarding the use of proceeds raised in this offering with respect to Class I shares:

 

		Maximum Offering of $1,666,666,667 in Class I shares
		Amount				%
Gross Proceeds(1)		$	1,666,666,667				100	%
Less Upfront Sales Load and Offering Expenses:
Upfront Sales Load(2)			$—				0.0%
Organizational and Offering Expenses(3)			$6,666,667				0.40%
Net Proceeds/Amount Available for Investments(4)		$	1,660,000,000				99.60%

 

(1)	Gross offering proceeds do not include the Upfront Sales Load, if any, payable to a financial intermediary. We intend to file post-effective amendments to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part to allow us to continue this continuous public offering.

(2)

No Upfront Sales Loads be paid to the Company or Dealer Manager with respect to Class S shares, Class D shares or Class I shares, however, if subscribers purchase Class S shares or Class D shares through certain financial intermediaries, those financial intermediates may directly charge subscribers transaction or other fees, including upfront placement fees or brokerage commissions, in such amount as they may determine, provided that the selling agents limit such charges to 1.50% of the net offering price per share for each Class D share and 3.50% of the net offering price per share for each Class S share. Financial intermediaries will not charge such fees on Class I shares. We will also pay the following ongoing servicing fees to the dealer manager, subject to FINRA limitations on underwriting compensation: (a) for Class S shares only, an ongoing servicing fee equal to 0.85% per annum of the aggregate net asset value for the Class S shares and (b) for Class D shares only, an ongoing servicing fee equal to 0.25% per annum of the aggregate net asset value for the Class D shares, in each case, payable monthly. The total amount that will be paid over time for

 

95

ongoing servicing fees depends on the average length of time for which shares remain outstanding, the term over which such amount is measured and the performance of our investments, and is not expected to be paid from sources other than cash flow from operating activities. See “Plan of Distribution — Compensation Paid to the Dealer Manager and Participating Broker-Dealers — Upfront Sales Load” and “— Ongoing Servicing Fees.”

(3)

The organization and offering expense numbers shown above represent our estimates of expenses to be incurred by us in connection with this offering and include estimated wholesaling expenses reimbursable by us. See “Plan of Distribution” for examples of the types of organization and offering expenses we may incur.

(4)

A percentage of net assets attributable to shares of common stock will be used for the payment of the base management fee, incentive fees, interest payments on borrowed funds, acquired funds fees and expenses, and other expenses (including general and administrative expenses), which may result in a deduction of 5.95%, 5.35%, and 5.10% for total net annual expenses of Class S shares, Class D shares, and Class I shares, respectively. See “Fees and Expenses.” The ongoing servicing fees are similar to sales commissions in that the servicing expenses borne by the Dealer Manager, its affiliates, participating broker-dealers and financial representatives may be different from and substantially less than the amount of ongoing servicing fees charged.

 

96

DISCUSSION OF EXPECTED OPERATING PLANS

The information in this section contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Please see “Risk Factors” and “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” for a discussion of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these statements. You should read the following discussion in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes and other financial information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

Overview

Owl Rock Technology Income Corp. is a Maryland corporation formed on June 22, 2021. We were formed primarily to originate and make debt and equity investments in technology-related companies based primarily in the United States. Although we may invest in companies domiciled outside of the United States, we generally do not intend to invest in companies that have principal places of business in emerging markets. We intend to originate and invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans, and equity-related securities including publicly-traded debt instruments, common equity, warrants, preferred stock and similar forms of senior equity, which may or may not be convertible into a portfolio company’s common equity. Our investment objective is to maximize total return by generating current income from our debt investments and other income producing securities, and capital appreciation from our equity and equity-linked investments.

We are advised by Owl Rock Technology Advisors LLC (our “Adviser”). Our Adviser is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”), an indirect subsidiary of Blue Owl Capital, Inc. (“Blue Owl”) (NYSE:OWL) and part of Owl Rock, a division of Blue Owl focused on direct lending. Subject to the overall supervision of our board of directors, the Adviser will manage our day-to-day operations, and will provide investment advisory and management services to us. The Adviser or its affiliates may engage in certain origination activities and receive attendant arrangement, structuring or similar fees. The Adviser will be responsible for managing our business and activities, including sourcing investment opportunities, conducting research, performing diligence on potential investments, structuring our investments, and monitoring our portfolio companies on an ongoing basis through a team of investment professionals. The board of directors consists of seven directors, five of whom are independent.

Blue Owl consists of two divisions: Owl Rock, which focuses on direct lending and Dyal, which focuses on providing capital to institutional alternative asset managers. Owl Rock is comprised of the Adviser, Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC (“ORCA”), Owl Rock Diversified Advisors LLC (“ORDA”) and Owl Rock Capital Private Fund Advisors LLC (“ORPFA,” and together with the Adviser, ORCA and ORDA, the “Owl Rock Advisers”), which are also investment advisers.

We may be prohibited under the 1940 Act from participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our directors who are not interested persons and, in some cases, the prior approval of the SEC. We intend to rely on exemptive relief, that has been granted by the SEC to ORCA and certain of its affiliates, to permit us to co-invest with other funds managed by the Adviser or certain of its affiliates in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. Pursuant to such exemptive relief, we generally are permitted to co-invest with certain of our affiliates if a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of our independent directors make certain conclusions in connection with a co-investment transaction, including that (1) the terms of the transactions, including the consideration to be paid, are reasonable and fair to us and our shareholders and do not involve overreaching by us or our shareholders on the part of any person concerned, (2) the transaction is consistent with the interests of our shareholders and is consistent with our investment objective and strategies, (3) the investment by our affiliates would not disadvantage us, and our participation would not be on a basis different from or less advantageous than that on which our affiliates are investing, and (4) the proposed investment by us would not benefit our Adviser or its affiliates or any affiliated person of any of them (other than the parties to the transaction), except to the extent permitted by the exemptive relief and applicable law, including the limitations set forth in Section 57(k) of the 1940 Act. In addition, pursuant to an exemptive order issued by the SEC on April 8, 2020 and applicable to all BDCs, through December 31, 2020, the

 

97

Company was permitted, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, to participate in follow-on investments in its existing portfolio companies with certain private funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates and covered by the Company’s exemptive relief, even if such private funds have not previously invested in such existing portfolio company. Without this order, private funds would generally not be able to participate in such follow-on investments with the Company unless the private funds had previously acquired securities of the portfolio company in a co-investment transaction with the Company. Although the conditional exemptive order has expired, the SEC’s Division of Investment Management has indicated that until March 31, 2022, it will not recommend enforcement action, to the extent that any BDC with an existing co-investment order continues to engage in certain transactions described in the conditional exemptive order, pursuant to the same terms and conditions described therein. The Owl Rock Advisers’ investment allocation policy seeks to ensure equitable allocation of investment opportunities between us and/or other funds managed by our Adviser or its affiliates. As a result of the exemptive relief, there could be significant overlap in our investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of other funds managed by Owl Rock, that could avail themselves of the exemptive relief and that have an investment objective similar to ours.

We have elected to be regulated as a BDC under the 1940 Act and intend to elect to be treated as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for tax purposes under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). As a result, we are required to comply with various statutory and regulatory requirements, such as:

 

•

the requirement to invest at least 70% of our assets in “qualifying assets,” as such term is defined in the 1940 Act;

 

•

source of income limitations;

 

•

asset diversification requirements; and

 

•

the requirement to distribute (or be treated as distributing) in each taxable year at least 90% of our investment company taxable income and tax-exempt interest for that taxable year.

We intend to adopt a policy to invest, under normal circumstances at least 80% of the value of our total assets in “technology-related” businesses (as defined below).

Emerging Growth Company Status

We qualify as an emerging growth company, as that term is used in the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other burdens that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include an exemption from the auditor attestation requirement in the assessment of the emerging growth company’s internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for so long as we qualify as an emerging growth company. Specifically, under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies are not required to (1) provide an auditor’s attestation report on management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (2) comply with new requirements adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, (3) comply with new audit rules adopted by the PCAOB after April 5, 2012 (unless the SEC determines otherwise), (4) provide certain financial statements and disclosures relating to executive compensation generally required for larger public companies or (5) hold shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation.

In addition, Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act and Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act, as amended by Section 102(b) of the JOBS Act provide that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. We intend to take advantage of such extended transition periods.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (a) up to five years measured from the date of the first sale of common equity securities pursuant to an effective registration statement, (b) the last day

 

98

of the first fiscal year in which our annual gross revenues are $1.07 billion or more, (c) the date that we become a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter, or (d) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt during the preceding three-year period.

Revenues

We plan to generate revenue in the form of interest income on debt investments, capital gains, and dividend income from our equity investments in our portfolio companies. Our senior and subordinated debt investments are expected to bear interest at a fixed or floating rate. Interest on debt securities is generally payable quarterly or semiannually. In some cases, some of our investments may provide for deferred interest payments or PIK interest. The principal amount of the debt securities and any accrued but unpaid PIK interest generally will become due at the maturity date. In addition, we may generate revenue in the form of commitment and other fees in connection with transactions. OID and market discounts or premiums will be capitalized, and we will accrete or amortize such amounts as interest income. We will record prepayment premiums on loans and debt securities as interest income. Dividend income, if any, will be recognized on an accrual basis to the extent that we expect to collect such amounts.

Expenses

Except as specifically provided below, our Adviser shall be solely responsible for the compensation of its investment professionals and employees and all overhead expenses of our Adviser (including rent, office equipment and utilities). We expect our primary annual operating expenses to be the payment of advisory fees and the reimbursement of expenses under the Investment Advisory Agreement with our Adviser and the Administration Agreement with our Adviser. We will bear other expenses, which are expected to include, among other things:

 

•

expenses demand to be “organization and offering expenses” for purposes of Conduct Rule 2310(a)(12) of FINRA (exclusive of commissions, any discounts and other similar expenses paid by investors at the time of sale of our stock);

 

•

the cost of corporate and organizational expenses relating to offerings of shares of our Common Stock;

 

•

the cost of calculating our net asset value, including the cost of any third-party valuation services;

 

•

the cost of effecting any sales and repurchases of the common stock and other securities;

 

•

fees and expenses payable under any dealer manager agreements, if any;

 

•

debt service and other costs of borrowings or other financing arrangements;

 

•

costs of hedging;

 

•

expenses, including travel expense, incurred by the Administrator, or members of the investment team, or payable to third parties, performing due diligence on prospective portfolio companies and, if necessary, enforcing our rights;

 

•

escrow agent, transfer agent and custodial fees and expenses;

 

•

fees and expenses associated with marketing efforts;

 

•

federal and state registration fees and fees payable to rating agencies;

 

•

federal, state and local taxes;

 

•

independent directors’ fees and expenses, including certain travel expenses;

 

•

costs of preparing financial statements and maintaining books and records and filing reports or other documents with the SEC (or other regulatory bodies) and other reporting and compliance costs, including

 

99

registration fees, licenses, and the compensation of professionals responsible for the preparation of the foregoing;

 

•

the costs of any reports, proxy statements or other notices to shareholders (including printing and mailing costs);

 

•

the costs of any shareholder or director meetings and the compensation of personnel responsible for the preparation of the foregoing and related matters;

 

•

commissions and other compensation payable to brokers or dealers;

 

•

research and market data;

 

•

fidelity bond, directors and officers errors and omissions liability insurance and other insurance premiums;

 

•

direct costs and expenses of administration, including printing, mailing, long distance telephone and staff;

 

•

fees and expenses associated with independent audits, outside legal and consulting costs;

 

•

costs of winding up;

 

•

costs incurred in connection with the formation or maintenance of entities or vehicles to hold our assets for tax or other purposes;

 

•

extraordinary expenses (such as litigation or indemnification); and

 

•

costs associated with reporting and compliance obligations under the Advisers Act and applicable federal and state securities laws.

Expense Support and Conditional Reimbursement Agreement

We have entered into the Expense Support Agreement with our Adviser, the purpose of which is to ensure that no portion of our distributions to shareholders will represent a return of capital for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The Expense Support Agreement will become effective as of the date that we meet the minimum offering requirement.

On a quarterly basis, our Adviser shall reimburse us for “Operating Expenses” (as defined below) in an amount equal to the excess of our cumulative distributions paid to our shareholders in each quarter over “Available Operating Funds” (as defined below) received by us on account of our investment portfolio during such quarter. Any payments required to be made by our Adviser pursuant to the preceding sentence are referred to herein as an “Expense Payment”.

Pursuant to the Expense Support Agreement, “Operating Expenses” means all of our operating costs and expenses incurred, as determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for investment companies. “Available Operating Funds” means the sum of (i) our estimated investment company taxable income (including realized net short-term capital gains reduced by realized net long-term capital losses), (ii) our realized net capital gains (including the excess of realized net long-term capital gains over realized net short-term capital losses) and (iii) dividends and other distributions paid to us on account of preferred and common equity investments in portfolio companies, if any (to the extent such amounts listed in clause (iii) are not included under clauses (i) and (ii) above).

The Adviser’s obligation to make an Expense Payment shall automatically become a liability of our Adviser and the right to such Expense Payment will be an asset of ours on the last business day of the applicable quarter. The Expense Payment for any quarter will be paid by our Adviser to us in any combination of cash or other immediately available funds, and/or offset against amounts due from us to our Adviser no later than the earlier of (i) the date on which we close our books for such quarter, or (ii) forty-five days after the end of such quarter.

 

100

Following any quarter in which Available Operating Funds exceed the cumulative distributions paid by us in respect of such quarter (the amount of such excess being hereinafter referred to as “Excess Operating Funds”), we will pay such Excess Operating Funds, or a portion thereof, in accordance with the stipulations below, as applicable, to our Adviser, until such time as all Expense Payments made by our Adviser to us within three years prior to the last business day of such quarter have been reimbursed. Any payments required to be made by us are referred to as a “Reimbursement Payment”.

The amount of the Reimbursement Payment for any quarter shall equal the lesser of (i) the Excess Operating Funds in respect of such quarter and (ii) the aggregate amount of all Expense Payments made by our Adviser to us within three years prior to the last business day of such quarter that have not been previously reimbursed by us to our Adviser. The payment will be reduced to the extent that such Reimbursement Payments, together with all other Reimbursement Payments paid during the fiscal year, would cause Other Operating Expenses defined as our total Operating Expenses, excluding base management fees, incentive fees, organization and offering expenses, distribution and shareholder servicing fees, financing fees and costs, interest expense, brokerage commissions and extraordinary expenses on an annualized basis and net of any Expense Payments received by us during the fiscal year to exceed the lesser of: (i) 1.75% of our average net assets attributable to the shares of our common stock for the fiscal year-to-date period after taking such Expense Payments into account; and (ii) the percentage of our average net assets attributable to shares of our common stock represented by Other Operating Expenses during the fiscal year in which such Expense Payment was made (provided, however, that this clause (ii) shall not apply to any Reimbursement Payment which relates to an Expense Payment made during the same fiscal year).

No Reimbursement Payment for any quarter will be made if: (1) the “Effective Rate of Distributions Per Share” (as defined below) declared by us at the time of such Reimbursement Payment is less than the Effective Rate of Distributions Per Share at the time the Expense Payment was made to which such Reimbursement Payment relates, or (2) our “Operating Expense Ratio” (as defined below) at the time of such Reimbursement Payment is greater than the Operating Expense Ratio at the time the Expense Payment was made to which such Reimbursement Payment relates. Pursuant to the Expense Support Agreement, “Effective Rate of Distributions Per Share” means the annualized rate (based on a 365 day year) of regular cash distributions per share exclusive of returns of capital, distribution rate reductions due to distribution and shareholder fees, and declared special dividends or special distributions, if any. The “Operating Expense Ratio” is calculated by dividing Operating Expenses, less organizational and offering expenses, base management and incentive fees owed to Adviser, and interest expense, by our net assets.

The specific amount of expenses reimbursed by our Adviser, if any, will be determined at the end of each quarter. We or our Adviser will be able to terminate the Expense Support Agreement at any time, with or without notice. The Expense Support Agreement will automatically terminate in the event of (a) the termination of the Investment Advisory Agreement, or (b) a determination by our board of directors to dissolve or liquidate the Company. Upon termination of the Expense Support Agreement, we will be required to fund any Expense Payments that have not been reimbursed by us to our Adviser.

Reimbursement of Administrative Services

We will reimburse our Adviser for the administrative expenses necessary for its performance of services to us. However, such reimbursement will be made at an amount equal to the lower of our Adviser’s actual costs or the amount that we would be required to pay for comparable administrative services in the same geographic location. Also, such costs will be reasonably allocated to us on the basis of assets, revenues, time records or other reasonable methods. We will not reimburse our Adviser for any services for which it receives a separate fee, or for rent, depreciation, utilities, capital equipment or other administrative items allocated to a controlling person of our Adviser.

 

101

Financial Condition, Liquidity and Capital Resources

We will generate cash primarily from the net proceeds of this offering and from cash flows from interest, dividends and fees earned from our investments and principal repayments and proceeds from sales of our investments. Our primary use of cash will be making investments in portfolio companies, payments of our expenses and cash distributions to our shareholders. Immediately after we meet our minimum offering requirement, gross subscription funds will total at least $100,000,000 million, which will be available to us immediately upon commencing operations. Once our minimum offering requirement has been met, we intend to sell our shares on a continuous basis at a per share price equal to the then-current net offering price of the relevant class.

We will modify our public offering price to the extent necessary to comply with the requirements of the 1940 Act, including the requirement that we not sell our shares at a net offering price below our net asset value per share unless we obtain the requisite approval from our shareholders. Promptly following any adjustment to the offering price per share, we will file a prospectus supplement with the SEC disclosing the adjusted offering price, and we will also post the updated information on our website at http://www.owlrockbdcs.com.

We may borrow funds to make investments, including before we have fully invested the proceeds of this offering, to the extent we determine that leveraging our portfolio would be appropriate.

On October 4, 2021, the Board authorized the Company, as borrower, to enter into the Promissory Note with Feeder FIC, an affiliate of the Adviser, as lender, to borrow up to an aggregate of $100 million from Feeder FIC. The Company may re-borrow any amount repaid; however, there is no funding commitment between Feeder FIC and the Company.

The interest rate on amounts borrowed pursuant to the Promissory Note may be based on the lesser of the rate of interest for an ABR Loan or a Eurodollar Loan under the Credit Agreement dated as of April 15, 2021, as amended or supplemented from time to time, by and among Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC, an affiliate of the Adviser, as borrower, the several lenders from time to time party thereto, MUFG Union Bank, N.A., as Collateral Agent and MUFG Bank, Ltd., as Administrative Agent.

On October 6, 2021, the Company as borrower, entered into the FIC Agreement with Feeder FIC, an affiliate of the Company’s investment adviser, as lender, to enter into the Promissory Note to borrow up to an aggregate of $100 million from Feeder FIC. The Company may re-borrow any amount repaid; however, there is no funding commitment between Feeder FIC and the Company.

We currently do not anticipate issuing any preferred stock.

The NASAA, in its Omnibus Guidelines Statement of Policy adopted on March 29, 1992 and as amended on May 7, 2007 and from time to time, requires that our affiliates and Adviser, or our Sponsor under the Omnibus Guidelines, have an aggregate financial net worth, exclusive of home, automobiles and home furnishings, of 5.0% of the first $20 million of both the gross amount of securities currently being offered in this offering and the gross amount of any originally issued direct participation program securities sold by our affiliates and sponsors within the past 12 months, plus 1.0% of all amounts in excess of the first $20 million. Based on these requirements, our Adviser and its affiliates, while not liable directly or indirectly for any indebtedness we may incur, have an aggregate financial net worth in excess of those amounts required by the Omnibus Guidelines Statement of Policy.

We will retain a reasonable percentage of the proceeds of this offering and our revenues in order to provide adequate reserves for normal replacements and contingencies, in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP.

 

102

Critical Accounting Policies

This discussion of our expected operating plans is based upon our expected financial statements, which will be prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements will require our management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Changes in the economic environment, financial markets and any other parameters used in determining such estimates could cause actual results to differ. In addition to the discussion below, we will describe our critical accounting policies in the notes to our future financial statements.

Valuation of Investments

We will measure the value of our investments in accordance with fair value accounting guidance promulgated under GAAP, which establishes a hierarchical disclosure framework that prioritizes and ranks the level of market price observability used in measuring investments at fair value. Market price observability is affected by a number of factors, including the type of investment and the characteristics specific to the investment. Investments with readily available actively quoted prices or for which fair value can be measured from actively quoted prices, generally, will have a higher degree of market price observability and a lesser degree of judgment used in measuring fair value.

Investments measured and reported at fair value will be classified and disclosed in one of the following categories:

 

•

Level 1 — Quoted prices are available in active markets for identical investments as of the reporting date. Publicly listed equities and publicly listed derivatives will be included in Level 1. In addition, securities sold, but not yet purchased and call options will be included in Level 1. We will not adjust the quoted price for these investments, even in situations where we hold a large position and a sale could reasonably affect the quoted price.

 

•

Level 2 — Pricing inputs are other than quoted prices in active markets, which are either directly or indirectly observable as of the reporting date, and fair value is determined through the use of models or other valuation methodologies. In certain cases, debt and equity securities are valued on the basis of prices from an orderly transaction between market participants provided by reputable dealers or pricing services. In determining the value of a particular investment, pricing services may use certain information with respect to transactions in such investments, quotations from dealers, pricing matrices, market transactions in comparable investments, and various relationships between investments. Investments which are generally expected to be included in this category include corporate bonds and loans, convertible debt indexed to publicly listed securities, and certain over-the-counter derivatives.

 

•

Level 3 — Pricing inputs are unobservable for the investment and include situations where there is little, if any, market activity for the investment. The inputs into the determination of fair value require significant judgment or estimation. Investments that are expected to be included in this category are our private portfolio companies.

In certain cases, the inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In such cases, an investment’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Our assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires judgment, and we consider factors specific to the investment.

Revenue Recognition

We record interest income on an accrual basis to the extent that we expect to collect such amounts. For loans and debt securities with contractual PIK interest, which represents contractual interest accrued and added to the principal balance, we generally will not accrue PIK interest for accounting purposes if the portfolio company

 

103

valuation indicates that such PIK interest is not collectible. We do not accrue as a receivable interest on loans and debt securities for accounting purposes if we have reason to doubt our ability to collect such interest. OID, market discounts or premiums are accreted or amortized using the effective interest method as interest income. We record prepayment premiums on loans and debt securities as interest income. Dividend income, if any, is recognized on an accrual basis to the extent that we expect to collect such amount.

Net Realized Gains or Losses and Net Change in Unrealized Appreciation or Depreciation

We will measure net realized gains or losses by the difference between the net proceeds from the repayment or sale and the amortized cost basis of the investment, without regard to unrealized appreciation or depreciation previously recognized, but considering unamortized upfront fees and prepayment penalties. Net change in unrealized appreciation or depreciation will reflect the change in portfolio investment values during the reporting period, including any reversal of previously recorded unrealized appreciation or depreciation, when gains or losses are realized.

Payment-in-Kind Interest

We may have investments in our portfolio that contain a PIK interest provision. Any PIK interest will be added to the principal balance of such investments and is recorded as income, if the portfolio company valuation indicates that such PIK interest is collectible. In order to maintain our status as a RIC, substantially all of this income must be paid out to shareholders in the form of dividends, even if we have not collected any cash.

Organization and Offering Expenses

Costs associated with the organization of the Company will be expensed as incurred. Costs associated with the continuous offering will be capitalized on our balance sheet as deferred offering expenses and amortized over a twelve-month period from incurrence.

Federal Income Taxes

We intend to elect to be treated for federal income tax purposes, and intend to qualify annually thereafter, as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code. As a RIC, we generally will not have to pay corporate-level federal income taxes on any ordinary income or capital gains that we distribute to our shareholders from our tax earnings and profits. To obtain and maintain our RIC tax treatment, we must, among other things, meet specified source-of-income and asset diversification requirements and distribute annually at least 90% of our ordinary income and realized net short-term capital gains in excess of realized net long-term capital losses, if any. See “Tax Matters.”

Contractual Obligations

We have entered into certain contracts under which we have material future commitments. On October 1, 2021 we entered into the Investment Advisory Agreement with our Adviser in accordance with the 1940 Act. The Investment Advisory Agreement is effective as of the date that we meet the minimum offering requirement. The Adviser will serve as our investment adviser in accordance with the terms of our Investment Advisory Agreement. Payments under our Investment Advisory Agreement in each reporting period will consist of (i) a base management fee equal to a percentage of the value of our net assets, and (ii) an incentive fee based on our performance.

On October 1, 2021, we entered into the Administration Agreement with our Adviser pursuant to which our Adviser furnishes us with administrative services necessary to conduct our day-to-day operations our Adviser will be reimbursed for administrative expenses it incurs on our behalf in performing its obligations. Such costs will be reasonably allocated to us on the basis of assets, revenues, time records or other reasonable methods. We

 

104

will not reimburse our Adviser for any services for which it receives a separate fee or for rent, depreciation, utilities, capital equipment or other administrative items allocated to a controlling person of our Adviser.

If any of our contractual obligations discussed above are terminated, our costs may increase under any new agreements that we enter into as replacements. We would also likely incur expenses in locating alternative parties to provide the services we expect to receive under our Investment Advisory Agreement and Administration Agreement. Any new investment advisory agreement would also be subject to approval by our shareholders. See “Management and Other Agreements and Fees.”

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

Other than contractual commitments and other legal contingencies incurred in the normal course of our business, we do not expect to have any off-balance sheet financings or liabilities.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

We expect to be subject to financial market risks, including valuation risk and interest rate risk.

Valuation Risk

We intend to primarily in illiquid debt and equity securities of private companies. Most of our investments will not have a readily available market price, and therefore, we will value these investments at fair value as determined in good faith by our board of directors, based on, among other things, the input of our Adviser, our Audit Committee and independent third-party valuation firm(s) engaged at the direction of the board of directors, and in accordance with our valuation policy. There is no single standard for determining fair value. As a result, determining fair value requires that judgment be applied to the specific facts and circumstances of each portfolio investment while employing a consistently applied valuation process for the types of investments we make. If we were required to liquidate a portfolio investment in a forced or liquidation sale, we may realize amounts that are different from the amounts presented and such differences could be material.

Interest Rate Risk

Interest rate sensitivity refers to the change in earnings that may result from changes in the level of interest rates. We intend to fund portions of our investments with borrowings, and at such time, our net investment income will be affected by the difference between the rate at which we invest and the rate at which we borrow. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that a significant change in market interest rates will not have a material adverse effect on our net investment income.

 

105

BUSINESS

Owl Rock Technology Income Corp.

We are a Maryland corporation formed on June 22, 2021. We intend to focus primarily on originating and making debt and equity investments in technology-related companies based primarily in the United States. Although we may invest in companies domiciled outside of the United States, we generally do not intend to invest in companies that have principal places of business in emerging markets. We intend to originate and invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans, and equity-related securities including publicly-traded debt instruments, common equity, warrants, preferred stock and similar forms of senior equity, which may or may not be convertible into a portfolio company’s common equity. Our investment objective is to maximize total return by generating current income from our debt investments and other income producing securities, and capital appreciation from our equity and equity-linked investments.

We intend to invest in a broad range of established and high growth technology companies that capitalize on the large and growing demand for technology products and services. These companies use technology extensively to improve business processes, applications and opportunities or seek to grow through technological developments and innovations. These companies operate in technology-related industries or sectors which include, but are not limited to, application software, systems software, healthcare information technology, technology services and infrastructure, financial technology and internet and digital media. Within each industry or sector, we intend to invest in companies that develop or offer goods and services to businesses and consumers which utilize scientific knowledge, including techniques, skills, methods, devices and processes, to solve problems. We refer to all of these companies as “technology-related” companies and intend, under normal circumstances, to invest at least 80% of the value of its total assets in such businesses.

We are advised by the Adviser pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement. We expect to leverage Owl Rock’s relationships and existing origination capabilities to focus our investments in companies with an enterprise value of at least $50 million and that are backed by venture capital firms or private equity firms that are active investors in and have an expertise in technology companies and technology-related industries. We expect that our target investments typically will range in size between $20 million and $500 million. Our expected portfolio composition will be majority debt or income producing securities, with a lesser allocation to equity-related opportunities. We anticipate that generally any equity-related securities we hold will be minority positions. We expect that our investment size will vary with the size of our capital base and we anticipate that our average investment size will be 1 – 2% of our entire portfolio with no investment size greater than 5%.

We expect that generally our portfolio composition will be majority debt or income producing securities, which may include “covenant-lite” loans (as defined below), with a lesser allocation to equity-related opportunities. To a lesser extent, we may make investments in syndicated loan opportunities, including publicly traded debt instruments, for cash management purposes. In addition, our portfolio composition may fluctuate from time to time based on market conditions and interest rates.

We intend to classify our debt investments as “traditional financing” or “growth capital” based on a number of factors. Traditional financing typically means a senior secured loan provided to a portfolio company that is owned by a private-equity firm, has a mature business model, and is underwritten primarily on the basis of a multiple of EBITDA, cash flow, or recurring revenue. Growth capital typically means an investment in an established, but rapidly growing business that is owned by, or received an equity investment from, one or more growth equity or venture capital firms, and is underwritten on the basis of something other than a multiple of EBITDA (for example, a multiple of recurring revenue).

We are a newly organized, externally managed closed-end management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a BDC under the 1940 Act. We also intend to elect to be treated for federal income tax purposes, and intend to qualify annually thereafter, as a RIC under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as

 

106

amended (the “Code”). As a BDC and a RIC, we are required to comply with certain regulatory requirements. As a BDC, at least 70% of our assets must be assets of the type listed in Section 55(a) of the 1940 Act, as described herein. See “Regulation” and “Tax Matters”.

We generally intend to distribute, out of assets legally available for distribution, substantially all of our available earnings, on a monthly basis, as determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion.

The Adviser is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act. Subject to the overall supervision of our board of directors, our Adviser manages our day-to-day operations and provides investment advisory and management services to us.

To achieve our investment objective, we intend to leverage Blue Owl’s extensive network of relationships with other sophisticated institutions to source, evaluate and, as appropriate, partner with on transactions. There are no assurances that we will achieve our investment objective.

We also have entered into the Administration Agreement with our Adviser. Under the Administration Agreement, we have agreed to reimburse our Adviser for our allocable portion (subject to the review and approval of our independent directors) of overhead and other expenses incurred by our Adviser in performing its obligations under the Administration Agreement.

With certain limited exceptions, BDCs are only allowed to borrow amounts such that our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, equals at least 200% after such borrowing. Additionally, certain provisions of the 1940 Act allow a BDC to increase the maximum amount of leverage it may incur from an asset coverage ratio of 200% to an asset coverage ratio of 150% if certain requirements are met. This means that generally, a BDC can borrow up to $1 for every $1 of investor equity or, if certain requirements are met and it reduces its asset coverage ratio, it can borrow up to $2 for every $1 of investor equity. Because our Adviser, as our sole initial shareholder, has approved this proposal, the reduced asset coverage ratio currently applies to us. For additional information about the asset coverage requirements, see “Regulation — Senior Securities.”

We may borrow money when the terms and conditions available are favorable to do so and are aligned with our investment strategy and portfolio composition. The use of borrowed funds or the proceeds from issuing our preferred stock to make investments would have its own specific benefits and risks, and all of the costs of borrowing funds or issuing preferred stock would be borne by holders of our common stock.

We intend to elect to be treated for tax purposes as a RIC under the Code. To qualify as a RIC, we must, among other things, meet certain source-of-income and assets diversification requirements. Pursuant to these elections, we generally will not have to pay corporate-level taxes on any income we distribute to our shareholders.

We intend to offer shares of Class S, Class D and Class I common stock through this offering. Each class of common stock shall represent an investment in the same pool of assets and shall have the same preferences, conversion and other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends, qualifications and terms and conditions of redemption as each other class of common stock except for such differences as are clearly and expressly set forth in our charter and as described in “Share Class Specifications.” Our distributions, which shall be made pro rata among the shareholders of shares of a specific class, may be paid to the holders of our Class S, Class D and Class I common stock at the same time and in different per share amounts. Our distributions will be determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion. Our common stock is non-assessable, meaning that our common shareholders do not have liability for calls or assessments, nor are there any preemptive rights in favor of existing shareholders. Our distributions will be determined by our board of directors in their sole discretion.

We do not intend to complete a liquidity event within any specific time period, if at all. Because we do not have any specific timing for a liquidity event, an investment in our shares of common stock should be considered

 

107

to be a long-term investment, and will not be suitable for investors that require short-term liquidity with respect to an investment in our common stock. See “Perpetual-Life BDC.”

Our Adviser

Under the terms of our Investment Advisory Agreement, our Adviser will oversee the management of our activities and is responsible for managing our business and activities, including sourcing investment opportunities, conducting research, performing diligence on potential investments, structuring our investments, and monitoring our portfolio companies on an ongoing basis through a team of investment professionals. The Adviser or its affiliates may engage in certain organizational activities and receive attendant arrangement, structuring or similar fees.

Our Adviser is a Delaware limited liability company that has registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act. Our Adviser is an indirect subsidiary of Blue Owl and part of Owl Rock, a division of Blue Owl focused on direct lending. Blue Owl is a publicly traded alternative asset management firm that offers differentiated capital solutions through Owl Rock, its direct lending business, and Dyal, its GP Capital Solutions business, which focuses on providing capital solutions to alternative investment managers. Blue Owl was formed through the merger of Owl Rock Capital Group, LLC and Dyal.

Blue Owl consists of two divisions: Owl Rock, which focuses on direct lending and Dyal, which focuses on providing capital to institutional alternative asset managers. Owl Rock is comprised of the Adviser, ORCA, ORDA and ORPFA and is led by its three co-founders, Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz, and Craig W. Packer. The Adviser’s investment team is also led by Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz, and Craig W. Packer, and is supported by certain members of our Adviser’s senior executive team and the investment committee. The Adviser’s Investment Committee is comprised of Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz, Craig W. Packer, Alexis Maged, Erik Bissonnette, Pravin Vazirani and, as of September 1, 2021, Jon ten Oever. We will consider the members of our Adviser’s Investment Committee to be our portfolio managers. See “Portfolio Management.” All investment decisions require the approval of a majority of the Investment Committee. Subject to the overall supervision of our board of directors, our Adviser manages our day-to-day operations, and provides investment advisory and management services to us.

As of June 30, 2021, the Owl Rock Advisers managed $31.2 billion in AUM. The Owl Rock Advisers focus on direct lending to middle market companies primarily in the United States under the following four investment strategies:

 

Strategy		Funds		Assets Under Management
Diversified Lending. The Owl Rock Advisers primarily originate and make loans to, and make debt and equity investments in, U.S. middle market companies. The Owl Rock Advisers invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans and, to a lesser extent, equity and equity-related securities including warrants, preferred stock and similar forms of senior equity, which may or may not be convertible into a portfolio company’s common equity. The investment objective of the funds with this investment		The diversified lending strategy is currently managed through four BDCs and a separately managed account: Owl Rock Capital Corporation, Owl Rock Capital Corporation II, Owl Rock Capital Corporation III and Owl Rock Core Income Corp. and the Diversified Lending Managed Account.		As of June 30, 2021, Owl Rock has $19.8 billion of assets under management across these products.

 

108

Strategy		Funds		Assets Under Management
strategy is to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns.
Technology Lending. The Owl Rock Advisers are focused primarily on originating and making debt and equity investments in technology-related companies based primarily in the United States. The Owl Rock Advisers originate and invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans, and equity-related securities including common equity, warrants, preferred stock and similar forms of senior equity, which may or may not be convertible into a portfolio company’s common equity. The investment objective of the funds with this investment strategy is to maximize total return by generating current income from debt investments and other income producing securities, and capital appreciation from our equity-related investments.		The technology lending strategy is managed through Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. and the Company.		As of June 30, 2021, Owl Rock has $6.2 billion of assets under management across these products.
First Lien Lending. The Owl Rock Advisers seek to realize significant current income with an emphasis on preservation of capital primarily through originating primary transactions in and, to a lesser extent, secondary transactions of first lien senior secured loans in or related to middle market businesses based primarily in the United States.		The first lien lending strategy is managed through a private fund and separately managed accounts (the “First Lien Funds”).		As of June 30, 2021, the Owl Rock Advisers have $3.2 billion of assets under management across these products.
Opportunistic Lending. The Owl Rock Advisers intend to make opportunistic investments in U.S. middle-market companies by providing a variety of approaches to financing, including but not limited to originating and/or investing in secured debt, unsecured debt, mezzanine debt, other subordinated debt, interests senior to common equity, as well as equity securities (or rights to acquire equity securities) which may or may not be acquired in connection with a debt financing transaction, and doing any		The opportunistic lending strategy is managed through a private fund and separately managed accounts (the “Opportunistic Lending Funds” and together with the First Lien Funds and the Diversified Lending Managed Account, the “Owl Rock Private Funds”).		As of June 30, 2021, the Owl Rock Advisers have $1.9 billion of assets under management across these products.

 

109

Strategy		Funds		Assets Under Management
and all things necessary, convenient or incidental thereto as necessary or desirable to promote and carry out such purpose. The funds with this investment strategy seek to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns by taking advantage of credit opportunities in U.S. middle-market companies with liquidity needs and market leaders seeking to improve their balance sheets.

Sponsor Investment

On October 1, 2021, our Adviser purchased 100 Class I shares at $10.00 per share, which represents the initial public offering price. The Adviser will not tender these shares for repurchase as long as our Adviser remains the investment adviser of the Company. There is no current intention for our Adviser to discontinue its role. On October 6, 2021, the Company received subscription agreements totaling $50 million for the purchase of Class I shares of its common stock from Feeder FIC ORTIC and Blue Owl Holdings, entities affiliated with our Adviser. Pursuant to the terms of that subscription agreement, Feeder FIC ORTIC and Blue Owl Holdings agreed to pay for such Class I shares upon demand by one of our executive officers. Such purchase or purchases of our Class I shares will be included for purposes of determining when we have satisfied the minimum offering requirement.

Our Administrator

Our Adviser also serves as our administrator. Pursuant to the Administration Agreement, our Adviser will perform, or oversee the performance of, required administrative services, which includes providing office space, equipment and office services, maintaining financial records, preparing reports to shareholders and reports filed with the SEC, and managing the payment of expenses and the performance of administrative and professional services rendered by others. We will reimburse our Adviser for services performed for us pursuant to the terms of the Administration Agreement. In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Administration Agreement, our Adviser may delegate its obligations under the Administration Agreement to an affiliate or to a third party and we will reimburse our Adviser for any services performed for us by such affiliate or third party. Unless earlier terminated as described below, the Administration Agreement will remain in effect for a period of two years from the date it first becomes effective and will remain in effect from year-to-year thereafter if approved annually by a majority of our board of directors or by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities and, in each case, a majority of the independent directors.

We may terminate the Administration Agreement, without payment of any penalty, upon 60 days’ written notice. The decision to terminate the agreement may be made by a majority of our board of directors or by the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares. In addition, our Adviser may terminate the Administration Agreement, without payment of any penalty, upon 60 days’ written notice.

Affiliated Dealer Manager

The Dealer Manager, Blue Owl Securities, is an affiliate of our Adviser and will not make an independent review of us or the offering. This relationship may create conflicts in connection with the dealer manager’s due diligence obligations under the federal securities laws. Although the Dealer Manager will examine the information in this prospectus for accuracy and completeness, due to its affiliation with our Adviser, no independent review of us will be made in connection with the distribution of our shares in this offering. Blue Owl Securities is registered as a broker-dealer and is a member of FINRA and SIPC.

 

110

Potential Market Trends

We believe the technology investment environment provides opportunities for us to meet our goal of making investments that generate an attractive total return based on a combination of the following factors, which continue to remain true in the current environment:

Limited Availability of Capital for Technology Companies. We believe that technology companies have limited access to capital, driven by a reduction in activity from commercial and investment banks, and a lack of dedicated pools of capital focused on technology companies. Traditional lenders, such as commercial and investment banks, generally do not have flexible product offerings that meet the needs of technology-related companies. In recent years, many commercial and investment banks have focused their efforts and resources on lending to large corporate clients and managing capital markets transactions rather than lending to technology-related companies. In addition, these lenders may be constrained in their ability to underwrite and hold loans and high yield securities, as well as their ability to provide equity financing, as they seek to meet existing and future regulatory capital requirements. We also believe that there is a lack of scaled market participants that are willing to provide and hold meaningful amounts of a customized financing solution for technology companies. As a result, we believe our focus on technology-related companies and our ability to invest across the capital structure, coupled with a limited supply of capital providers, presents an attractive opportunity to invest in technology companies.

Capital Markets Have Been Unable to Fill the Void Left by Banks. While underwritten bond and syndicated loan markets have been robust in recent years, many technology companies are less able to access these markets for reasons including the following:

High Yield Market —  Many technology companies generally do not issue debt in amounts large enough to be attractively sized bonds. High yield bonds are generally purchased by institutional investors who, among other things, are highly focused on the liquidity characteristics of the bond being issued. For example, mutual funds and exchange traded funds (“ETFs”) are significant buyers of underwritten bonds. However, mutual funds and ETFs generally require the ability to liquidate their investments quickly in order to fund investor redemptions and/or comply with regulatory requirements. Accordingly, the existence of an active secondary market for bonds is an important consideration in these entities’ initial investment decision. Because there is typically little or no active secondary market for the debt of U.S. middle market companies, mutual funds and ETFs generally do not provide debt capital to technology companies. We believe this is likely to be a persistent problem and creates an advantage for those like us who have a more stable capital base and have the ability to invest in illiquid assets.

Syndicated Loan Market —  Loan issue size and liquidity are key drivers of institutional demand and, correspondingly, underwriters’ willingness to underwrite the loans. Loans arranged through a bank are done either on a “best efforts” basis or are underwritten with terms plus provisions that permit the underwriters to change certain terms, including pricing, structure, yield and tenor, otherwise known as “flex”, to successfully syndicate the loan, in the event the terms initially marketed are insufficiently attractive to investors. Loans provided by companies such as ours provide certainty to issuers in that we can commit to a given amount of debt on specific terms, at stated coupons and with agreed upon fees. As we are the ultimate holder of the loans, we do not require market “flex” or other arrangements that banks may require when acting on an agency basis.

Robust Demand for Debt Capital. According to 451 Research’s M&A KnowledgeBase, there was approximately $1.8 trillion of mergers and acquisitions activity in the technology and software industries from 2015 through 2020. We believe technology companies will continue to require access to capital to refinance existing debt, support growth and finance acquisitions. In addition, we believe the large amount of uninvested capital held by funds of private equity firms, estimated by Preqin Ltd., an alternative assets industry data and research company, to be $1.5 trillion as of October 2020, coupled with a growing focus on technology investing by private equity sponsors, will continue to drive deal activity. We expect that technology companies, private equity sponsors, venture capital firms, and entrepreneurs will continue to seek partners to provide flexible financing for their businesses with debt and equity investments provided by companies such as us.

 

111

Technology Spend is Large and Increasing. According to Gartner, a research and advisory company, global technology spend was $3.7 trillion in 2019 and is expected to grow to more than $4.3 trillion by 2023. We believe global demand for technology products and services will continue to grow rapidly, and that that growth will stimulate demand for capital from technology companies.

Attractive Investment Dynamics. An imbalance between the supply of, and demand for, capital creates attractive pricing dynamics. With respect to the debt investments in technology companies, we believe the directly negotiated nature of such financings generally provides more favorable terms to the lender, including stronger covenant and reporting packages, better call protection, and lender protective change of control provisions. Further, we believe that historical default rates for technology and software companies have been lower, and recovery rates have been higher, as compared to the broader leveraged finance market, leading to lower cumulative losses. With respect to equity-related investments, we will seek to structure these investments with meaningful shareholder protections, including, but not limited to, anti-dilution, anti-layering, and liquidation preferences, which we believe will create the potential for meaningful risk-adjusted long-term capital gains in connection with the future liquidity events of these technology companies. Lastly, we believe that in the current environment, as the economy continues to reopen following the economic shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 national health emergency, lenders with available capital may be able to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities as the economy reopens and may be able to achieve improved economic spreads and documentation terms.

Compelling Business Models. We believe that the products and services that technology companies provide often have high switching costs and are fundamental to the operations and success of their customers. We generally invest in dominant or growing players in niche markets that are selling products to established customer bases. As a result, technology companies have attributes that make them compelling investments, including strong customer retention rates, and highly recurring and predictable revenue. Further, technology companies are typically highly capital efficient, with limited capital expenditures and high free cash flow conversion. In addition, the replicable nature of technology products creates substantial operating leverage which typically results in strong profitability.

We believe that software businesses make compelling investments because they are inherently diversified into a variety of sectors due to end market applications and have been one of the more defensive sectors throughout economic cycles.

Attractive Opportunities in Investments in Technology Companies. We intend to invest in the debt and equity of technology companies. We believe that opportunities in the debt of technology companies are significant because of the floating rate structure of most senior secured debt issuances and because of the strong defensive characteristics of these types of investments. Given the current low interest rate environment, we believe that debt issues with floating interest rates offer a superior return profile as compared with fixed-rate investments, since floating rate structures are generally less susceptible to declines in value experienced by fixed-rate securities in a rising interest rate environment. Senior secured debt also provides strong defensive characteristics. Senior secured debt has priority in payment among an issuer’s security holders whereby holders are due to receive payment before junior creditors and equity holders. Further, these investments are generally secured by the issuer’s assets, which may provide protection in the event of a default.

We believe that opportunities in the equity of technology companies are significant because of the potential to generate meaningful capital appreciation by participating in the growth in the portfolio company and the demand for its products and services. Moreover, we believe that the high-growth profile of a technology company will generally make it a more attractive candidate for a liquidity event than a company in a non-high growth industry.

 

112

Potential Competitive Advantages

We believe that our Adviser’s disciplined approach to origination, fundamental investment analysis, portfolio construction and risk management should allow us to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns while preserving our capital. We believe that we represent an attractive investment opportunity for the following reasons:

Dedicated Pool of Capital. From a deal sourcing perspective, we believe Owl Rock’s pool of capital dedicated to technology investing should enable us to be a more relevant partner to sponsors and management teams who seek this type of financing for their deals.

Additionally, our dedicated industry focus will be supported by a team with a track record of success investing in technology businesses. The Adviser’s network of deep industry relationships creates a substantial information advantage that informs and augments its due diligence process. This unique positioning should further drive entrenchment with sponsors as our Adviser will typically be viewed as a value-added partner during the diligence and investment lifecycle of our businesses.

We believe the technology sector to be underserved and, other than Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp., we are not aware of any entities currently serving the sector that have large pools of capital dedicated to the space and that do not operate competing businesses.

Experienced Team with Expertise Across all Levels of the Corporate Capital Structure. The members of the Investment Committee have an average of 20 years of experience in private lending and investing at all levels of a company’s capital structure, including in high yield securities, leveraged loans, high yield credit derivatives, distressed securities, and equity securities, as well as experience in operations, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. The members of the Investment Committee have diverse backgrounds with investing experience through multiple business and credit cycles. Moreover, certain members of the Investment Committee and other executives and employees of our Adviser and its affiliates have operating and/or investing experience on behalf of business development companies. In addition, through its West Coast office, our Adviser has a significant presence in Silicon Valley to better serve financial sponsors operating in the technology sector. We believe this experience provides our Adviser with an in-depth understanding of the strategic, financial and operational challenges and opportunities of technology companies and will afford it numerous tools to manage risk while preserving the opportunity for attractive risk-adjusted returns on our investments.

Distinctive Origination Platform. We anticipate that a substantial majority of our investments will be sourced directly and that our origination platform will provide us the ability to originate investments without the assistance of investment banks or other traditional Wall Street intermediaries.

The investment team includes over 50 investment professionals and is responsible for originating, underwriting, executing and managing the assets of our direct lending transactions and for sourcing and executing opportunities directly. The investment team has significant experience as transaction originators and building and maintaining strong relationships with private equity sponsors and companies. In addition, we believe that the formation of Blue Owl has enhanced the investment team’s investment sourcing capabilities as a result of the combination of Owl Rock’s and Dyal’s relationships with the alternative asset management community by increasing the opportunities for them to utilize Blue Owl’s resources and its relationships with the financial sponsor community and service providers, which we believe has resulted in an increased pipeline of deal opportunities.

The investment team also maintains direct contact with banks, corporate advisory firms, industry consultants, attorneys, investment banks, “club” investors and other potential sources of lending opportunities. We believe our Adviser’s ability to source through multiple channels will allow us to generate investment opportunities that have more attractive risk-adjusted return characteristics than by relying solely on origination flow from investment banks or other intermediaries and to be more selective investors.

 

113

Since our Adviser’s affiliates began investment activities in April 2016 through June 30, 2021, our Adviser and its affiliates have reviewed over 5,800 direct lending opportunities (of which approximately $280 billion were technology-related) and sourced potential investment opportunities from over 570 private equity sponsors and venture capital firms. We believe that our Adviser will receive “early looks” and “last looks” based on its and Blue Owl’s relationships, allowing it to be highly selective in the transactions it pursues.

Provide Customized Financing Complementary to Financial Sponsors’ Capital. We intend to offer a broad range of investment structures and possess expertise and experience to effectively structure and price investments in technology companies. We intend to offer customized financing solutions ranging from senior debt to equity capital. Unlike many of our competitors that we believe are restricted to smaller investment sizes and only invest in companies that fit a specific set of investment parameters, we believe that we will have the scale and flexibility to structure our investments to suit the particular needs of our portfolio companies. As a result, we believe that our capital will be viewed as an attractive and complimentary source of capital, both by the portfolio company and by the portfolio company’s financial sponsor.

Potential Long-Term Investment Horizon. We believe our potential long-term investment horizon will give us flexibility, allowing us to maximize returns on our investments in technology companies. We intend to invest using a long-term focus, which we believe will provide us with the opportunity to increase total returns on invested capital, as compared to other private company investment vehicles or investment vehicles with daily liquidity requirements (e.g., open-ended mutual funds and ETFs).

Defensive Investment Philosophy. The Adviser intends to employ an investment approach focused on rigorous due diligence and underwriting, a highly selective and multi-stage investment decision process, and ongoing portfolio monitoring. The investment approach will focus on quantitative and qualitative factors, with particular emphasis on early detection of potential deterioration. This strategy is designed to minimize potential losses and achieve attractive risk adjusted returns.

Active Portfolio Monitoring. The Adviser intends to closely monitor the investments in our portfolio and take a proactive approach to identifying and addressing sector- or company-specific risks. The Adviser will receive and review detailed financial information from portfolio companies no less than quarterly and will seek to maintain regular dialogue with portfolio company management teams regarding current and forecasted performance. We anticipate that many of our debt investments will have financial covenants that we believe will provide an early warning of potential problems facing our borrowers, allowing lenders, including us, to identify and carefully manage risk. In addition, our Adviser has built out its portfolio management team to include workout experts who will closely monitor our portfolio companies and assess each portfolio company’s operational and liquidity exposure and outlook. Further, we anticipate that many of our equity investments will provide us the opportunity to nominate a member or observer to the board of directors of the portfolio company, which we believe will allow us to closely monitor the performance of our portfolio companies.

Investment Selection

The Adviser expects to apply rigorous and established investment selection and underwriting criteria. Although not exhaustive, our Adviser expects that our investments will typically have many of the following attributes:

 

•

Mission critical solutions: solutions that are essential to business operations and are tightly integrated into the workflows or operations of end users;

 

•

Market leadership positions: a leadership position in its market (or the potential to establish a leadership position) with potential and/or defensible barriers to entry;

 

•

Strong quality of revenue: revenue streams with high degrees of visibility (contracted or re-occurring) and substantial gross margins diversified by a granular, long-tenured customer base;

 

114

•

Strong customer retention: highly embedded software with meaningful switching costs;

 

•

Highly capital efficient: strong free cash flow conversion or the potential to generate strong free cash flow conversion due to operating margins and low capital intensity; and

 

•

Attractive unit economics: strong payback periods in respect of lifetime value of a customer versus the cost to acquire the customer.

The Adviser has identified the following investment criteria and guidelines that it believes are important in evaluating prospective portfolio companies. However, not all of these criteria and guidelines will be met, or will be equally important, in connection with each of our investments.

Established Companies. We intend to invest in companies with established business models, products and customers and that have demonstrated, or have a plan to achieve, sound financial performance which we believe tend to be well-positioned to generate consistent cash flow to service and repay their obligations and maintain growth in their businesses or market share. We intend to invest in later stage companies, including market leaders providing mission critical solutions, serving less cyclical end-markets and with highly recurring revenue and strong customer retention. The Adviser does not intend to invest in start-up companies with speculative business plans.

Strong Competitive Position in Industry. The Adviser intends to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of target companies relative to their competitors. The factors our Adviser will consider include relative product pricing, product quality, customer loyalty, substitution risk, switching costs, patent protection, brand positioning and capitalization. We will seek to invest in companies that have developed leading positions within their respective markets, are well positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities and operate businesses, exhibit the potential to maintain sufficient cash flows to service their obligations in a range of economic environments or are in industries with significant barriers to entry. We will seek companies that demonstrate advantages in scale, scope, customer loyalty, product pricing or product quality versus their competitors that, when compared to their competitors, may help to protect their market position and cash flows.

Experienced Management Team. We will seek to invest in companies that have experienced management teams. We also will seek to invest in companies that have proper incentives in place, including management teams having significant equity interests to motivate management to act in concert with our interests as an investor.

Diversified Customer and Supplier Base. We generally will seek to invest in technology companies that have a diversified customer and supplier base. Companies with a diversified customer and supplier base generally are better able to endure economic downturns, industry consolidation, changing business preferences and other factors that may negatively impact their customers, suppliers and competitors.

Exit Strategy. While certain debt investments may be repaid through operating cash flows of the borrower, we expect that the primary means by which we exit our debt investments will be through methods such as strategic acquisitions by other industry participants, an initial public offering of common stock, a recapitalization, a refinancing or another transaction in the capital markets.

Prior to making an equity investment in a prospective portfolio company, we analyze the potential for that company to increase the liquidity of its equity through a future event that we expect will enable us to realize appreciation in the value of our equity interest. Liquidity events may include an IPO, a private sale of our equity interest to a third party, a merger or an acquisition of the company or a purchase of our equity position by the company or one of its shareholders.

In addition, in connection with our investing activities, we may make commitments with respect to an investment in a potential portfolio company substantially in excess of our final investment. In such situations, while we may initially agree to fund up to a certain dollar amount of an investment, we may sell a portion of such amount, such that we are left with a smaller investment than what was reflected in our original commitment.

 

115

Financial Sponsorship. We may seek to participate in transactions sponsored by what we believe to be high-quality private equity and venture capital firms. We believe that a financial sponsor’s willingness to invest significant sums of equity capital into a company is an explicit endorsement of the quality of their investment. Further, financial sponsors of portfolio companies with significant investments at risk have the ability and a strong incentive to contribute additional capital in difficult economic times should operational issues arise.

Investments in Different Portfolio Companies and End Markets. We will seek to invest broadly among portfolio companies and end markets, thereby potentially reducing the risk of any one company or industry having a disproportionate impact on the value of our portfolio; however, there can be no assurances in this regard.

Investment Process Overview

Origination and Sourcing. The investment team has an extensive network from which to source deal flow and referrals. Specifically, our Adviser intends to source portfolio investments from a variety of different investment sources, including among others, private equity sponsors, management teams, financial intermediaries and advisers, investment bankers, family offices, accounting firms and law firms. The Adviser believes that its experience across different industries and transaction types makes our Adviser particularly and uniquely qualified to source, analyze and execute investment opportunities with a focus on downside protection and a return of principal.

Due Diligence Process. The process through which an investment decision will be made will involve extensive research into the company, its industry, its growth prospects and its ability to withstand adverse conditions. If one or more of the members of the investment team responsible for the transaction determines that an investment opportunity should be pursued, our Adviser will engage in an intensive due diligence process. Though each transaction may involve a somewhat different approach, our Adviser’s diligence of each opportunity could include:

 

•

understanding the purpose of the loan, the key personnel, the sources and uses of the proceeds;

 

•

meeting the company’s management and key personnel, including top level executives, to get an insider’s view of the business, and to probe for potential weaknesses in business prospects;

 

•

checking management’s backgrounds and references;

 

•

performing a detailed review of historical financial performance, including performance through various economic cycles, and the quality of earnings;

 

•

contacting customers and vendors to assess both business prospects and standard practices;

 

•

conducting a competitive analysis, and comparing the company to its main competitors on an operating, financial, market share and valuation basis;

 

•

researching the industry for historic growth trends and future prospects as well as to identify future exit alternatives;

 

•

assessing asset value and the ability of physical infrastructure and information systems to handle anticipated growth;

 

•

leveraging our Adviser’s internal resources and network with institutional knowledge of the company’s business;

 

•

assessing business valuation and corresponding recovery analysis;

 

•

developing downside financial projections and liquidation analysis;

 

•

reviewing environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) considerations including consulting the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s Engagement Guide for ESG considerations; and

 

•

investigating legal and regulatory risks and financial and accounting systems and practices.

 

116

Selective Investment Process. After an investment has been identified and preliminary diligence has been completed, an investment committee memorandum will be prepared. This memorandum will be reviewed by the members of the investment team in charge of the potential investment. If these members of the investment team are in favor of the potential investment, then a more extensive due diligence process will be employed. Additional due diligence with respect to any investment may be conducted on our behalf by attorneys, independent accountants, and other third-party consultants and research firms prior to the closing of the investment, as appropriate on a case-by-case basis.

Structuring and Execution. Approval of an investment requires the approval of a majority of the Investment Committee. Once the Investment Committee has determined that a prospective portfolio company may be suitable for investment, our Adviser will work with the management team or sponsor of that company and its other capital providers, including senior, junior and equity capital providers, if any, to finalize the structure and terms of the investment.

Portfolio Monitoring. The Adviser will monitor our portfolio companies on an ongoing basis. The Adviser will monitor the financial trends of each portfolio company to determine if it is meeting its business plans and to assess the appropriate course of action with respect to our investment in each portfolio company. The Adviser has a number of methods of evaluating and monitoring the performance and fair value of our investments, which may include the following:

 

•

assessment of success of the portfolio company in adhering to its business plan and compliance with covenants;

 

•

periodic and regular contact with portfolio company management and, if appropriate, the financial or strategic sponsor, to discuss financial position, requirements and accomplishments;

 

•

comparisons to other companies in the portfolio company’s industry;

 

•

attendance at, and participation in, board meetings; and

 

•

review of periodic financial statements and financial projections for portfolio companies.

Structure of Investments

We expect that our portfolio composition generally will be majority debt or income producing securities, which may include “covenant-lite” loans, with a lesser allocation to equity-related opportunities. To a lesser extent, we may make investments in syndicated loan opportunities, including in publicly traded debt instruments, for cash management purposes. In addition, our portfolio composition may fluctuate from time to time based on market conditions and interest rates.

Covenants are contractual restrictions that lenders place on companies to limit the corporate actions a company may pursue. Generally, the loans in which we expect to invest will have financial maintenance covenants, which will be used to proactively address materially adverse changes in a portfolio company’s financial performance. However, to a lesser extent, we may invest in “covenant-lite” loans. We use the term “covenant-lite” to generally refer to loans that do not have a complete set of financial maintenance covenants. Generally, “covenant-lite” loans provide borrower companies more freedom to negatively impact lenders because their covenants are incurrence-based, which means they are only tested and can only be breached following an affirmative action of the borrower, rather than by a deterioration in the borrower’s financial condition. Accordingly, to the extent we invest in “covenant-lite” loans, we may have fewer rights against a borrower and may have a greater risk of loss on such investments as compared to investments in or exposure to loans with financial maintenance covenants.

Our investment objective is to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns.

 

117

Debt Investments. The terms of our debt investments will be tailored to the facts and circumstances of each transaction. The Adviser intends to negotiate the structure of each investment to protect our rights and manage our risk. We intend to invest in the following types of debt:

 

•

First-lien debt. First-lien debt typically will be senior on a lien basis to other liabilities in the issuer’s capital structure and has the benefit of a first-priority security interest in assets of the issuer. The security interest ranks above the security interest of any second-lien lenders in those assets. Our first-lien debt may include stand-alone first-lien loans, “last out” first-lien loans, “unitranche” loans (including the “last out” portions of such loans) and secured corporate bonds with similar features to these categories of first-lien loans.

 

•

Stand-alone first-lien loans. Stand-alone first-lien loans are traditional first-lien loans. All lenders in the facility have equal rights to the collateral that is subject to the first-priority security interest.

 

•

“Last out” first-lien / unitranche loans. Unitranche loans (including the “last out” portions of such loans) combine features of first-lien, second-lien and mezzanine debt, generally in a first-lien position. In many cases, we intend to provide the issuer most, if not all, of the capital structure above their equity. The primary advantages to the issuer are the ability to negotiate the entire debt financing with one lender and the elimination of intercreditor issues. “Last out” first-lien loans have a secondary priority behind super-senior “first out” first-lien loans in the collateral securing the loans in certain circumstances. The arrangements for a “last out” first-lien loan typically are set forth in an “agreement among lenders,” which will provide lenders with “first out” and “last out” payment streams based on a single lien on the collateral. Since the “first out” lenders generally have priority over the “last out” lenders for receiving payment under certain specified events of default, or upon the occurrence of other triggering events under intercreditor agreements or agreements among lenders, the “last out” lenders bear a greater risk and, in exchange, receive a higher effective interest rate, through arrangements among the lenders, than the “first out” lenders or lenders in stand-alone first-lien loans. Agreements among lenders also typically provide greater voting rights to the “last out” lenders than the intercreditor agreements to which second-lien lenders often are subject. Among the types of first-lien debt in which we may invest, “last out” first-lien loans generally have higher effective interest rates than other types of first-lien loans, since “last out” first-lien loans rank below standalone first-lien loans.

 

•

Second-lien debt. We expect that our second-lien debt may include secured loans, and, to a lesser extent, secured corporate bonds, with a secondary priority behind first-lien debt. Second-lien debt typically is senior on a lien basis to unsecured liabilities in the issuer’s capital structure and has the benefit of a security interest over assets of the issuer, though ranking junior to first-lien debt secured by those assets. First-lien lenders and second-lien lenders typically have separate liens on the collateral, and an inter-creditor agreement provides the first-lien lenders with priority over the second-lien lenders’ liens on the collateral.

 

•

Mezzanine debt. Structurally, mezzanine debt usually ranks subordinate in priority of payment to first-lien and second-lien debt, is often unsecured, and may not have the benefit of financial covenants common in first-lien and second-lien debt. However, mezzanine debt ranks senior to common and preferred equity in an issuer’s capital structure. Mezzanine debt investments generally offer lenders fixed returns in the form of interest payments, which could be paid-in-kind, and may provide lenders an opportunity to participate in the capital appreciation, if any, of an issuer through an equity interest. This equity interest typically takes the form of an equity co-investment or warrants. Due to its higher risk profile and often less restrictive covenants compared to senior secured loans, mezzanine debt generally bears a higher stated interest rate than first-lien and second-lien debt.

We intend to structure our debt with the maximum security and collateral that we can reasonably obtain while seeking to achieve our total return target. Our Adviser will seek to limit the downside potential of our investments by:

 

•

requiring a total return on our investments (including both interest and potential equity appreciation) that compensates us for credit risk;

 

118

•

negotiating covenants in connection with our investments consistent with preservation of our capital. Such restrictions may include affirmative covenants (including reporting requirements), negative covenants (including financial covenants), lien protection, change of control provisions and board rights, including either observation rights or rights to a seat on the board under some circumstances; and

 

•

including debt amortization requirements, where appropriate, to require the timely repayment of principal of the loan, as well as appropriate maturity dates.

 

•

Convertible bonds. Convertible bonds are fixed-income corporate debt securities that yield current interest payments, but can be converted into common stock or other equivalent equity shares of an issuer. Interest may be in the form of cash or payment-in-kind, or a combination of both. Although we may, from time to time, invest in convertible securities of publicly listed issuers, our convertible bond investments are typically issued to private businesses. Upon a qualifying public offering, these securities become convertible at the option of the bondholder (or, in some instances, are mandatorily converted) into shares of the issuer. Conversion prices are typically set at a discount to the market price of the shares at pricing of the qualifying public offering.

Equity-Related Investments. Our investment in a portfolio company could be or may include an equity-related interest. Our equity securities typically consist of either a direct minority equity investment in common or preferred stock or membership/partnership interests of a portfolio company, or we may receive warrants to buy a minority equity interest in a portfolio company in connection with a debt investment. Warrants we receive with our debt investments typically require only a nominal cost to exercise, and thus, as a portfolio company appreciates in value, we may achieve additional investment return from this equity interest. Our equity investments are typically not control-oriented investments and we may structure such equity investments to include provisions protecting our rights as a minority-interest holder.

Warehousing Transaction

On [ ● ], 2021, we entered into an arrangement for the Warehousing Transaction with [ ● ] (the “Financing Provider”). The Warehousing Transaction creates a forward obligation of the Financing Provider to sell, and a forward obligation of us or our designee to purchase certain investments (the “Portfolio Investments”) owned and held by the Financing Provider at our request. It is expected that the Portfolio Investments will generally consist of originated and anchor loans to middle market companies consistent with our investment strategy. Pursuant to the Warehousing Transaction, we may request the Financing Provider acquire such Portfolio Investments as we may designate from time to time, which the Financing Provider can approve or reject in its sole and absolute discretion. Prior to any sale to us, the Portfolio Investments will be owned and held solely for the account of the Financing Provider. Until such time as we have received subscriptions for our shares of at least $[ ● ] million (the “Capital Condition”), we will have no obligation to purchase the Portfolio Investments under the facility agreement (the “Facility Agreement”) entered in connection with the Warehousing Transaction. Certain of our affiliates have entered into guarantees with the Financing Provider to purchase the Portfolio Investments if we fail to meet the Capital Condition.

After we meet the Capital Condition, we will be obligated to purchase the Portfolio Investments from the Financing Provider on or before [ ● ], 20[ ● ] (the “Facility End Date”). We may also elect but are not obligated to purchase Portfolio Investments prior to the Facility End Date or prior to or without meeting the Capital Condition. In consideration for the forward arrangement provided by the Financing Provider (the amount of the arrangement will not exceed $[ ● ] million before [ ● ], 20[ ● ] and $[ ● ] million between such date and the Facility End Date (the “Financing Amount”)), we have agreed to pay, subject to satisfying the Capital Condition, certain fees and expenses to the Financing Provider, including (i) a financing fee at an annual rate of LIBOR plus [ ● ]% multiplied by the cash amount paid by the Financing Provider (subject to adjustment for, among other things, cash amounts received by the Financing Provider) for such Portfolio Investment while it is being held by the Financing Provider, (ii) an unused fee at an annual rate of [ ● ]% of the unused Financing Amount and (iii) a

 

119

structuring fee equal to $[ ● ] million which is payable on the earlier of the termination date or the Facility End Date. As a general matter, the price we would pay to purchase any Portfolio Investment from the cash amount paid by the Financing Provider subject to adjustment for, among other things, principal repayments and interest amounts earned by the Financing Provider.

As of [ ● ], 20[ ● ], there were [ ● ] loans that the Financing Provider purchased having an aggregate cost of $[ ● ] million and an aggregate market value of $[ ● ] million. Additionally, there were [ ● ] loans that the Financing Provider committed to having an aggregate principal amount of $[ ● ] million and an aggregate cost of $[ ● ] million. We have agreed to purchase these loans subject to the conditions of the Facility Agreement.

Valuation

Investments for which market quotations are readily available are typically valued at the bid price of those market quotations. To validate market quotations, we utilize a number of factors to determine if the quotations are representative of fair value, including the source and number of the quotations. Debt and equity securities that are not publicly traded or whose market prices are not readily available, as is expected to be the case for substantially all of our investments, will be valued at fair value as determined in good faith by our board of directors, based on, among other things, the input of our Adviser, our Audit Committee and independent third-party valuation firm(s) engaged at the direction of our board of directors.

As part of the valuation process, our board of directors will take into account relevant factors in determining the fair value of our investments, including: the estimated enterprise value of a portfolio company (i.e., the total fair value of the portfolio company’s debt and equity), the nature and realizable value of any collateral, the portfolio company’s ability to make payments based on its earnings and cash flow, the markets in which the portfolio company does business, a comparison of the portfolio company’s securities to any similar publicly traded securities, and overall changes in the interest rate environment and the credit markets that may affect the price at which similar investments may be made in the future. When an external event such as a purchase transaction, public offering or subsequent equity sale occurs, our board of directors considers whether the pricing indicated by the external event corroborates its valuation.

Our board of directors will undertake a multi-step valuation process, which will include, among other procedures, the following:

 

•

With respect to investments for which market quotations are readily available, those investments will typically be valued at the bid price of those market quotations;

 

•

With respect to investments for which market quotations are not readily available, the valuation process will begin with the independent valuation firm(s) providing a preliminary valuation of each investment to our Adviser’s valuation committee;

 

•

Preliminary valuation conclusions will be documented and discussed with our Adviser’s valuation committee. Agreed upon valuation recommendations will be presented to the audit committee;

 

•

The audit committee will review the valuations recommendations and recommends values for each investment to our board of directors; and

 

•

Our board of directors will review the recommended valuations and determines the fair value of each investment.

We will conduct this valuation process on a quarterly basis.

We will apply Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification 820, Fair Value Measurements (“ASC 820”), as amended, which establishes a framework for measuring fair value in accordance with U.S. GAAP and required disclosures of fair value measurements. ASC 820 determines fair value to be the

 

120