UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
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ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020
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TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
Commission File Number 814-01190
OWL ROCK CAPITAL CORPORATION
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)
Maryland |
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47-5402460 |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
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(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
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399 Park Avenue, 38th Floor, New York, New York |
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10022 |
(Address of principal executive offices) |
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Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (212) 419-3000
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
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Name of each exchange on which registered |
Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share |
ORCC |
The New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. YES ☒ NO ☐
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. YES ☐ NO ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YES ☒ NO ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). YES ☐ NO ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definition of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer |
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Accelerated filer |
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Non-accelerated filer |
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Small reporting company |
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Emerging growth company |
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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 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). YES ☐ NO ☒
The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2020 based on the closing price on that date of $12.33 on The New York Stock Exchange, was approximately $4,649,632,483.
The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock $0.01 par value per share, outstanding at February 23, 2021 was 391,401,787.
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Table of Contents
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PART I |
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Item 1. |
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2 |
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Item 1A. |
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32 |
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Item 1B. |
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68 |
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Item 2. |
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68 |
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Item 3. |
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68 |
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Item 4. |
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68 |
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PART II |
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Item 5. |
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69 |
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Item 6. |
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79 |
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Item 7. |
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Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
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82 |
Item 7A. |
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149 |
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Item 8. |
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F-1 |
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Item 9. |
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Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
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150 |
Item 9A. |
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150 |
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Item 9B. |
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150 |
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PART III |
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Item 10. |
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150 |
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Item 11. |
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162 |
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Item 12. |
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Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters |
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163 |
Item 13. |
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Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
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164 |
Item 14. |
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166 |
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PART IV |
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Item 15. |
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167 |
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Item 16. |
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174 |
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175 |
ii
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors and undue reliance should not be placed thereon. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Owl Rock Capital Corporation (the “Company,” “we” or “our”), our current and prospective portfolio investments, our industry, our beliefs and opinions, and our assumptions. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “will,” “may,” “continue,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “targets,” “projects,” “outlook,” “potential,” “predicts” and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation:
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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; |
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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; |
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an economic downturn could also impact availability and pricing of our financing and our ability to access the debt and equity capital markets; |
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a contraction of available credit and/or an inability to access the equity markets could impair our lending and investment activities; |
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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; |
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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; |
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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; |
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our future operating results; |
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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; |
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our contractual arrangements and relationships with third parties; |
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the ability of our portfolio companies to achieve their objectives; |
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competition with other entities and our affiliates for investment opportunities; |
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the speculative and illiquid nature of our investments; |
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the use of borrowed money to finance a portion of our investments as well as any estimates regarding potential use of leverage; |
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the adequacy of our financing sources and working capital; |
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the loss of key personnel; |
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the timing of cash flows, if any, from the operations of our portfolio companies; |
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the ability of Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC (“the Adviser” or “our Adviser”) to locate suitable investments for us and to monitor and administer our investments; |
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the ability of the Adviser to attract and retain highly talented professionals; |
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our ability to qualify for and maintain our tax treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and as a business development company (“BDC”); |
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the effect of legal, tax and regulatory changes; and |
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other risks, uncertainties and other factors previously identified in the reports and other documents we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). |
Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate, and as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be inaccurate. In light of these and other uncertainties, the inclusion of a projection or forward-looking statement in this report should not be regarded as a representation by us that our plans and objectives will be achieved. These forward-looking statements apply only as of the date of this report. Moreover, we assume no duty and do not undertake to update the forward-looking statements. Because we are an investment company, the forward-looking statements and projections contained in this report are excluded from the safe harbor protection provided by Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).
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Our Company
Owl Rock Capital Corporation was formed on October 15, 2015 as a corporation under the laws of the State of Maryland. We are a specialty finance company focused on lending to U.S. middle-market companies. Since we began investment activities in April 2016 through December 31, 2020, our Adviser and its affiliates have originated $27.7 billion aggregate principal amount of investments, of which $25.8 billion of aggregate principal amount of investments prior to any subsequent exits or repayments, was retained by either us or a fund advised by our Adviser or its affiliates. Our capital will be used by our portfolio companies to support growth, acquisitions, market or product expansion, refinancings and/or recapitalizations.
On July 22, 2019, we closed our initial public offering (“IPO”), issuing 10 million shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $15.30 per share, and on August 2, 2019, the underwriters exercised their option to purchase an additional 1.5 million shares of our common stock at a purchase price of $15.30 per share. Net of underwriting fees and offering costs, we received total cash proceeds of $164.0 million. Our common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “ORCC” on July 18, 2019.
We define “middle market companies” to generally mean companies with earnings before interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) between $10 million and $250 million annually, and/or annual revenue of $50 million to $2.5 billion at the time of investment. We may on occasion invest in smaller or larger companies if an attractive opportunity presents itself, especially when there are dislocations in the capital markets, including the high yield and syndicated loan markets. Our target credit investments will typically have maturities between three and ten years and generally range in size between $20 million and $250 million. The investment size will vary with the size of our capital base. As of December 31, 2020, excluding certain investments that fall outside of our typical borrower profile, our portfolio companies representing 93.8% of our total debt portfolio based on fair value, had weighted average annual revenue of $460 million and weighted average annual EBITDA of $100 million.
We 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. Our investment objective is to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns. While we believe that current market conditions favor extending credit to middle market companies in the United States, our investment strategy is intended to generate favorable returns across credit cycles with an emphasis on preserving capital. As of December 31, 2020, based on fair value, our portfolio consisted of 77.5% first lien debt investments, 18.5% second-lien debt investments, 0.5% unsecured debt investments, 1.0% investment funds and vehicles and 2.5% equity investments. As of December 31, 2020, 99.9% of our debt investments based on fair value are floating rate in nature and subject to interest rate floors. As of December 31, 2020 we had investments in 119 portfolio companies, with an average investment size in each of our portfolio companies of approximately $91.1 million based on fair value.
As of December 31, 2020, our portfolio was invested across 29 different industries. The largest industry in our portfolio as of December 31, 2020 was internet software and services, which represented, as a percentage of our portfolio, 11.1%, based on fair value.
We are an externally managed, closed-end management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a BDC under the Investment Company Act of 1940 Act, as amended (the “1940 Act”). We have elected to be treated, and intend to qualify annually, as a RIC under the Code for U.S. federal income tax purposes. 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. We will not invest more than 20% of our total assets in companies whose principal place of business is outside the United States. See “— Regulation as a Business Development Company” and “— Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.”
We generally intend to distribute, out of assets legally available for distribution, substantially all of our available earnings, on a quarterly basis, as determined by our Board of Directors (the “Board”) in its sole discretion.
Certain consolidated subsidiaries of ours are subject to U.S. federal and state corporate-level income taxes.
To achieve our investment objective, we will leverage the Adviser’s investment team’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 may borrow money from time to time if immediately after such borrowing, 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, is at 150%. This means that generally, we can borrow up to $2 for every $1 of investor equity.
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We currently have in place a senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”) and three special purpose vehicle asset credit facilities (the “SPV Asset Facility II,” the “SPV Asset Facility III,” and the “SPV Asset Facility IV,” respectively), and in the future may enter into additional credit facilities. In addition, we have issued unsecured notes maturing in 2023 (the “2023 Notes”) in a private placement and unsecured notes maturing in 2024, 2025 and 2026 (the “2024 Notes,” the “2025 Notes,” the “July 2025 Notes,” the “2026 Notes” and the “July 2026 Notes,” respectively) in registered offerings and in the future may issue additional unsecured notes. The special purpose vehicle asset credit facilities are a financing facilities pursuant to which we formed a wholly owned subsidiary, or SPV, which enters into a credit agreement. We periodically sell and contribute investments to the SPV and the SPV uses the proceeds from the credit agreement to finance the purchase of assets, including from us. We have also entered into five term debt securitization transactions, also known as collateralized loan obligation transactions (“CLO I,” “CLO II,” “CLO III,” “CLO IV” and “CLO V,” respectively) and in the future may enter into additional collateralized loan obligation transactions. We expect to use our credit facilities and other borrowings, along with proceeds from the rotation of our portfolio, to finance our investment objectives. See “— Regulation as a Business Development Company” for discussion of BDC regulation and other regulatory considerations. See “ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS — Debt.”
The Adviser and Administrator – Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC
Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC serves as our investment adviser pursuant to an investment advisory agreement between us and the Adviser, which was originally entered into on March 1, 2016 (the “Original Investment Advisory Agreement”) and which, with the approval of the Board, including a majority of our independent directors, was amended and restated on February 27, 2019 (as amended and restated, the “First Amended and Restated Investment Advisory Agreement”) to reduce the fees that the Company will pay the Adviser following an Exchange Listing, which occurred on July 18, 2019, and which was further amended and restated on March 31, 2020 to reduce the management fee payable to the Adviser when the Company's asset coverage ratio calculated in accordance with Sections 18 and 61 of the 1940 Act is below 200% (as amended and restated, the "Investment Advisory Agreement"). See “Investment Advisory Agreement” below. The Adviser also serves as our Administrator pursuant to an Administration Agreement between us and the Adviser which was entered into on March 1, 2016 (the “Administration Agreement”). See “Administration Agreement” below. The Adviser is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”). The Adviser is an indirect subsidiary of Owl Rock Capital Partners LP (“Owl Rock Capital Partners”). Owl Rock Capital Partners is led by its three co-founders, Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz and Craig W. Packer. The Adviser’s investment team (the “Investment Team”) is also led by Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz and Craig W. Packer and is supported by certain members of the Adviser’s senior executive team and the investment committee (the “Investment Committee”). The Investment Committee is comprised of Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz, Craig W. Packer and Alexis Maged. Subject to the overall supervision of the Board, the Adviser manages our day-to-day operations, and provides investment advisory and management services to us.
On December 23, 2020, Owl Rock Capital Group, LLC (“Owl Rock Capital Group”), the parent of the Adviser (and a subsidiary of Owl Rock Capital Partners), and Dyal Capital Partners (“Dyal”) announced they are merging to form Blue Owl Capital Inc. (“Blue Owl”). Blue Owl will enter the public market via its acquisition by Altimar Acquisition Corporation (NYSE:ATAC) (“Altimar”), a special purpose acquisition company (the “Transaction”). If the Transaction is consummated, there will be no changes to the Company’s investment strategy or the Adviser’s investment team or investment process with respect to the Company; however, the Transaction will result in a change in control of the Adviser, which will be deemed an assignment of the Investment Advisory Agreement in accordance with the 1940 Act. As a result, the Board, after considering the Transaction and subsequent change in control, has determined that upon consummation of the Transaction and subject to the approval of the Company’s shareholders at a special meeting expected to be held on March 17, 2021, the Company should enter into a third amended and restated investment advisory agreement with the Adviser on terms that are identical to the Investment Advisory Agreement. The Board also determined that upon consummation of the Transaction, the Company should enter into an amended and restated administration agreement with the Adviser on terms that are identical to the Administration Agreement.
The Adviser is affiliated with Owl Rock Technology Advisors LLC (“ORTA”), Owl Rock Private Fund Advisors LLC (“ORPFA”) and Owl Rock Diversified Advisors LLC (“ORDA” and together with the Adviser, ORTA and ORPFA, the “Owl Rock Advisors”). As of December 31, 2020, the Owl Rock Advisors managed $27.1 billion in AUM. The Owl Rock Advisors focus on direct lending to middle market companies primarily in the United States under the following four investment strategies:
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Diversified Lending. The Owl Rock Advisors primarily originate and make loans to, and make debt and equity investments in, U.S. middle market companies The Owl Rock Advisors 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 strategy is to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns.
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The diversified lending strategy is currently managed through four BDCs: the Company, Owl Rock Capital Corporation II (“ORCC II”), Owl Rock Capital Corporation III (“ORCC III”) and Owl Rock Core Income Corp. (“ORCIC”). |
As of December 31, 2020, the Owl Rock Advisors have $17.0 billion of assets under management across these products. |
Technology Lending. The Owl Rock Advisors are focused primarily on originating and making debt and equity investments in technology-related companies based primarily in the United States. The Owl Rock Advisors 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 and equity-linked investments. |
The technology lending strategy is managed through Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. (“ORTF” and together with the Company, ORCC II, ORCC III and ORCIC, the “Owl Rock BDCs”), a BDC. |
As of December 31, 2020, the Owl Rock Advisors have $5.4 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 private funds and separately managed accounts (the “First Lien Funds”). |
As of December 31, 2020, the Owl Rock Advisors have $3.0 billion of assets under management across these products. |
Opportunistic Lending. The Owl Rock Advisors 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 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. |
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, the “Owl Rock Private Funds”). |
As of December 31, 2020, the Owl Rock Advisors have $1.7 billion of assets under management across these products. |
We refer to the Owl Rock BDCs and the Owl Rock Private Funds, as the “Owl Rock Clients.”
The Owl Rock Advisers may provide management or investment advisory services to entities that have overlapping objectives with us. The Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts in the allocation of investment opportunities to us and others. In order to address these conflicts, the Owl Rock Advisers have put in place an allocation policy that addresses the allocation of investment opportunities as well as co-investment restrictions under the 1940 Act.
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In addition, we, the Adviser and certain of its affiliates have been granted exemptive relief by the SEC to co-invest with other funds managed by the 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 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, and (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. In addition, pursuant to an exemptive order issued by the SEC on April 8, 2020 and applicable to all BDCs, through December 31, 2020, we were permitted, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, to complete follow-on investments in our existing portfolio companies with certain other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates and covered by our exemptive relief, even if such private funds had 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 us unless the private funds had previously acquired securities of the portfolio company in a co-investment transaction with us. Although the conditional exemptive order has expired, the SEC’s Division of Investment Management has indicated that until March 31, 2021, it will not recommend enforcement action, to the extent that any BDC with an existing coinvestment 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’ allocation policy incorporates the conditions of the exemptive relief. As a result of the exemptive relief, there could be significant overlap in our investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of the Owl Rock Clients and/or other funds established by the Owl Rock Advisers that could avail themselves of the exemptive relief. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors —Risks Related to our Adviser and its Affiliates — 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.
The Adviser or its affiliates may engage in certain origination activities and receive attendant arrangement, structuring or similar fees. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors —Risks Related to our Adviser and its Affiliates — The Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts of interest with respect to services performed for issuers in which we invest.”
The Adviser’s address is 399 Park Avenue, 38th floor, New York, NY 10022.
We believe the middle-market lending environment provides opportunities for us to meet our goal of making investments that generate attractive risk-adjusted returns based on a combination of the following factors, which continue to remain true in the current environment, with the economic shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 national health emergency:
Limited Availability of Capital for Middle-Market Companies. We believe that regulatory and structural changes in the market have reduced the amount of capital available to U.S. middle-market companies. In particular, we believe there are currently fewer providers of capital to middle market companies. We believe that many commercial and investment banks have, in recent years, de-emphasized their service and product offerings to middle-market businesses in favor of lending to large corporate clients and managing capital markets transactions. In addition, these lenders may be constrained in their ability to underwrite and hold bank loans and high yield securities for middle-market issuers as they seek to meet existing and future regulatory capital requirements. We also believe that there is a lack of market participants that are willing to hold meaningful amounts of certain middle-market loans. As a result, we believe our ability to minimize syndication risk for a company seeking financing by being able to hold its loans without having to syndicate them, coupled with reduced capacity of traditional lenders to serve the middle-market, present an attractive opportunity to invest in middle-market companies.
Capital Markets Have Been Unable to Fill the Void in U.S. Middle Market Finance Left by Banks. While underwritten bond and syndicated loan markets have been robust in recent years, middle market companies are less able to access these markets for reasons including the following:
High-Yield Market – Middle market companies generally are not issuing debt in an amount large enough to be an attractively sized bond. High yield bonds are generally purchased by institutional investors who, among other things, are 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 U.S. middle market 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.
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Syndicated Loan Market – While the syndicated loan market is modestly more accommodating to middle market issuers, as with bonds, loan issue size and liquidity are key drivers of institutional appetite 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. Furthermore, banks are generally reluctant to underwrite middle market loans because the arrangement fees they may earn on the placement of the debt generally are not sufficient to meet the banks’ return hurdles. 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. We believe U.S. middle market companies will continue to require access to debt 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 will continue to drive deal activity. We expect that private equity sponsors will continue to pursue acquisitions and leverage their equity investments with secured loans provided by companies such as us.
The Middle Market is a Large Addressable Market. According to GE Capital’s National Center for the Middle Market 4th quarter 2020 Middle Market Indicator, there are approximately 200,000 U.S. middle market companies, which have approximately 48 million aggregate employees. Moreover, the U.S. middle market accounts for one-third of private sector gross domestic product (“GDP”). GE defines U.S. middle market companies as those between $10 million and $1 billion in annual revenue, which we believe has significant overlap with our definition of U.S. middle market companies.
Attractive Investment Dynamics. An imbalance between the supply of, and demand for, middle market debt capital creates attractive pricing dynamics. We believe the directly negotiated nature of middle market financings also generally provides more favorable terms to the lender, including stronger covenant and reporting packages, better call protection, and lender-protective change of control provisions. Additionally, we believe BDC managers’ expertise in credit selection and ability to manage through credit cycles has generally resulted in BDCs experiencing lower loss rates than U.S. commercial banks through credit cycles. Further, we believe that historical middle market default rates have been lower, and recovery rates have been higher, as compared to the larger market capitalization, broadly distributed market, leading to lower cumulative losses. Lastly, we believe that in the current environment, as the economy reopens 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.
Conservative Capital Structures. Following the credit crisis, which we define broadly as occurring between mid-2007 and mid-2009, lenders have generally required borrowers to maintain more equity as a percentage of their total capitalization, specifically to protect lenders during economic downturns. With more conservative capital structures, U.S. middle market companies have exhibited higher levels of cash flows available to service their debt. In addition, U.S. middle market companies often are characterized by simpler capital structures than larger borrowers, which facilitates a streamlined underwriting process and, when necessary, restructuring process.
Attractive Opportunities in Investments in Loans. We invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans and, to a lesser extent, equity and equity-related securities. We believe that opportunities in senior secured loans 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 secured by the issuer’s assets, which may provide protection in the event of a default.
Potential Competitive Advantages
We believe that the Adviser’s disciplined approach to origination, fundamental credit 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:
Experienced Team with Expertise Across all Levels of the Corporate Capital Structure. The members of the Investment Committee have over 25 years of experience in private lending and investing at all levels of a company’s capital structure, particularly in high yield securities, leveraged loans, high yield credit derivatives and distressed securities, as well as experience in operations,
6
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 the Adviser and its affiliates have operating and/or investing experience on behalf of business development companies. We believe this experience provides the Adviser with an in-depth understanding of the strategic, financial and operational challenges and opportunities of middle market 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. To date, a substantial majority of our investments have been sourced directly. We believe that our origination platform provides 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.
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 the Adviser’s ability to source through multiple channels allows 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.
Since its inception through December 31, 2020, the Adviser and its affiliates have reviewed over 5,200 opportunities and sourced potential investment opportunities from over 530 private equity sponsors and venture capital firms. We believe that the Adviser receives “early looks” and “last looks” based on its relationships, allowing it to be highly selective in the transactions it pursues.
Potential Long-Term Investment Horizon. We believe our potential long-term investment horizon gives us flexibility, allowing us to maximize returns on our investments. We invest using a long-term focus, which we believe provides 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, Income-Orientated Investment Philosophy. The Adviser employs a defensive investment approach focused on long-term credit performance and principal protection. This investment approach involves a multi-stage selection process for each investment opportunity as well as ongoing monitoring of each investment made, with particular emphasis on early detection of credit deterioration. This strategy is designed to minimize potential losses and achieve attractive risk adjusted returns.
Active Portfolio Monitoring. The Adviser closely monitors the investments in our portfolio and takes a proactive approach to identifying and addressing sector- or company-specific risks. The Adviser receives and reviews detailed financial information from portfolio companies no less than quarterly and seeks to maintain regular dialogue with portfolio company management teams regarding current and forecasted performance. In addition, the Adviser has built out its portfolio management team to include workout experts who closely monitor our portfolio companies and assess each portfolio company’s operational and liquidity exposure and outlook. Although we may invest in “covenant-lite” loans, which generally do not have a complete set of financial maintenance covenants, we anticipate that many of our 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. 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 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 with Positive Cash Flow. We seek to invest in companies with sound historical financial performance which we believe tend to be well-positioned to maintain consistent cash flow to service and repay their obligations and maintain growth in their businesses or market share in all market conditions, including in the event of a recession. The Adviser typically focuses on upper middle-market companies with a history of profitability on an operating cash flow basis. The Adviser does not intend to invest in start-up companies that have not achieved sustainable profitability and cash flow generation or companies with speculative business plans.
Strong Competitive Position in Industry. The Adviser analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of target companies relative to their competitors. The factors the Adviser considers include relative product pricing, product quality, customer loyalty, substitution risk, switching costs, patent protection, brand positioning and capitalization. We seek to invest in companies that have developed
7
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 and profitability to service their obligations in a range of economic environments or are in industries with significant barriers to entry. We 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 profitability.
Experienced Management Team. We seek to invest in companies that have experienced management teams. We also 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 seek to invest in companies that have a diversified customer and supplier base. Companies with a diversified customer and supplier base are generally 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 would enable us to realize appreciation in the value of our equity interest. Liquidity events may include an initial public offering, 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 stockholders.
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.
Financial Sponsorship. We 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 Industries. We seek to invest broadly among portfolio companies and industries, 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. We seek to invest not more than 20% of our portfolio in any single industry classification and target portfolio companies that comprise 1-2% of our portfolio (with no individual portfolio company generally expected to comprise greater than 5% of our portfolio).
Investment Process Overview
Origination and Sourcing. The Investment Team has an extensive network from which to source deal flow and referrals. Specifically, the Adviser sources 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 the Adviser particularly 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 is made involves extensive research into the company, its industry, its growth prospects and its ability to withstand adverse conditions. If one or more members of the Investment Team responsible for the transaction determines that an investment opportunity should be pursued, the Adviser will engage in an intensive due diligence process. Though each transaction may involve a somewhat different approach, the 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; |
8
|
|
• |
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 the 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. |
Selective Investment Process. After an investment has been identified and preliminary diligence has been completed, an investment committee memorandum is prepared. This report is 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 is 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 unanimous approval of the Investment Committee. Once the Investment Committee has determined that a prospective portfolio company is suitable for investment, the Adviser works with the management team 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.
Inclusion of Covenants. 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 are 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 refer generally 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.
Portfolio Monitoring. The Adviser monitors our portfolio companies on an ongoing basis. The Adviser monitors 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. |
9
|
Structure of Investments
Our investment objective is to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns.
We expect that generally our portfolio composition will be majority debt or income producing securities, which may include “covenant-lite” loans, with a lesser allocation to equity or equity-linked opportunities. In addition, we may invest a portion of our portfolio in opportunistic investments, which will not be our primary focus, but will be intended to enhance returns to our shareholders. These investments may include high-yield bonds and broadly-syndicated loans. 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 are 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. See “Investment Process Overview – Inclusion of Covenants.”
Debt Investments. The terms of our debt investments are tailored to the facts and circumstances of each transaction. The Adviser negotiates 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 is 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, “unitranche” loans (including “last out” portions of such loans), and secured corporate bonds with similar features to these categories of first-lien loans. As of December 31, 2020, 37% of our first lien debt was comprised of unitranche 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. |
|
• |
Unitranche loans. Unitranche loans (including “last out” portion of such loans) combine features of first-lien, second-lien and mezzanine debt, generally in a first-lien position. In many cases, we may 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 are set forth in an “agreement among lenders,” which provides 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. 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 intercreditor 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. |
10
Our debt investments are typically structured with the maximum seniority and collateral that we can reasonably obtain while seeking to achieve our total return target. The Adviser seeks 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; |
|
• |
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. |
Within our portfolio, the Adviser aims to maintain the appropriate proportion among the various types of first-lien loans, as well as second-lien debt and mezzanine debt, to allow us to achieve our target returns while maintaining our targeted amount of credit risk.
Equity Investments. Our investment in a portfolio company could be or may include an equity or equity linked interest, such as a warrant or profit participation right. In certain instances, we will make direct equity investments, although those situations are generally limited to those cases where we are also making an investment in a more senior part of the capital structure of the issuer.
Investment Portfolio
As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, we had made investments with an aggregate fair value of $10.8 billion and $8.8 billion, respectively, in 119 and 98 portfolio companies, respectively. Investments consisted of the following at December 31, 2020 and 2019:
|
|
December 31, 2020 |
|
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
($ in thousands) |
|
Amortized Cost |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
|
Net Unrealized Gain (Loss) |
|
|
Amortized Cost |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
|
Net Unrealized Gain (Loss) |
|
||||||
First-lien senior secured debt investments |
|
$ |
8,483,799 |
|
|
$ |
8,404,754 |
|
|
$ |
(79,045 |
) |
|
$ |
7,136,866 |
|
|
$ |
7,113,356 |
|
|
$ |
(23,510 |
) |
Second-lien senior secured debt investments |
|
|
2,035,151 |
|
|
|
2,000,471 |
|
|
|
(34,680 |
) |
|
|
1,590,439 |
|
|
|
1,584,917 |
|
|
|
(5,522 |
) |
Unsecured debt investments |
|
|
56,473 |
|
|
|
59,562 |
|
|
|
3,089 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
Equity investments(1) |
|
|
245,458 |
|
|
|
271,739 |
|
|
|
26,281 |
|
|
|
12,663 |
|
|
|
12,875 |
|
|
|
212 |
|
Investment funds and vehicles(2) |
|
|
107,837 |
|
|
|
105,546 |
|
|
|
(2,291 |
) |
|
|
88,888 |
|
|
|
88,077 |
|
|
|
(811 |
) |
Total Investments |
|
$ |
10,928,718 |
|
|
$ |
10,842,072 |
|
|
$ |
(86,646 |
) |
|
$ |
8,828,856 |
|
|
$ |
8,799,225 |
|
|
$ |
(29,631 |
) |
________________
|
(1) |
Includes equity investment in Wingspire Capital Holdings LLC (“Wingspire”). See “ITEM 8. – FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA – Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements – Note 3. Agreements and Related Party Transactions” for more information regarding Wingspire Capital Holdings LLC. |
|
(2) |
Includes equity investment in Sebago Lake. See “ITEM 8. – FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA – Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements – Note 4. Investments” for more information regarding Sebago Lake. |
As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, we had outstanding commitments to fund unfunded investments totaling $880.6 million and $891.7 million, respectively.
11
The industry composition of investments at fair value at December 31, 2020 and 2019 was as follows:
|
|
December 31, 2020 |
|
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
|
||
Advertising and media |
|
|
1.0 |
|
% |
|
2.6 |
|
% |
Aerospace and defense |
|
|
2.7 |
|
|
|
3.3 |
|
|
Automotive |
|
|
1.6 |
|
|
|
1.7 |
|
|
Buildings and real estate |
|
|
5.6 |
|
|
|
6.6 |
|
|
Business services |
|
|
5.7 |
|
|
|
5.4 |
|
|
Chemicals |
|
|
2.2 |
|
|
|
2.6 |
|
|
Consumer products |
|
|
2.3 |
|
|
|
2.7 |
|
|
Containers and packaging |
|
|
2.0 |
|
|
|
2.1 |
|
|
Distribution |
|
|
6.3 |
|
|
|
8.6 |
|
|
Education |
|
|
2.6 |
|
|
|
3.5 |
|
|
Energy equipment and services |
|
|
0.1 |
|
|
|
0.2 |
|
|
Financial services (1) |
|
|
2.9 |
|
|
|
1.6 |
|
|
Food and beverage |
|
|
8.7 |
|
|
|
7.2 |
|
|
Healthcare equipment and services |
|
|
3.7 |
|
|
|
8.3 |
|
|
Healthcare providers and services |
|
|
5.2 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Healthcare technology |
|
|
3.6 |
|
|
|
3.4 |
|
|
Household products |
|
|
1.4 |
|
|
|
1.5 |
|
|
Human resource support services (3) |
|
|
0.0 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
Infrastructure and environmental services |
|
|
1.8 |
|
|
|
2.7 |
|
|
Insurance |
|
|
8.9 |
|
|
|
5.7 |
|
|
Internet software and services |
|
|
11.1 |
|
|
|
8.1 |
|
|
Investment funds and vehicles (2) |
|
|
1.0 |
|
|
|
1.0 |
|
|
Leisure and entertainment |
|
|
2.0 |
|
|
|
2.0 |
|
|
Manufacturing |
|
|
5.3 |
|
|
|
2.9 |
|
|
Oil and gas |
|
|
1.7 |
|
|
|
2.3 |
|
|
Professional services |
|
|
5.6 |
|
|
|
8.1 |
|
|
Specialty retail |
|
|
2.1 |
|
|
|
2.7 |
|
|
Telecommunications |
|
|
0.5 |
|
|
|
0.5 |
|
|
Transportation |
|
|
2.4 |
|
|
|
2.7 |
|
|
Total |
|
|
100.0 |
|
% |
|
100.0 |
|
% |
________________
|
(1) |
Includes equity investment in Wingspire. See “ITEM 8. – FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA – Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements – Note 3. Agreements and Related Party Transactions” for more information regarding Wingspire. |
|
(2) |
Includes investment in Sebago Lake. See “ITEM 8. – FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA – Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements – Note 4. Investments” for more information regarding Sebago Lake. |
|
(3) |
Rounds to less than 0.1%. |
The geographic composition of investments at fair value at December 31, 2020 and 2019 was as follows:
|
|
December 31, 2020 |
|
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
|
||
United States: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Midwest |
|
|
18.2 |
|
% |
|
19.5 |
|
% |
Northeast |
|
|
16.7 |
|
|
|
18.7 |
|
|
South |
|
|
42.3 |
|
|
|
42.8 |
|
|
West |
|
|
17.2 |
|
|
|
15.3 |
|
|
Belgium |
|
|
0.8 |
|
|
|
1.0 |
|
|
Canada |
|
|
1.0 |
|
|
|
0.9 |
|
|
Israel |
|
|
0.4 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
United Kingdom |
|
|
3.4 |
|
|
|
1.8 |
|
|
|
|
100.0 |
|
% |
|
100.0 |
|
% |
12
Sebago Lake, a Delaware limited liability company, was formed as a joint venture between us and The Regents of the University of California (“Regents”) and commenced operations on June 20, 2017. Sebago Lake’s principal purpose is to make investments, primarily in senior secured loans that are made to middle-market companies or in broadly syndicated loans. Both us and Regents (the “Members”) have a 50% economic ownership in Sebago Lake. Except under certain circumstances, contributions to Sebago Lake cannot be redeemed. Each of the Members initially agreed to contribute up to $100 million to Sebago Lake. On July 26, 2018, each of the Members increased their contribution to Sebago Lake up to an aggregate of $125 million. As of December 31, 2020, each Member has funded $107.8 million of their $125 million subscriptions. Sebago Lake is managed by the Members, each of which have equal voting rights. Investment decisions must be approved by each of the Members.
We have determined that Sebago Lake is an investment company under Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 946; however, in accordance with such guidance, we will generally not consolidate our investment in a company other than a wholly owned investment company subsidiary or a controlled operating company whose business consists of providing services to the Company. Accordingly, we do not consolidate our non-controlling interest in Sebago Lake.
During the year ended December 31, 2018, we acquired one investment from Sebago Lake at fair market value. The transaction generated a realized gain of $0.1 million for Sebago Lake.
As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, Sebago Lake had total investments in senior secured debt at fair value, as determined by an independent valuation firm, of $554.7 million and $478.5 million, respectively. The following table is a summary of Sebago Lake’s portfolio as of December 31, 2020 and 2019:
($ in thousands) |
|
December 31, 2020 |
|
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
||
Total senior secured debt investments(1) |
|
$ |
563,555 |
|
|
$ |
484,439 |
|
Weighted average spread over LIBOR(1) |
|
|
4.45 |
% |
|
|
4.56 |
% |
Number of portfolio companies |
|
17 |
|
|
16 |
|
||
Largest funded investment to a single borrower(1) |
|
$ |
49,625 |
|
|
$ |
50,000 |
|
________________
|
(1) |
At par. |
See “Item 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS – Portfolio and Investment Activity – Sebago Lake LLC.”
Capital Resources and Borrowings
We anticipate generating cash in the future from the issuance of common stock and debt securities and cash flows from operations, including interest received on our debt investments.
Additionally, we are permitted, under specified conditions, to issue multiple classes of indebtedness and one class of shares senior to our common stock if our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, is at least equal to 150% immediately after each such issuance. Effective June 9, 2020, our asset coverage requirement applicable to senior securities was reduced from 200% to 150% and our current target leverage ratio is 0.90x-1.25x. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, our asset coverage was 206% and 293%, respectively. See “Regulation as a Business Development Company – Senior Securities; Coverage Ratio” below.
Furthermore, while any indebtedness and senior securities remain outstanding, we must take provisions to prohibit any distribution to our shareholders (which may cause us to fail to distribute amounts necessary to avoid entity-level taxation under the Code), or the repurchase of such securities or shares unless we meet the applicable asset coverage ratios at the time of the distribution or repurchase. In addition, we must also comply with positive and negative covenants customary for these types of indebtedness or senior securities.
13
Our debt obligations consisted of the following as of December 31, 2020 and 2019:
|
|
December 31, 2020 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
Aggregate Principal Committed |
|
|
Outstanding Principal |
|
|
Amount Available(1) |
|
|
Net Carrying Value(2) |
|
|||||
Revolving Credit Facility(3)(5) |
|
$ |
1,355,000 |
|
|
$ |
252,525 |
|
|
$ |
1,075,636 |
|
|
$ |
243,143 |
|
SPV Asset Facility II |
|
|
350,000 |
|
|
|
100,000 |
|
|
|
250,000 |
|
|
|
95,654 |
|
SPV Asset Facility III |
|
|
500,000 |
|
|
|
375,000 |
|
|
|
125,000 |
|
|
|
373,238 |
|
SPV Asset Facility IV |
|
|
450,000 |
|
|
|
295,000 |
|
|
|
155,000 |
|
|
|
291,644 |
|
CLO I |
|
|
390,000 |
|
|
|
390,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
386,708 |
|
CLO II |
|
|
260,000 |
|
|
|
260,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
257,686 |
|
CLO III |
|
|
260,000 |
|
|
|
260,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
257,744 |
|
CLO IV |
|
|
252,000 |
|
|
|
252,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
247,745 |
|
CLO V |
|
|
196,000 |
|
|
|
196,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
194,128 |
|
2023 Notes(4) |
|
|
150,000 |
|
|
|
150,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
151,889 |
|
2024 Notes(4) |
|
|
400,000 |
|
|
|
400,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
418,372 |
|
2025 Notes |
|
|
425,000 |
|
|
|
425,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
418,154 |
|
July 2025 Notes |
|
|
500,000 |
|
|
|
500,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
492,095 |
|
2026 Notes |
|
|
500,000 |
|
|
|
500,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
489,176 |
|
July 2026 Notes |
|
|
1,000,000 |
|
|
|
1,000,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
975,346 |
|
Total Debt |
|
$ |
6,988,000 |
|
|
$ |
5,355,525 |
|
|
$ |
1,605,636 |
|
|
$ |
5,292,722 |
|
________________
|
(1) |
The amount available reflects any limitations related to each credit facility’s borrowing base. |
|
(2) |
The carrying value of our Revolving Credit Facility, SPV Asset Facility II, SPV Asset Facility III, SPV Asset Facility IV, CLO I, CLO II, CLO III, CLO IV, CLO V, 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes, July 2025 Notes, 2026 Notes and July 2026 Notes are presented net of deferred financing costs of $9.4 million, $4.2 million, $1.8 million, $3.4 million, $3.3 million, $2.3 million, $2.3 million, $4.3 million, $1.9 million, $1.0 million, $7.0 million, $6.8 million, $7.9 million, $10.8 million and $24.7 million, respectively. |
|
(3) |
Includes the unrealized translation gain (loss) on borrowings denominated in foreign currencies. |
|
(4) |
Inclusive of change in fair market value of effective hedge. |
|
(5) |
The amount available is reduced by $26.8 million of outstanding letters of credit. |
14
|
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
||||||||||||||
($ in thousands) |
|
Aggregate Principal Committed |
|
|
Outstanding Principal |
|
|
Amount Available(1) |
|
|
Net Carrying Value(2) |
|
||||
Revolving Credit Facility(3)(5) |
|
$ |
1,170,000 |
|
|
$ |
480,861 |
|
|
$ |
664,410 |
|
|
$ |
473,655 |
|
SPV Asset Facility I |
|
|
400,000 |
|
|
|
300,000 |
|
|
|
100,000 |
|
|
|
297,246 |
|
SPV Asset Facility II |
|
|
350,000 |
|
|
|
350,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
346,395 |
|
SPV Asset Facility III |
|
|
500,000 |
|
|
|
255,000 |
|
|
|
245,000 |
|
|
|
251,548 |
|
SPV Asset Facility IV |
|
|
300,000 |
|
|
|
60,250 |
|
|
|
239,750 |
|
|
|
57,201 |
|
CLO I |
|
|
390,000 |
|
|
|
390,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
386,405 |
|
CLO II |
|
|
260,000 |
|
|
|
260,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
258,028 |
|
2023 Notes(4) |
|
|
150,000 |
|
|
|
150,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
150,113 |
|
2024 Notes(4) |
|
|
400,000 |
|
|
|
400,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
400,955 |
|
2025 Notes |
|
|
425,000 |
|
|
|
425,000 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
416,686 |
|
Total Debt |
|
$ |
4,345,000 |
|
|
$ |
3,071,111 |
|
|
$ |
1,249,160 |
|
|
$ |
3,038,232 |
|
________________
|
(1) |
The amount available reflects any limitations related to each credit facility’s borrowing base. |
|
(2) |
The carrying value of our Revolving Credit Facility, SPV Asset Facility I, SPV Asset Facility II, SPV Asset Facility III, SPV Asset Facility IV, CLO I, CLO II, 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes and 2025 Notes are presented net of deferred financing costs of $7.2 million, $2.8 million, $3.6 million, $3.5 million, $3.0 million, $3.6 million, $2.0 million, $1.4 million, $8.9 million and $8.3 million, respectively. |
|
(3) |
Includes the unrealized translation gain (loss) on borrowings denominated in foreign currencies. |
|
(4) |
Inclusive of change in fair market value of effective hedge. |
|
(5) |
The amount available is reduced by $24.7 million of outstanding letters of credit. |
See “Item 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS —Financial Condition, Liquidity and Capital Resources — Debt”.
Dividend Policy
To qualify for tax treatment as a RIC, we must distribute (or be treated as distributing) in each taxable year dividends of an amount equal to at least 90% of our investment company taxable income (which includes, among other items, dividends, interest, the excess of any net short-term capital gains over net long-term capital losses, as well as other taxable income, excluding any net capital gains reduced by deductible expenses) and 90% of our net tax-exempt income for that taxable year. As a RIC, we generally will not be subject to corporate-level U.S. federal income tax on our investment company taxable income and net capital gains that we distribute to shareholders. We may be subject to a nondeductible 4% U.S. federal excise tax if we do not distribute (or are treated as distributing) in each calendar year an amount at least equal to the sum of:
|
• |
98% of our net ordinary income, excluding certain ordinary gains and losses, recognized during a calendar year; |
|
• |
98.2% of our capital gain net income, adjusted for certain ordinary gains and losses, recognized for the twelve-month period ending on October 31 of such calendar year; and |
|
• |
100% of any income or gains recognized, but not distributed, in preceding years. |
We have previously incurred, and can be expected to incur in the future, such excise tax on a portion of our income and gains. While we intend to distribute income and capital gains to minimize exposure to the 4% excise tax, we may not be able to, or may not choose to, distribute amounts sufficient to avoid the imposition of the tax entirely. In that event, we will be liable for the tax only on the amount by which we do not meet the foregoing distribution requirement. See “ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS – Federal Income Tax Risks – We will be subject to corporate-level U.S federal income tax if we are unable to qualify and maintain our tax treatment as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code or if we make investments through taxable subsidiaries.”
On February 23, 2021, the Board declared a distribution of $0.31 per share for shareholders of record on March 31, 2021 payable on or before May 14, 2021.
15
The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2020:
|
December 31, 2020 |
|
||||||
|
Record Date |
|
Payment Date |
|
Distribution per Share |
|
||
November 3, 2020 |
|
December 31, 2020 |
|
January 19, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.31 |
|
May 28, 2019 (special dividend) |
|
December 31, 2020 |
|
January 19, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.08 |
|
August 4, 2020 |
|
September 30, 2020 |
|
November 13, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.31 |
|
May 28, 2019 (special dividend) |
|
September 30, 2020 |
|
November 13, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.08 |
|
May 5, 2020 |
|
June 30, 2020 |
|
August 14, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.31 |
|
May 28, 2019 (special dividend) |
|
June 30, 2020 |
|
August 14, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.08 |
|
February 19, 2020 |
|
March 31, 2020 |
|
May 15, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.31 |
|
May 28, 2019 (special dividend) |
|
March 31, 2020 |
|
May 15, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.08 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2019:
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
||||||
|
Record Date |
|
Payment Date |
|
Distribution per Share |
|
||
October 30, 2019 |
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
January 31, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.31 |
|
May 28, 2019 (special dividend) |
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
January 31, 2020 |
|
$ |
0.04 |
|
May 28, 2019 |
|
September 30, 2019 |
|
November 15, 2019 |
|
$ |
0.31 |
|
May 28, 2019 (special dividend) |
|
September 30, 2019 |
|
November 15, 2019 |
|
$ |
0.02 |
|
June 4, 2019 |
|
June 14, 2019 |
|
August 15, 2019 |
|
$ |
0.44 |
|
February 27, 2019 |
|
March 31, 2019 |
|
May 14, 2019 |
|
$ |
0.33 |
|
The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2018:
|
December 31, 2018 |
|
||||||
Date Declared |
|
Record Date |
|
Payment Date |
|
Distribution per Share |
|
|
November 6, 2018 |
|
December 31, 2018 |
|
January 31, 2019 |
|
$ |
0.36 |
|
August 7, 2018 |
|
September 30, 2018 |
|
November 15, 2018 |
|
$ |
0.39 |
|
June 22, 2018 |
|
June 30, 2018 |
|
August 15, 2018 |
|
$ |
0.34 |
|
March 2, 2018 |
|
March 31, 2018 |
|
April 30, 2018 |
|
$ |
0.33 |
|
We have adopted a dividend reinvestment plan, pursuant to which we will reinvest all cash distributions declared by the Board on behalf of our shareholders who do not elect to receive their distribution in cash as provided below. As a result, if the Board authorizes, and we declare, a cash dividend or other distribution, then our shareholders who have not opted out of our dividend reinvestment plan will have their cash distributions automatically reinvested in additional shares of our common stock as described below, rather than receiving the cash dividend or other distribution. Any fractional share otherwise issuable to a participant in the dividend reinvestment plan will instead be paid in cash.
In connection with our IPO, we entered into our second amended and restated dividend reinvestment plan, pursuant to which, if newly issued shares are used to implement the dividend reinvestment plan, the number of shares to be issued to a shareholder will be determined by dividing the total dollar amount of the cash dividend or distribution payable to a shareholder by the market price per share of our common stock at the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the payment date of a distribution, or if no sale is reported for such day, the average of the reported bid and ask prices. However, if the market price per share on the payment date of a cash dividend or distribution exceeds the most recently computed net asset value per share, we will issue shares at the greater of (i) the most recently computed net asset value per share and (ii) 95% of the current market price per share (or such lesser discount to the current market price per share that still exceeded the most recently computed net asset value per share). For example, if the most recently computed net asset value per share is $15.00 and the market price on the payment date of a cash dividend is $14.00 per share, we will issue shares at $14.00 per share. If the most recently computed net asset value per share is $15.00 and the market price on the
16
payment date of a cash dividend is $16.00 per share, we will issue shares at $15.20 per share (95% of the current market price). If the most recently computed net asset value per share is $15.00 and the market price on the payment date of a cash dividend is $15.50 per share, we will issue shares at $15.00 per share, as net asset value is greater than 95% ($14.73 per share) of the current market price. Pursuant to our second amended and restated dividend reinvestment plan, if shares are purchased in the open market to implement the dividend reinvestment plan, the number of shares to be issued to a shareholder shall be determined by dividing the dollar amount of the cash dividend payable to such shareholder by the weighted average price per share for all shares purchased by the plan administrator in the open market in connection with the dividend. Shareholders who receive distributions in the form of shares of common stock will be subject to the same U.S. federal, state and local tax consequences as if they received cash distributions.
No action is required on the part of a registered shareholder to have his, her or its cash dividend or other distributions reinvested in shares of our common stock. A registered shareholder is able to elect to receive an entire cash dividend or other distribution in cash by notifying the Adviser in writing so that such notice is received by the Adviser no later than ten days prior to the record date for distributions to the shareholders.
There are no brokerage charges or other charges to shareholders who participate in the plan.
The plan is terminable by us upon notice in writing mailed to each shareholder of record at least 30 days prior to any record date for the payment of any distribution by us.
During each quarter, but in no event later than 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter, our transfer agent or another designated agent will mail and/or make electronically available to each participant in the dividend reinvestment plan, a statement of account describing, as to such participant, the distributions received during such quarter, the number of shares of our common stock purchased during such quarter, and the per share purchase price for such shares. Annually, as required by the Code, we (or the applicable withholding agent) will include tax information for income earned on shares under the dividend reinvestment plan on a Form 1099-DIV that is mailed to shareholders subject to Internal Revenus Service (“IRS”) tax reporting. We reserve the right to amend, suspend or terminate the dividend reinvestment plan. Any distributions reinvested through the issuance of shares through our dividend reinvestment plan will increase our gross assets on which the base management fee and the incentive fee are determined and paid under the Investment Advisory Agreement. State Street Bank and Trust Company acts as the administrator of the dividend reinvestment plan.
Additional information about the dividend reinvestment plan may be obtained by contacting shareholder services for Owl Rock Capital Corporation at (212) 419-3000.
Repurchase Offers
On July 7, 2019, our Board approved a stock repurchase plan (the “Company 10b5-1 Plan”), to acquire up to $150 million in the aggregate of our common stock at prices below our net asset value per share over a specified period, in accordance with the guidelines specified in Rule 10b-18 and Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act. The Company 10b5-1 Plan commenced on August 19, 2019 and was exhausted on August 4, 2020.
The Company 10b5-1 Plan was intended to allow us to repurchase our common stock at times when we otherwise might be prevented from doing so under insider trading laws. The Company 10b5-1 Plan required Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, as our agent, to repurchase shares of common stock on our behalf when the market price per share was below the most recently reported net asset value per share (including any updates, corrections or adjustments publicly announced by us to any previously announced net asset value per share). Under the Company 10b5-1 Plan, the agent would increase the volume of purchases made as the price of our common stock declined, subject to volume restrictions.
The purchase of shares pursuant to the Company 10b5-1 Plan was intended to satisfy the conditions of Rule 10b5-1 and Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act, and was otherwise be subject to applicable law, including Regulation M, which may prohibit purchases under certain circumstances.
17
The following table provides information regarding purchases of our common stock by Goldman, Sachs & Co., as agent, pursuant to the 10b5-1 plan for each month in the year ended December 31, 2020:
Period ($ in millions, except share and per share amounts) |
|
Total Number of Shares Repurchased |
|
|
Average Price Paid per Share |
|
|
Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that have been Purchased Under the Plans |
|
|
Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plan |
|
||||
January 1, 2020 - January 31, 2020 |
|
|
- |
|
|
$ |
- |
|
|
$ |
- |
|
|
$ |
150.0 |
|
February 1, 2020 - February 29, 2020 |
|
|
87,328 |
|
|
$ |
15.17 |
|
|
$ |
1.4 |
|
|
$ |
148.6 |
|
March 1, 2020 - March 31, 2020 |
|
|
4,009,218 |
|
|
$ |
12.46 |
|
|
$ |
46.6 |
|
|
$ |
102.0 |
|
April 1, 2020 - April 30, 2020 |
|
|
6,235,497 |
|
|
$ |
11.95 |
|
|
$ |
74.3 |
|
|
$ |
27.7 |
|
May 1, 2020 - May 31, 2020 |
|
|
2,183,581 |
|
|
$ |
12.76 |
|
|
$ |
27.7 |
|
|
$ |
- |
|
June 1, 2020 - June 30, 2020 |
|
|
- |
|
|
$ |
- |
|
|
$ |
- |
|
|
$ |
- |
|
July 1, 2020 - July 31, 2020 |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
- |
|
|
|
|
|
August 1, 2020 - August 31, 2020 |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
- |
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
12,515,624 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
150.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
On November 3, 2020, our Board approved a repurchase program (the “Repurchase Plan”) under which we may repurchase up to $100 million of our outstanding common stock. Under the program, purchases may be made at management’s discretion from time to time in open-market transactions, in accordance with all applicable securities laws and regulations. Unless extended by the Board, the repurchase program will terminate 12-months from the date it was approved. As of December 31, 2020, no repurchases were made under the Repurchase Plan.
Competition
Our primary competitors in providing financing to middle market companies include public and private funds, other BDCs, commercial and investment banks, commercial finance companies and, to the extent they provide an alternative form of financing, private equity and hedge funds. Many of our competitors are substantially larger and have considerably greater financial, technical, and marketing resources than we do. Some competitors may have access to funding sources that are not available to us. In addition, some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and establish more relationships than us. Further, many of our competitors are not subject to the regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act imposes on us as a business development company, or to the distribution and other requirements we must satisfy to qualify for RIC tax treatment. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors — Risk Relating to Our Business — We may face increasing competition for investment opportunities, which could delay further deployment of our capital, reduce returns and result in losses.”
Investment Advisory Agreement
The description below of the Investment Advisory Agreement is only a summary and is not necessarily complete. The description set forth below is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Investment Advisory Agreement.
Under the terms of the Investment Advisory Agreement, the Adviser is responsible for the following:
|
• |
managing our assets in accordance with our investment objective, policies and restrictions; |
|
• |
determining the composition of our portfolio, the nature and timing of the changes to our portfolio and the manner of implementing such changes; |
|
• |
making investment decisions for us, including negotiating the terms of investments in, and dispositions of, portfolio securities and other instruments on its behalf; |
|
• |
monitoring our investments; |
|
• |
performing due diligence on prospective portfolio companies; |
18
|
|
• |
exercising voting rights in respect of portfolio securities and other investments for us; |
|
• |
serving on, and exercising observer rights for, boards of directors and similar committees of our portfolio companies; and |
|
• |
providing us with such other investment advisory and related services as we may, from time to time, reasonably require for the investment of capital. |
The Adviser’s services under the Investment Advisory Agreement are not exclusive, and it is free to furnish similar services to other entities so long as its services to us are not impaired.
Term
The Investment Advisory Agreement was approved by the Board on January 12, 2021, as described further below under “Business – Board Approval of the Investment Advisory Agreement.” Unless earlier terminated as described below, the Investment Advisory Agreement will remain in effect from year-to-year if approved annually by a majority of the Board or by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities and, in each case, a majority of the independent directors.
The Investment Advisory Agreement will automatically terminate within the meaning of the 1940 Act and related SEC guidance and interpretations in the event of its assignment. In accordance with the 1940 Act, without payment of penalty, we may terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement with the Adviser upon 60 days’ written notice. The decision to terminate the agreement may be made by a majority of the Board or the shareholders holding a Majority of the Outstanding Shares of our common stock. “Majority of the Outstanding Shares” means the lesser of (1) 67% or more of the outstanding shares of common stock present at a meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding shares of common stock are present or represented by proxy or (2) a majority of outstanding shares of common stock. In addition, without payment of penalty, the Adviser may generally terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement upon 60 days’ written notice.
On December 23, 2020, Owl Rock Capital Group, the parent of the Adviser (and a subsidiary of Owl Rock Capital Partners), and Dyal announced they are merging to form Blue Owl. Blue Owl will enter the public market via its acquisition by Altimar, a special purpose acquisition company. The Transaction, if consummated, will result in a change in control of the Adviser, which will be deemed an assignment of the Investment Advisory Agreement in accordance with the 1940 Act. As a result, the Board, after considering the Transaction and subsequent change in control, has determined that upon consummation of the Transaction and subject to the approval of the Company’s shareholders at a special meeting expected to be held on March 17, 2021, the Company should enter into a third amended and restated investment advisory agreement with the Adviser on terms that are identical to the Investment Advisory Agreement. See “Business – The Adviser and Administrator – Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC.”
Compensation of the Adviser
We pay the Adviser an investment advisory fee for its services under the Investment Advisory Agreement consisting of two components: a Management Fee and an Incentive Fee. The cost of both the Management Fee and the Incentive Fee will ultimately be borne by our shareholders.
The Management Fee is payable quarterly in arrears. Prior to July 18, 2019 (the “Listing Date”), the Management Fee was payable at an annual rate of 0.75% of our (i) average gross assets, excluding cash and cash equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts, at the end of our two most recently completed calendar quarters plus (ii) the average of any shareholder’s remaining unfunded Capital Commitments to us at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters. Following the Listing Date, the Management Fee is payable at an annual rate of (x) 1.5% of our average gross assets excluding cash and cash equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts, that is above an asset coverage ratio of 200% calculated in accordance with Sections 18 and 61 of the 1940 Act and (y) 1.00% of the Company’s average gross assets (excluding cash and cash equivalents, but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts) that is below an asset coverage ratio of 200% calculated in accordance with Sections 18 and 61 of the 1940 Act, in each case at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters payable quarterly in arrears. The Management Fee for any partial month or quarter, as the case may be, will be appropriately prorated and adjusted for any share issuances or repurchases during the relevant calendar months or quarters, as the case may be. For purposes of the Investment Advisory Agreement, gross assets means our total assets determined on a consolidated basis in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, excluding cash and cash equivalents, but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts.
Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, the Adviser was not entitled to an Incentive Fee prior to the Listing Date. Following the Listing Date, the Incentive Fee consists of two components that are independent of each other, with the result that one component may be payable even if the other is not. A portion of the Incentive Fee is based on our income and a portion is based on our capital gains, each as described below. The portion of the Incentive Fee based on income is determined and paid quarterly in arrears commencing with the first calendar quarter following the Listing Date, and equals 100% of the pre-Incentive Fee net
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investment income in excess of a 1.5% quarterly “hurdle rate,” until the Adviser has received 17.5% of the total pre-Incentive Fee net investment income for that calendar quarter and, for pre-Incentive Fee net investment income in excess of 1.82% quarterly, 17.5% of all remaining pre-Incentive Fee net investment income for that calendar quarter. The 100% “catch-up” provision for pre-Incentive Fee net investment income in excess of the 1.5% “hurdle rate” is intended to provide the Adviser with an incentive fee of 17.5% on all pre-Incentive Fee net investment income when that amount equals 1.82% in a calendar quarter (7.27% annualized), which is the rate at which catch-up is achieved. Once the “hurdle rate” is reached and catch-up is achieved, 17.5% of any pre-Incentive Fee net investment income in excess of 1.82% in any calendar quarter is payable to the Adviser.
Pre-Incentive Fee net investment income means dividends (including reinvested dividends), interest and fee income accrued by us during the calendar quarter, minus operating expenses for the calendar quarter (including the Management Fee, expenses payable under the Administration Agreement, as discussed below, and any interest expense and dividends paid on any issued and outstanding preferred stock, but excluding the Incentive Fee). Pre-Incentive Fee net investment income includes, in the case of investments with a deferred interest feature (such as original issue discount, debt instruments with pay-in-kind interest (“PIK”) and zero coupon securities), accrued income that we may not have received in cash. The Adviser is not obligated to return the Incentive Fee it receives on PIK interest that is later determined to be uncollectible in cash. Pre-Incentive Fee net investment income does not include any realized capital gains, realized capital losses or unrealized capital appreciation or depreciation.
To determine whether pre-Incentive Fee net investment income exceeds the hurdle rate, pre-Incentive Fee net investment income is expressed as a rate of return on the value of our net assets at the end of the immediately preceding calendar quarter commencing with the first calendar quarter following the Listing Date. Because of the structure of the Incentive Fee, it is possible that we may pay an Incentive Fee in a calendar quarter in which we incur a loss. For example, if we receive pre-Incentive Fee net investment income in excess of the quarterly hurdle rate, we will pay the applicable Incentive Fee even if we have incurred a loss in that calendar quarter due to realized and unrealized capital losses. In addition, because the quarterly hurdle rate is calculated based on our net assets, decreases in our net assets due to realized or unrealized capital losses in any given calendar quarter may increase the likelihood that the hurdle rate is reached and therefore the likelihood of us paying an Incentive Fee for that calendar quarter. Our net investment income used to calculate this component of the Incentive Fee is also included in the amount of our gross assets used to calculate the Management Fee because gross assets are total assets (including cash received) before deducting liabilities (such as declared dividend payments).
The following is a graphical representation of the calculation of the income-related portion of the incentive fee:
Quarterly Subordinated Incentive Fee on
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income
(expressed as a percentage of the value of net assets)
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0% |
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1.5% |
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1.82% |
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← 0% → |
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← 100% → |
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← 17.5% → |
The second component of the Incentive Fee, the Capital Gains Incentive Fee, payable at the end of each calendar year in arrears, equals 17.5% (reduced from 20% payable pursuant to the Original Investment Advisory Agreement) of cumulative realized capital gains from the Listing Date to the end of each calendar year, less cumulative realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation from the Listing Date to the end of each calendar year. Each year, the fee paid for the Capital Gains Incentive Fee is net of the aggregate amount of any previously paid Capital Gains Incentive Fee for prior periods. We will accrue, but will not pay, a Capital Gains Incentive Fee with respect to unrealized appreciation because a Capital Gains Incentive Fee would be owed to the Adviser if we were to sell the relevant investment and realize a capital gain. For the sole purpose of calculating the Capital Gains Incentive Fee, the cost basis as of the Listing Date for all of our investments made prior to the Listing Date will be equal to the fair market value of such investments as of the last day of the quarter in which the Listing Date occurred; provided, however, that in no event will the Capital Gains Fee payable pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement be in excess of the amount permitted by the Advisers Act, including Section 205 thereof.
The fees that are payable under the Investment Advisory Agreement for any partial period will be appropriately prorated.
Fee Waiver
On February 27, 2019, the Adviser agreed at all times prior to the fifteen-month anniversary of an Exchange Listing (which includes the IPO), to waive (i) any portion of the Management Fee that is in excess of 0.75% of the Company’s gross assets, excluding
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cash and cash-equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters, calculated in accordance with the Investment Advisory Agreement, and (ii) the entire Incentive Fee (including, for the avoidance of doubt, both the portion of the incentive fee based on the Company’s income and the capital gains incentive fee). The fee waiver expired on October 18, 2020.
Limitations of Liability and Indemnification
The Adviser and its officers, managers, partners, agents, employees, controlling persons, members and any other person or entity affiliated with the Adviser, including without limitation its sole member, are not liable to us for any action taken or omitted to be taken by the Adviser in connection with the performance of any of its duties or obligations under the Investment Advisory Agreement or otherwise as our investment adviser (except to the extent specified in Section 36(b) of the 1940 Act, concerning loss resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty (as the same is finally determined by judicial proceedings) with respect to the receipt of compensation for services).
We will indemnify the Adviser and its officers, managers, partners, agents, employees, controlling persons, members and any other person or entity affiliated with the Adviser, including without limitation its general partner or managing member (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) and hold them harmless from and against all damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and amounts reasonably paid in settlement) incurred by the Indemnified Parties in or by reason of any pending, threatened or completed action, suit, investigation or other proceeding (including an action or suit by or in the right of us or our security holders) arising out of or otherwise based upon the performance of any of the Adviser’s duties or obligations under the Investment Advisory Agreement or otherwise as our investment adviser. However, the Indemnified Parties shall not be entitled to indemnification in respect of, any liability to us or our shareholders to which the Indemnified Parties would otherwise be subject by reason of criminal conduct, willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of the Adviser’s duties or by reason of the reckless disregard of the Adviser’s duties and obligations under the Investment Advisory Agreement.
Board Approval of the Investment Advisory Agreement
On January 12, 2021, the Board held a meeting to consider and approve the continuation of the Investment Advisory Agreement and, subject to the consummation of the Transaction and the approval of the Company’s shareholders at a special meeting expected to be held on March 17, 2021, the third amended and restated investment advisory agreement, as well as related matters. See “Business – The Adviser and Administrator – Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC.” The Board was provided information it required to consider the Investment Advisory Agreement, including: (a) the nature, quality and extent of the advisory and other services to be provided to us by the Adviser; (b) comparative data with respect to advisory fees or similar expenses paid by other BDCs, which could include employees of the Adviser or its affiliates; (c) our projected operating expenses and expense ratio compared to BDCs with similar investment objectives; (d) any existing and potential sources of indirect income to the Adviser from its relationship with us and the profitability of that relationship; (e) information about the services to be performed and the personnel performing such services under the Investment Advisory Agreement; (f) the organizational capability and financial condition of the Adviser and its affiliates; and (g) the possibility of obtaining similar services from other third-party service providers or through an internally managed structure.
Based on the information reviewed and the discussion thereof, the Board, including a majority of the non-interested directors, determined that the investment advisory fee rates are reasonable in relation to the services provided and approved the continuation of the Investment Advisory Agreement and, subject to the consummation of the Transaction and the approval of the Company’s shareholders at a special meeting expected to be held on March 17, 2021, the third amended and restated investment advisory agreement, as being in the best interests of our shareholders.
Administration Agreement
The description below of the Administration Agreement is only a summary and is not necessarily complete. The description set forth below is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Administration Agreement.
Under the terms of the Administration Agreement, the Adviser performs, or oversees the performance of, administrative services for us, which includes, but is not limited to, providing office space, equipment and office services, maintaining financial records, preparing reports to shareholders and reports filed with the SEC, managing the payment of expenses and the performance of administrative and professional services rendered by others, which could include employees of the Adviser or its affiliates. We will reimburse the Adviser for services performed for us pursuant to the terms of the Administration Agreement. In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Administration Agreement, the Adviser may delegate its obligations under the Administration Agreement to an affiliate or to a third party and we will reimburse the Adviser for any services performed for us by such affiliate or third party.
The continuation of the Administration Agreement and, subject to the consummation of the Transaction, the amended and restated administration agreement, was approved by the Board on January 12, 2021. See “Business – The Adviser and Administrator –
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Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC.” Unless earlier terminated as described below, the Administration Agreement will remain in effect year-to-year if approved annually by a majority of the Board 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 the Board or the shareholders holding a Majority of the Outstanding Shares of our common stock. In addition, the Adviser may terminate the Administration Agreement, without payment of any penalty, upon 60 days’ written notice. To the extent that the Adviser outsources any of its functions we will pay the fees associated with such functions without profit to the Adviser.
The Administration Agreement provides that the Adviser and its affiliates’ respective officers, directors, members, managers, stockholders and employees are entitled to indemnification from us from and against any claims or liabilities, including reasonable legal fees and other expenses reasonably incurred, arising out of or in connection with our business and operations or any action taken or omitted on our behalf pursuant to authority granted by the Administration Agreement, except where attributable to willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of such person’s duties or reckless disregard of such person’s obligations and duties under the Administration Agreement.
Payment of Our Expenses under the Investment Advisory and Administration Agreements
Except as specifically provided below, we anticipate that all investment professionals and staff of the Adviser, when and to the extent engaged in providing investment advisory and management services to us, and the base compensation, bonus and benefits, and the routine overhead expenses, of such personnel allocable to such services, will be provided and paid for by the Adviser. We will bear our allocable portion of the compensation paid by the Adviser (or its affiliates) to our chief compliance officer and chief financial officer and their respective staffs (based on a percentage of time such individuals devote, on an estimated basis, to our business affairs, and as otherwise set forth in the Administrative Agreement). We also will bear all other costs and expenses of our operations, administration and transactions, including, but not limited to (i) investment advisory fees, including Management Fees and Incentive Fees, to the Adviser, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement; (ii) our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by the Adviser in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory Agreement and the Administrative Agreement, and (iii) all other costs and expenses of our operations and transactions including, without limitation, those relating to:
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the cost of our organization and offerings; |
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the cost of calculating our net asset value, including the cost of any third-party valuation services; |
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the cost of effecting any sales and repurchases of the common stock and other securities; |
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fees and expenses payable under any dealer manager agreements, if any; |
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debt service and other costs of borrowings or other financing arrangements; |
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costs of hedging; |
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expenses, including travel expense, incurred by the Adviser, or members of the Investment Team, or payable to third parties, performing due diligence on prospective portfolio companies and, if necessary, enforcing our rights; |
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transfer agent and custodial fees; |
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fees and expenses associated with marketing efforts; |
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federal and state registration fees, any stock exchange listing fees and fees payable to rating agencies; |
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federal, state and local taxes; |
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independent directors’ fees and expenses including certain travel expenses; |
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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 registration and listing fees, and the compensation of professionals responsible for the preparation of the foregoing; |
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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 investor relations personnel responsible for the preparation of the foregoing and related matters; |
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commissions and other compensation payable to brokers or dealers; |
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research and market data; |
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fidelity bond, directors and officers errors and omissions liability insurance and other insurance premiums; |
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direct costs and expenses of administration, including printing, mailing, long distance telephone and staff; |
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fees and expenses associated with independent audits, outside legal and consulting costs; |
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costs of winding up; |
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costs incurred in connection with the formation or maintenance of entities or vehicles to hold our assets for tax or other purposes; |
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extraordinary expenses (such as litigation or indemnification); and |
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costs associated with reporting and compliance obligations under the 1940 Act and applicable federal and state securities laws. |
We may be prohibited under the 1940 Act from conducting certain transactions with our affiliates without prior approval of the directors who are not interested persons, and in some cases, the prior approval of the SEC. We, the Adviser and certain of its affiliates have been granted exemptive relief by the SEC to co-invest with other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates, including the other Owl Rock BDCs, 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 are generally permitted to co-invest with certain of our affiliates if a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of the Board 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 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, and (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. In addition, pursuant to an exemptive order issued by the SEC on April 8, 2020 and applicable to all BDCs, through December 31, 2020, we were permitted, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, to complete follow-on investments in our existing portfolio companies with certain private funds managed by our Adviser or its affiliates and covered by our exemptive relief, even if such private funds had 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, 2021, it will not recommend enforcement action, to the extent that any BDC with an existing coinvestment 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’ allocation policy seeks to ensure equitable allocation of investment opportunities over time between Owl Rock Clients. As a result of the exemptive relief, there could be significant overlap in our investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of other Owl Rock Clients and/or other funds established by the the Owl Rock Advisers that could avail themselves of the exemptive relief.
License Agreement
We have also entered into a license agreement (the “License Agreement”) with an affiliate of Owl Rock Capital Partners, pursuant to which we were granted a non-exclusive license to use the name “Owl Rock.” Under the License Agreement, we have a right to use the Owl Rock name for so long as the Adviser or one of its affiliates remains our investment adviser. Other than with respect to this limited license, we have no legal right to the “Owl Rock” name or logo.
Employees
We do not currently have any employees and do not expect to have any employees. Services necessary for our business are provided by individuals who are employees of the Adviser or its affiliates, pursuant to the terms of the Investment Advisory Agreement and the Administration Agreement. Each of our executive officers is employed by the Adviser or its affiliates. Our day-to-day investment operations are managed by the Adviser. The services necessary for the origination and administration of our investment portfolio are provided by investment professionals employed by the Adviser or its affiliates. The Investment Team is focused on origination and transaction development and the ongoing monitoring of our investments. In addition, we reimburse the Adviser for the allocable portion of the compensation paid by the Adviser (or its affiliates) to our chief compliance officer and chief financial officer and their respective staffs (based on the percentage of time such individuals devote, on an estimated basis, to our business and affairs and as otherwise set forth in the Administrative Agreement). See “— Investment Advisory Agreement” and “— Administration Agreement.”
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Regulation as a Business Development Company
We have elected to be regulated as a BDC under the 1940 Act. The 1940 Act contains prohibitions and restrictions relating to transactions between BDCs and their affiliates (including any investment advisers or sub-advisers), principal underwriters and affiliates of those affiliates or underwriters and requires that a majority of the directors be persons other than “interested persons,” as that term is defined in the 1940 Act.
In addition, the 1940 Act provides that we may not change the nature of our business so as to cease to be, or to withdraw our election as, a BDC unless approved by a Majority of the Outstanding Shares of our common stock.
We are not generally able to issue and sell our common stock at a price below net asset value per share. We may, however, issue and sell our common stock, or warrants, options or rights to acquire our common stock, at a price below the then-current net asset value of our common stock if (1) our board of directors determines that such sale is in our best interests and the best interests of our shareholders, and (2) our shareholders have approved our policy and practice of making such sales within the preceding 12 months. In any such case, the price at which our securities are to be issued and sold may not be less than a price which, in the determination of our board of directors, closely approximates the market value of such securities.
As a BDC, 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, must be at least 200% (or 150% if certain conditions are met). This means that generally, we can borrow up to $1 for every $1 of investor equity (or, if certain conditions are met, we can borrow up to $2 for every $1 of investor equity). The reduced asset coverage requirement would permit a BDC to double the amount of leverage it could incur. On March 31, 2020, our Board, including a “required majority” (as such term is defined in Section 57(o) of the Investment Company Act) of our Board, approved the application of the modified asset coverage requirements set forth in Section 61(a)(2) of the Investment Company Act, as amended by the Small Business Credit Availability Act. On June 8, 2020, the date of our shareholder meeting, we received shareholder approval for the application of the modified asset coverage requirements set forth in Section 61(a)(2) of the 1940 Act, as amended by the Small Business Credit Availability Act. As a result, effective on June 9, 2020, our asset coverage requirement applicable to senior securities was reduced from 200% to 150%.
We may also be prohibited under the 1940 Act from knowingly participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our board of directors who are not interested persons and, in some cases, prior approval by the SEC.
We may invest up to 100% of our assets in securities acquired directly from issuers in privately negotiated transactions. With respect to such securities, we may, for the purpose of public resale, be deemed an “underwriter” as that term is defined in the Securities Act.
Our intention is to not write (sell) or buy put or call options to manage risks associated with the publicly traded securities of our portfolio companies, except that we may enter into hedging transactions to manage the risks associated with interest rate or currency fluctuations. However, we may purchase or otherwise receive warrants to purchase the common stock of our portfolio companies in connection with acquisition financing or other investments. Similarly, in connection with an acquisition, we may acquire rights to require the issuers of acquired securities or their affiliates to repurchase them under certain circumstances.
We do not intend to acquire securities issued by any investment company that exceed the limits imposed by the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder. Prior to January 19, 2021, except for registered money market funds, we generally were prohibited from acquiring more than 3% of the voting stock of any registered investment company, investing more than 5% of the value of our total assets in the securities of one investment company, or investing more than 10% of the value of our total assets in the securities of more than one investment company without obtaining exemptive relief from the SEC. However, the SEC adopted new rules, which became effective on January 19, 2021, that allow us to acquire the securities of other investment companies in excess of the 3%, 5%, and 10% limitations without obtaining exemptive relief if we comply with certain conditions. If we invest in securities issued by investment companies, if any, it should be noted that such investments might subject our shareholders to additional expenses as they will be indirectly responsible for the costs and expenses of such companies.
None of our investment policies are fundamental, and thus may be changed without shareholder approval.
Qualifying Assets. Under the 1940 Act, a BDC may not acquire any asset other than assets of the type listed in Section 55(a) of the 1940 Act, which are referred to as qualifying assets, unless, at the time the acquisition is made, qualifying assets represent at least 70% of the company’s total assets. The principal categories of qualifying assets relevant to our business are any of the following:
(1) Securities purchased in transactions not involving any public offering from the issuer of such securities, which issuer (subject to certain limited exceptions) is an eligible portfolio company, or from any person who is, or has been during the preceding 13 months, an affiliated person of an eligible portfolio company, or from any other person, subject to such rules as may be prescribed by the SEC. An eligible portfolio company is defined in the 1940 Act as any issuer which:
(a) is organized under the laws of, and has its principal place of business in, the United States;
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(b) is not an investment company (other than a small business investment company wholly owned by the business development company) or a company that would be an investment company but for certain exclusions under the 1940 Act; and
(c) satisfies any of the following:
(i) does not have any class of securities that is traded on a national securities exchange;
(ii) has a class of securities listed on a national securities exchange, but has an aggregate market value of outstanding voting and non-voting common equity of less than $250 million;
(iii) is controlled by a business development company or a group of companies including a business development company and the business development company has an affiliated person who is a director of the eligible portfolio company; or
(iv) is a small and solvent company having total assets of not more than $4 million and capital and surplus of not less than $2 million.
(2) Securities of any eligible portfolio company controlled by the Company.
(3) Securities purchased in a private transaction from a U.S. issuer that is not an investment company or from an affiliated person of the issuer, or in transactions incident thereto, if the issuer is in bankruptcy and subject to reorganization or if the issuer, immediately prior to the purchase of its securities was unable to meet its obligations as they came due without material assistance other than conventional lending or financing arrangements.
(4) Securities of an eligible portfolio company purchased from any person in a private transaction if there is no ready market for such securities and the Company already owns 60% of the outstanding equity of the eligible portfolio company.
(5) Securities received in exchange for or distributed on or with respect to securities described in (1) through (4) above, or pursuant to the exercise of warrants or rights relating to such securities.
(6) Cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities or high-quality debt securities maturing in one year or less from the time of investment.
In addition, a business development company must be operated for the purpose of making investments in the types of securities described in (1), (2) or (3) above.
Control, as defined by the 1940 Act, is presumed to exist where a BDC beneficially owns more than 25% of the outstanding voting securities of the portfolio company, but may exist in other circumstances based on the facts and circumstances.
The regulations defining qualifying assets may change over time. The Company may adjust its investment focus as needed to comply with and/or take advantage of any regulatory, legislative, administrative or judicial actions.
Managerial Assistance to Portfolio Companies. A BDC must have been organized and have its principal place of business in the United States and must be operated for the purpose of making investments in the types of securities described above. However, in order to count portfolio securities as qualifying assets for the purpose of the 70% test, the BDC must either control the issuer of the securities or must offer to make available to the issuer of the securities (other than small and solvent companies described above) significant managerial assistance; except that, where the BDC purchases such securities in conjunction with one or more other persons acting together, one of the other persons in the group may make available such managerial assistance. Where the BDC purchases such securities in conjunction with one or more other persons acting together, the BDC will satisfy this test if one of the other persons in the group makes available such managerial assistance, although this may not be the sole method by which the BDC satisfies the requirement to make available managerial assistance. Making available significant managerial assistance means, among other things, any arrangement whereby the BDC, through its directors, officers or employees, offers to provide and, if accepted, does so provide, significant guidance and counsel concerning the management, operations or business objectives and policies of a portfolio company through monitoring of portfolio company operations, selective participation in board and management meetings, consulting with and advising a portfolio company’s officers or other organizational or financial guidance.
Temporary Investments. Pending investment in other types of qualifying assets, as described above, our investments can consist of cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities or high quality debt securities maturing in one year or less from the time of investment, which are referred to herein, collectively, as temporary investments, so that 70% of our assets would be qualifying assets. We may invest in highly rated commercial paper, U.S. government agency notes, U.S. Treasury bills or in repurchase agreements relating to such securities that are fully collateralized by cash or securities issued by the U.S. government or its agencies. A repurchase agreement involves the purchase by an investor, such as us, of a specified security and the simultaneous agreement by the seller to repurchase it at an agreed-upon future date and at a price that is greater than the purchase price by an amount that reflects an agreed-
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upon interest rate. Consequently, repurchase agreements are functionally similar to loans. There is no percentage restriction on the proportion of our assets that may be invested in such repurchase agreements. However, the 1940 Act and certain diversification tests in order to qualify as a RIC for federal income tax purposes typically require us to limit the amount we invest with any one counterparty. Accordingly, we do not intend to enter into repurchase agreements with a single counterparty in excess of this limit. The Adviser will monitor the creditworthiness of the counterparties with which we may enter into repurchase agreement transactions.
Warrants. Under the 1940 Act, a BDC is subject to restrictions on the issuance, terms and amount of warrants, options or rights to purchase shares of capital stock that it may have outstanding at any time. Under the 1940 Act, we may generally only offer warrants provided that (i) the warrants expire by their terms within ten years, (ii) the exercise or conversion price is not less than the current market value at the date of issuance, (iii) shareholders authorize the proposal to issue such warrants, and the Board approves such issuance on the basis that the issuance is in our best interests and the shareholders best interests and (iv) if the warrants are accompanied by other securities, the warrants are not separately transferable unless no class of such warrants and the securities accompanying them has been publicly distributed. The 1940 Act also provides that the amount of our voting securities that would result from the exercise of all outstanding warrants, as well as options and rights, at the time of issuance may not exceed 25% of our outstanding voting securities. In particular, the amount of capital stock that would result from the conversion or exercise of all outstanding warrants, options or rights to purchase capital stock cannot exceed 25% of the BDC’s total outstanding shares of capital stock.
Senior Securities; Coverage Ratio. We are generally permitted, under specified conditions, to issue multiple classes of indebtedness and one class of stock senior to our common stock if immediately after such borrowing or issuance, 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, is at least 200% (or 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. On March 31, 2020, our Board, including a “required majority” (as such term is defined in Section 57(o) of the Investment Company Act) of our Board, approved the application of the modified asset coverage requirements set forth in Section 61(a)(2) of the Investment Company Act, as amended by the Small Business Credit Availability Act. On June 8, 2020, the date of our shareholder meeting, we received shareholder approval for the application of the modified asset coverage requirements set forth in Section 61(a)(2) of the 1940 Act, as amended by the Small Business Credit Availability Act. As a result, effective on June 9, 2020, our asset coverage requirement applicable to senior securities was reduced from 200% to 150%.
In addition, while any senior securities remain outstanding, we will be required to make provisions to prohibit any dividend distribution to our shareholders or the repurchase of such securities or shares unless we meet the applicable asset coverage ratios at the time of the dividend distribution or repurchase. We will also be permitted to borrow amounts up to 5% of the value of our total assets for temporary or emergency purposes, which borrowings would not be considered senior securities. For a discussion of the risks associated with leverage, see “ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS — Risks Related to Business Development Companies — Regulations governing our operation as a business development company 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 business development company, the necessity of raising additional capital may expose us to risks, including risks associated with leverage.”
Codes of Ethics. We and the Adviser have each adopted a code of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act and Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act, respectively, that establishes procedures for personal investments and restricts certain personal securities transactions. Personnel subject to the code are permitted to invest in securities for their personal investment accounts, including securities that may be purchased or held by us, so long as such investments are made in accordance with the code’s requirements. Our code of ethics is available, free of charge, on our website at www.owlrockcapitalcorporation.com. In addition, the code of ethics is available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.
Affiliated Transactions. We may be prohibited under the 1940 Act from conducting 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, the Adviser, and certain affiliates have applied for and been granted exemptive relief by the SEC to co-invest with other funds managed by the 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 makes certain conclusions in connection with a co-investment transactions, 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 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, and (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. The Owl Rock Advisers’ allocation policy incorporates the conditions of the exemptive relief and seeks to ensure equitable allocation of investment opportunities between the Company and/or other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates over time. As a result of exemptive
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relief, there could be significant overlap in the Company’s investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of other Owl Rock Clients that could avail themselves of the exemptive relief.
Cancellation of the Investment Advisory Agreement. Under the 1940 Act, the Investment Advisory Agreement will automatically terminate in the event of its assignment, as defined in the 1940 Act, by the Adviser. See "Investment Advisory Agreement - Term." The Investment Advisory Agreement may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by us upon not less than 60 days’ written notice to the Adviser and may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by the Adviser upon 60 days’ written notice to us. The holders of a Majority of our Outstanding Shares may also terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement without penalty upon not less than 60 days’ written notice. Unless terminated earlier as described above, the Investment Advisory Agreement will remain in effect for a period of two years from the date it first become effective and will remain in effect from year-to-year thereafter if approved annually by our Board or by the affirmative vote of the holders of a Majority of our Outstanding Shares, and, in either case, if also approved by a majority of our directors who are not “interested persons” as defined in the 1940 Act.
Other. We have adopted an investment policy that complies with the requirements applicable to us as a BDC. We expect to be periodically examined by the SEC for compliance with the 1940 Act, and will be subject to the periodic reporting and related requirements of the Exchange Act.
We are also required to provide and maintain a bond issued by a reputable fidelity insurance company to protect against larceny and embezzlement. Furthermore, as a BDC, we are prohibited from protecting any director or officer against any liability to our shareholders arising from willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of such person’s office.
We are also required to designate a chief compliance officer and to adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violation of the federal securities laws and to review these policies and procedures annually for their adequacy and the effectiveness of their implementation.
We are not permitted to change the nature of our business so as to cease to be, or to withdraw our election as, a BDC unless approved by a Majority of the Outstanding Shares of our common stock.
We intend to operate as a non-diversified management investment company; however, we are currently and may, from time to time, in the future, be considered a diversified management investment company pursuant to the definitions set forth in the 1940 Act.
Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “ORCC.” As a listed company on the NYSE, we are subject to various listing standards including corporate governance listing standards. We believe we are in material compliance with these rules.
Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations
The following discussion is a general summary of certain U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to us and to an investment in our common stock. This discussion does not purport to be a complete description of the income tax considerations applicable to such an investment. For example, this discussion does not describe tax consequences that we have assumed to be generally known by investors or certain considerations that may be relevant to certain types of holders subject to special treatment under U.S. federal income tax laws, including persons who hold our common stock as part of a straddle or a hedging, integrated or constructive sale transaction, persons subject to the alternative minimum tax, tax-exempt organizations, insurance companies, brokers or dealers in securities, pension plans and trusts, persons whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar, U.S. expatriates, regulated investment companies, real estate investment trusts, personal holding companies, persons who acquire an interest in the Company in connection with the performance of services, and financial institutions. Such persons should consult with their own tax advisers as to the U.S. federal income tax consequences of an investment in our common stock, which may differ substantially from those described herein. This discussion assumes that shareholders hold our common stock as capital assets (within the meaning of the Code).
The discussion is based upon the Code, U.S. Department of Treasury ("Treasury") regulations, and administrative and judicial interpretations, each as of the date of this report and all of which are subject to change, possibly retroactively, which could affect the continuing validity of this discussion. We have not sought and will not seek any ruling from the IRS regarding any matter discussed herein. Prospective investors should be aware that, although we intend to adopt positions we believe are in accord with current interpretations of the U.S. federal income tax laws, the IRS may not agree with the tax positions taken by us and that, if challenged by the IRS, our tax positions might not be sustained by the courts. This summary does not discuss any aspects of U.S. estate, alternative minimum, or gift tax or foreign, state or local tax. It also does not discuss the special treatment under U.S. federal income tax laws that could result if we invested in tax-exempt securities or certain other investment assets.
For purposes of this discussion, a “U.S. Shareholder” generally is a beneficial owner of our common stock that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes:
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a citizen or individual resident of the United States; |
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a corporation (or other entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) organized in or under the laws of the U.S. or of any political subdivision thereof; |
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a trust that is subject to the supervision of a court within the U.S. and the control of one or more U.S. persons or that has a valid election in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations to be treated as a U.S. person; or |
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an estate, the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source. |
A “Non-U.S. Shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our common stock that is not a U.S. Shareholder or a partnership for U.S. tax purposes.
If a partnership (including an entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds our common stock, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership will generally depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Any partner of a partnership holding our common stock should consult its tax advisers with respect to the purchase, ownership and disposition of such shares.
Tax matters are very complicated and the tax consequences to an investor of an investment in our common stock will depend on the facts of his, her or its particular situation.
Taxation as a Regulated Investment Company
We have elected to be treated and intend to qualify each year as a RIC. As a RIC, we generally will not have to pay corporate-level U.S. federal income taxes on any ordinary income or capital gains that we distribute to our shareholders as dividends. To qualify as a RIC, we must, among other things, meet certain source-of-income and asset diversification requirements (as described below). In addition, in order to obtain RIC tax benefits, we must distribute to our shareholders, for each taxable year, at least 90% of our “investment company taxable income,” which is generally our ordinary income plus the excess of realized net short-term capital gains over realized net long-term capital losses (the “Annual Distribution Requirement”).
If we qualify as a RIC, and satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement, then we will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of our income we distribute (or are deemed to distribute) to our shareholders. We will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at the regular corporate rates on any income or capital gains not distributed (or deemed distributed) to our shareholders.
We will be subject to a 4% nondeductible U.S. federal excise tax on certain undistributed income unless we distribute in a timely manner an amount at least equal to the sum of (i) 98% of our net ordinary income for each calendar year, (ii) 98.2% of the amount by which our capital gains exceed our capital losses (adjusted for certain ordinary losses) for the one-year period ending October 31 in that calendar year and (iii) certain undistributed amounts from previous years on which we paid no U.S. federal income tax (the “Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement”). While we intend to distribute any income and capital gains in order to avoid imposition of this 4% U.S. federal excise tax, we may not be successful in avoiding entirely the imposition of this tax. In that case, we will be liable for the tax only on the amount by which we do not meet the foregoing distribution requirement.
In order to qualify as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we must, among other things:
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continue to qualify as a BDC under the 1940 Act at all times during each taxable year; |
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derive in each taxable year at least 90% of our gross income from dividends, interest, payments with respect to loans of certain securities, gains from the sale of stock or other securities or foreign currencies, net income from certain “qualified publicly traded partnerships,” or other income derived with respect to our business of investing in such stock or securities (the “90% Income Test”); and |
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diversify our holdings so that at the end of each quarter of the taxable year: |
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at least 50% of the value of our assets consists of cash, cash equivalents, U.S. Government securities, securities of other RICs, and other securities if such other securities of any one issuer 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 |
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no more than 25% of the value of our assets is invested in the (i) securities, other than U.S. Government securities or securities of other RICs, of one issuer, (ii) securities 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 (iii) securities of one or more “qualified publicly traded partnerships” (the “Diversification Tests”). |
We may be required to recognize taxable income in circumstances in which we do not receive cash. For example, if we hold debt obligations that are treated under applicable tax rules as having original issue discount (such as debt instruments with PIK interest