Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business
We are a non-diversified, externally managed specialty finance company focused on lending to middle-market companies. We have elected to be regulated as a BDC under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). For U.S. federal income tax purposes, we have elected to be treated, and intend to comply with the requirements to qualify annually, as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code. We are externally managed by MS Capital Partners Adviser Inc., an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, or the Adviser. We are not a subsidiary of, or consolidated with, Morgan Stanley.
Our investment objective is to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns via current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by investing primarily in directly originated senior secured term loans issued by U.S. middle-market companies backed by private equity sponsors. For the purposes of this report, “middle-market companies” refers to companies that, in general, generate annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, in the range of approximately $15 million to $200 million, although not all of our portfolio companies will meet this criteria.
We invest primarily in directly originated senior secured term loans including first lien senior secured term loans (including unitranche loans) and second lien senior secured term loans, with the balance of our investments expected to be in higher-yielding assets such as mezzanine debt, unsecured debt, equity investments and other opportunistic asset purchases. Typical middle-market senior loans may be issued by middle-market companies in the context of leveraged buyouts, or LBOs, acquisitions, debt refinancings, recapitalizations, and other similar transactions. We generally expect our debt investments to have a stated term of five to eight years and typically bear interest at a floating rate usually determined on the basis of a benchmark (historically, the London Inter-bank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, and currently, the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR).
We generate revenues primarily in the form of interest income from investments we hold. In addition, we generate income from dividends or distributions of income on any direct equity investments, capital gains on the sale of loans and debt and equity securities, and various other loan origination and other fees, including commitment, origination, amendment, structuring, syndication or due diligence fees, fees for providing managerial assistance and consulting fees.
The middle-market loans in which we generally invest are typically not rated by any rating agency, but we believe that if they were rated, they would be below investment grade (rated lower than “Baa3” by Moody’s Investors Service, lower than “BBB-” by Fitch Ratings or lower than “BBB-” by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services), which under the guidelines established by these rating agencies is an indication of having predominantly speculative characteristics with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay interest and repay principal. Debt instruments that are rated below investment grade are sometimes referred to as “high yield bonds” or “junk bonds.”
Our investment approach is focused on long-term credit performance, risk mitigation and preservation of principal. Utilizing our proprietary investment approach, we intend to execute on our investment objective by (1) drawing upon the Adviser’s and the Firm’s longstanding and deep relationships with middle-market companies, private equity sponsors, commercial and investment banks, industry executives and financial intermediaries to provide a strong pipeline of investment opportunities, (2) implementing the Adviser’s rigorous, fundamentals-driven and disciplined investment and risk management process, (3) drawing on the investment committee’s extensive experience in credit and principal investing, credit analysis and structuring, and (4) accessing Morgan Stanley’s global resources.
By leveraging the established origination and underwriting capabilities within the MS Private Credit platform and targeting an attractive investing area in the U.S. middle-market, we believe we are able to offer attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors. Despite recent market volatility, we believe the middle-market direct lending market environment continues to be attractive. We remain highly focused on conducting extensive due diligence and leveraging the Morgan Stanley platform. We continue to seek to invest in companies that are led by strong management teams, generate substantial free cash flow, have leading market positions, benefit from sustainable business models, and are well positioned to perform well despite the impact of recent market volatility. We believe the current market environment offers opportunities to seek compelling risk adjusted returns. Our investment pace will depend on several factors including the market environment, including the current inflationary economic environment, and deal flow.
The current inflationary environment and uncertainty as to the probability of, and length and depth of a global recession has created stress on the market and could affect our portfolio companies. Government spending, government policies, including recent increases in certain interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other global central banks, volatile energy prices and disruptions in supply chains in the United States and elsewhere, in conjunction with other factors, including those described in this Form 10-K, or this report, could affect our portfolio companies, our financial condition and our results of operations. We will continue to monitor the evolving market environment. In these circumstances, developments outside our control could require us to adjust our plan of operations and could impact our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows in the future. Despite these factors, we believe we and our portfolio are well positioned to manage the current environment. See “ Risk Factors — General Risk Factors — Terrorist attacks, acts of war, natural disasters, outbreaks or pandemics, such as the Coronavirus pandemic, may impact our portfolio companies and our Adviser and harm our business, operating results and financial condition ” in this report.
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On December 23, 2019, we completed our initial closing, or Initial Closing, of capital commitments to purchase shares of our Common Stock in a private placement pursuant to subscription agreements with investors (the “ Subscription Agreements ” ). Since our Initial Closing, we held additional closings and received aggregate capital commitments to purchase Common Stock. As of December 31, 2022, total capital commitments were approximately $1,629.4 million , approximately $1,409.1 million of which had been called as of December 31, 2022 .
We may draw down capital commitments to make investments or pay expenses at any time during our investment period, or Investment Period, which ends on December 23, 2023 after the one-year extension approved by our Board of Directors. After the end of the Investment Period, we can draw down remaining capital commitments, if any, to the extent necessary to: (a) pay our expenses, including management fees, incentive fees and any amounts that may become due under any borrowings or other financings or similar obligations, any indemnity obligations and any other liabilities, contingent or otherwise, and/or (b) complete investments or obligations (including guarantees) in any transactions for which we have entered into a letter of intent, memorandum of understanding, written bid letter, written agreement in principle, or binding written agreement as of the end of the Investment Period (including investments that are funded in phases).
The Adviser
We have entered into an investment advisory agreement with our Adviser on November 25, 2019 (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”). Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, we pay our Adviser a fee for investment advisory and management services consisting of two components — a base management fee and an incentive fee. The Investment Advisory Agreement had an initial term of two years and continues thereafter from year to year if approved annually by a majority of our stockholders or a majority of the Board of Directors, including a majority of the directors who are not “interested persons” as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act, or the Independent Directors. The Investment Advisory Agreement was most recently renewed in August 2022. For more information, see “ Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Investment Advisory Agreement .”
Our Adviser, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, was established in 2007 and serves as the investment adviser for various funds, accounts and strategies, including the funds and accounts on the MS Private Credit platform, including the MS BDCs, and managed committed capital 1 of approximately $14.9 billion at fair value as of March 1, 2023. The MS Private Credit platform was launched in 2010 and includes dedicated strategies targeting different credit products, asset yields and issuer sizes, resulting in a platform that we believe is well positioned to provide scale and flexible financing solutions to borrowers, maximizes deal origination and enhances the ability to generate attractive risk adjusted returns for our investors.
Our Investment Committee is comprised of ten senior investment professionals of IM and is chaired by Jeffrey S. Levin, our Chief Executive Officer and President and a member of our Board of Directors. The Investment Committee members have an average of 23 years of relevant industry experience and have experience investing across multiple credit cycles and different investing environments, including the global financial crisis of 2008. All investment decisions are reviewed and approved by the Investment Committee, which has principal responsibility for approving new investments and overseeing the management of existing investments.
Our Adviser is served by the Investment Team within the MS Private Credit platform. The Investment Team is responsible for origination, due diligence, underwriting, structuring and monitoring each investment throughout its life cycle. In addition, to the Company’s executive officers and their support team, the MS Private Credit platform is supported by numerous professionals in legal, compliance, risk management, finance, accounting and tax who help support the platform by providing guidance on our operations.
MS Private Credit’s primary areas of focus include:
• Direct Lending. As of December 31, 2022 , the Direct Lending strategy includes the Company and the other MS BDCs advised by our Adviser and other funds and separately managed accounts. Investments made primarily in directly originated first lien senior secured and second lien senior secured loans, mezzanine notes, unsecured debt, preferred stock, and common stock issued by U.S. middle-market companies owned by private equity firms, typically, although not always, with annual EBITDA of up to $200 million. As of March 1, 2023, Direct Lending managed approximately $13.0 billion in committed capital.
• Opportunistic Credit. Investments made primarily in complex assets, unusual credit situations or companies experiencing difficulties in sourcing capital. Other potential investments included in this category may include purchasing public or private securities in the open market at deep discounts to their fundamental value. Investments are made primarily in first lien senior secured and second lien senior secured loans, mezzanine notes, unsecured debt, preferred stock and common stock issued by U.S. middle-market companies, typically, although not always, with annual EBITDA of $10 million to $100+ million. As of March 1, 2023, Opportunistic Credit managed approximately $1.9 billion in committed capital.
Morgan Stanley, the parent of our Adviser, is a global financial services firm whose predecessor companies date back to 1924 and, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, advises, originates, trades, manages and distributes capital for governments, institutions and
1 Committed capital is calculated as aggregate capital commitments received and total committed leverage within each of the funds or accounts with exception for funds past their investment period, where committed capital is calculated as invested capital.
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individuals. Morgan Stanley maintains a significant market position in each of its business divisions-Institutional Securities Group, or ISG, Wealth Management, or WM, and IM. We are not a subsidiary of or consolidated with Morgan Stanley and Morgan Stanley does not guarantee any of our financial obligations.
IM is a global investment manager, delivering innovative investment solutions across public and private markets. As of December 31, 2022 , IM managed approximately $1.3 trillion in assets under management across its business lines, which include equity, fixed income, liquidity, real assets and private investment funds.
The Administrator
Our Administrator, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, provides the administrative services necessary for us to operate pursuant to an administration agreement, dated November 25, 2019, between us and the Administrator (the “Administration Agreement”).
We do not currently have any employees. We pay no compensation directly to any interested director or executive officer of the Company. We pay our Administrator our allocable portion of certain expenses incurred by our Administrator in performing its obligations under the Administration Agreement, including our allocable portion of the cost of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer. Our Administrator is reimbursed for certain expenses it incurs on our behalf. Our Board of Directors, including our Independent Directors, reviews the allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by our Administrator in performing its obligations under the Administration Agreement to determine whether such expenses are reasonable and allocated appropriately among us and other funds sponsored or managed by the Administrator and its affiliate. Our Administrator reserves the right to waive all or part of any reimbursements due from the Company at its sole discretion. See “ Management Agreements - Administration Agreement ” below for a discussion of the expenses that we reimburse to the Administrator (subject to the review and approval of our Independent Directors).
Investment Strategy
Our primary investment strategy is to make privately negotiated senior secured credit investments in U.S. middle-market companies that have leading market positions, enjoy high barriers to entry, such as high startup costs or other obstacles that prevent new competitors from easily entering the portfolio company’s industry or area of business, generate strong and stable free cash flow and are led by a proven management team with strong financial sponsor backing. Our investment approach is focused on long-term credit performance, risk mitigation and preservation of capital. Our Adviser employs a highly rigorous, fundamentals-driven and disciplined investment process developed and refined by the investment professionals of the MS Private Credit platform. The Investment Team works on a particular transaction from origination to close and continues to monitor each investment throughout its life cycle.
We invest primarily in companies backed by leading private equity sponsors with strong track records. We believe lending to sponsor-backed companies (versus non-sponsor-backed companies) has many distinct potential advantages including:
• Strong, predictable deal flow given significant private equity committed capital;
• Well-capitalized borrowers, including potential access to additional capital from sponsors, if needed;
• Access to detailed financial, operational, industry data, and third-party legal and accounting due diligence reports conducted by the sponsor as part of their due diligence;
• Proper oversight and governance provided by experienced management teams and a board of directors, as well as other industry and/or operating expertise from the sponsors;
• Natural alignment of interests between lender and sponsor given focus on exit strategy; and
• Supplemental diligence beyond the credit analysis of the borrower, given the ability to analyze track records of each private equity firm.
We have created what we believe is a defensive portfolio of investments focusing on generally avoiding issuer or industry concentration in order to mitigate risk and achieve our investment objective.
We focus primarily on U.S. middle-market companies. However, to the extent that we invest in foreign companies, we intend to do so in accordance with the limitations under the 1940 Act and only in jurisdictions with established legal frameworks and a history of respecting creditor rights, including the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) and countries that are members of the European Union, as well as Canada, Australia and Japan. Our investment strategy is predicated on seeking to lend to companies with proven management teams in what we believe to be non-cyclical industry sectors. As of December 31, 2022 , the Company’s exposure to businesses that the Adviser believes may be subject to business cycle volatility, was approximately 6.5% of gross investment commitments. Additionally, we typically avoid direct exposure to investments in certain sectors such as retail, restaurants, energy, alcohol, tobacco, pork manufacturing, gaming and gambling, and pornography.
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Investment Criteria
In order to achieve our investment objectives, we seek to build an investment portfolio that consists primarily of directly originated floating-rate first lien senior secured term loans (including unitranche loans), and second lien senior secured term loans of U.S. middle-market companies. The balance of our investments is expected to be in higher-yielding assets such as mezzanine debt, unsecured debt and equity investments in U.S. middle-market companies, and other opportunistic asset purchases. Our debt investments typically have maturities of five to eight years. We seek to create and have created what we believe is a defensive portfolio of investments in order to mitigate risk and achieve our investment objective.
We expect our target portfolio companies to exhibit some, or all, of the following characteristics at the time of the initial investment, although not all of our portfolio companies will meet these criteria:
• EBITDA of $15 – $200 million;
• Defensible, leading market positions;
• Unique or specialized strategy or other meaningful barriers to entry;
• Low technology or market risks;
• Diversified product offering, customer and supplier base;
• Stable cash flows;
• Low capital expenditure requirements;
• General avoidance of what we believe to be cyclical industry sectors;
• Predominantly North American base of operations;
• Typical loan-to-value of up to 60%; and
• Experienced management teams with successful track records.
We expect that once we are fully invested, our investments will generally comply with the following limits, measured as a percentage of the sum of our aggregate equity commitments and our use of leverage (expected to be 1.0x – 1.25x as measured by debt-to-equity, subject to a cap of 2.0x), in each case, at the time the relevant investment is made:
• Typical investment to represent between 1% and 3%;
• No industry to represent more than 15%; and
• Non-U.S. portfolio companies not to exceed 10%.
Key themes of our investment strategy include:
• Maintaining an appropriate allocation of first lien senior secured and second lien senior secured debt to allow us to achieve attractive returns within the targeted risk profile, while investing prudently based on the market and economic environment;
• Performing thorough fundamental business and industry due diligence;
• Conducting in-depth due diligence on management teams and sponsors to bolster our position that we are investing in businesses led by experienced professionals;
• Structuring investments focused on providing us with security, covenant protection and current income while seeking to provide our borrowers with adequate liquidity and flexibility to operate; and
• Ongoing active management of our portfolio companies through consistent dialogue with management and/or the sponsor, review of financial reporting, monitoring of key performance indicators and evaluation of exit strategies.
Market Opportunity
We believe the middle-market direct lending market environment continues to be attractive, despite the recent market volatility resulting from elevated inflation and broader macroeconomic uncertainty.
Demand for Direct Lending Solutions
We believe that demand has increased for financing from direct lenders relative to other sources because of the attractiveness of the product as well as structural and market factors.
• We believe that when sponsors experience the flexibility of private credit transactions and the speed and certainty of execution, they will continue to seek financing from non-bank lenders. We believe this presents a compelling opportunity for us to invest in quality companies on attractive terms and conditions.
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• Bank participation in middle-market secured loans has continued to decrease, which we believe is primarily a result of changes in banking regulation and deal structures, and the continued supply-demand imbalance that favors non-bank lenders such as ourselves.
• Certain private equity sponsors who historically sought to finance their transactions in the public markets have turned to private credit providers, including us, to finance their transactions. According to Preqin, private credit’s share of the sub-investment grade credit market, relative to the high yield and syndicated loan markets, has increased from 3% to 17% from 2010 to June 2022.
Large and Growing U.S. Middle-Market
We believe U.S. middle-market companies represent a large and growing opportunity set and will likely require additional amounts of private debt financing for various purposes.
• Recent data from Refinitiv LPC, a premier global provider of information on the syndicated loan and high yield bond markets, indicates that there are approximately $627 billion of middle-market loans with maturities between the first quarter of 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2029 that will likely require a refinancing event.
• In addition, data from Preqin, shows that as of December 31, 2022 , there was approximately $1,021 billion of raised, but not yet invested, capital by global private equity managers, representing a sizeable pool of support for both new and existing investments.
We expect that these two important dynamics will provide for significant financing opportunities for lenders like us who have longstanding and deep relationships with middle-market private equity firms.
Attractive Attributes of Middle Market Direct Lending
We believe that focusing on lending to private equity owned middle-market businesses provides for attractive risk adjusted return opportunities.
• Middle-market companies, we believe, typically have less leverage, larger equity contributions, lower rates of default, and achieve higher recoveries as compared to broadly syndicated loans. We believe middle-market loans also tend to garner more attractive pricing, conservative structures, tighter legal documentation, meaningful financial covenants, and provide for greater access to management than broadly syndicated loans. Furthermore, we believe middle-market loans often avoid riskier large deal debt characteristics such as covenant-lite structures. Maintaining financial covenants allows us to diagnose and respond to borrower underperformance typically before value materially erodes. We believe it is this more conservative loan structuring that also contributes to the better overall performance of middle-market loans.
• We believe that the Company is well positioned in the current rising rate environment. Approximately 100% of the Company’s debt investments are floating rate and the Company should benefit from higher yields as interest rates rise. As of December 31, 2022 , 3-month SOFR, a popular benchmark for the loans in the Company, has increased by approximately 4.5% since the start of 2022.
• As of the date of this report, we have generally witnessed an improvement in terms, including higher reference rates, wider spreads, more conservative leverage profiles and increasingly lender-friendly documentation. Although leveraged buyout activity has declined amidst the market dislocation, the private credit market has continued to present high quality opportunities, that could offer compelling risk-adjusted returns.
Competitive Advantages
We believe we are able to execute on our investment objective and achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns as a result of our competitive strengths. In addition to the Adviser’s relationships with middle- market private equity firms, the Firm has relationships with many middle-market private equity firms and middle-market companies that may provide significant investment opportunities. MS Private Credit is the primary private credit investment management platform of the Firm. The Adviser capitalizes on the significant number of lending opportunities with middle-market companies through relationships established by the Firm and otherwise. We believe the large volume of potential lending opportunities and scale of the Morgan Stanley origination and due diligence platform allows us to increase investment selectivity and potentially enhance risk-adjusted returns.
Ability to Leverage Morgan Stanley’s Relationships and Network
Morgan Stanley has a substantial network of business relationships with individuals, companies, institutions and governments in the United States and around the world which we believe is a potential source of investment opportunities for us and differentiates us relative to other BDCs. Additionally, we believe that this network may potentially assist our portfolio companies through our efforts to make introductions and referrals to the investment banking and capital markets services of the Firm.
Our Adviser utilizes Morgan Stanley’s global resources throughout the life cycle of each investment, subject to its internal policies and procedures and applicable law, rules and regulations. The investment professionals of the Adviser consult with teams across IM, ISG (and its business units, Investment Banking, Sales and Trading, Commodities and Equity and Fixed Income Research) and WM to
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assess potential investments and determine the investment opportunities to which we should devote substantial time and resources. Upon the consummation of a transaction, our Adviser monitors each portfolio company investment in accordance with its established policies and procedures. We believe that we benefit, where appropriate, from the expertise, infrastructure, track record, relationships and institutional knowledge of Morgan Stanley.
Access to certain parts of Morgan Stanley may be limited in certain instances by a number of factors, including third-party confidentiality obligations and information barriers established by Morgan Stanley in order to manage compliance with applicable law and potential conflicts of interest and regulatory restrictions, including without limitation joint transaction restrictions pursuant to the 1940 Act and internal policies and procedures. The investment sources described above are not necessarily indicative of all sources that the Adviser may utilize in sourcing investments for us. There can be no assurance that the Adviser will be able to source investments from any one or more parts of the Morgan Stanley network, implement our strategy, achieve our investment objectives, find investments that fit its investment criteria or avoid substantial losses. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business and Structure—There are significant potential conflicts of interest that could affect our investment returns.”
Highly Differentiated Deal Sourcing Advantages
We believe the relationships that the Adviser’s Investment Team maintains with sponsors, commercial and investment banks, industry executives and financial intermediaries provides a strong pipeline of proprietary investment opportunities. However, unlike many other competing alternative lending strategies, our Adviser operates within a global financial institution with multiple groups within the Firm. We expect the broader Morgan Stanley platform to be a source of potential lending opportunities. We believe this position within the Firm is a key factor that differentiates us and constitutes a meaningful competitive advantage relative to other private credit funds and BDCs.
Distinctive Approach to Credit Investing and Due Diligence
We believe that our Adviser utilizes an investment approach that is differentiated in the industry. Our Adviser employs a highly rigorous, fundamentals-driven and disciplined investment process which has been developed utilizing Morgan Stanley’s extensive investing experience. The Adviser generally seeks to invest in companies that have leading, defensible market positions, generate strong and stable free cash flow, and have high barriers to entry, highly capable management teams and strong financial sponsor ownership. We believe that our Adviser’s investment approach coupled with our portfolio construction strategy, flexible capital, and focus on financial covenant protection, differentiates us from our competitors.
Experienced and Accomplished Investment Team & Investment Committee
The Investment Team is led by investment professionals with extensive experience in credit and principal investing, credit analysis, credit origination and structuring. Jeffrey S. Levin, our Chief Executive Officer and President, has principal management responsibility for the Company and serves as Chair of the Investment Committee. Mr. Levin has more than 20 years of experience in direct lending, mezzanine lending, credit investing and leveraged finance, and he also currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President and a member of the board of directors of each of the MS BDCs. Prior to that, through his tenure at The Carlyle Group as a Partner and President of TCG BDC Inc. and TCG BDC II, Inc., he also has direct experience in successfully capitalizing and managing BDCs. Before working at The Carlyle Group, Mr. Levin was a senior member of the MS Private Credit platform. In addition, the investment professionals of the MS Private Credit platform have strong financial sponsor and intermediary relationships and a highly developed network within Morgan Stanley. Collectively, the investment professionals of the Adviser have substantial leveraged lending experience, and we believe the Investment Team is well positioned to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns.
The Investment Committee members servicing the Company have an average of 23 years of relevant industry experience. The Investment Committee is comprised of senior members of IM and provides guidance to the Investment Team throughout the investment process.
MS Credit Partners Holdings Investment
MS Credit Partners Holdings, Inc., or MS Credit Partners Holdings, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley and an affiliate of the Investment Adviser, made an aggregate capital commitment of $200.0 million to us pursuant to a subscription agreement initially entered into in December 2019. As of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, MS Credit Partners Holdings held approximately 11.9% and 12.5% of our outstanding shares of Common Stock, respectively. Morgan Stanley has no other obligation, contractual or otherwise, to financially support us beyond the equity commitment to purchase our common stock pursuant to a subscription agreement entered into by MS Credit Partners Holdings. Morgan Stanley has no history of financially supporting any of the BDCs on the MS Private Credit platform, even during periods of financial distress.
Investment Process
Our investment activities are managed by our Adviser. Our Adviser is responsible for origination, underwriting, structuring and monitoring our investments.
The Adviser’s investment process has five stages: Origination, Preliminary Screen, Due Diligence & Structuring, Investment Committee Approval & Closing and Portfolio Management, and it employs the same rigorous and disciplined investment process to
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all types of investments. The Investment Team works on a particular transaction from origination to close and continues to monitor each investment throughout its life cycle.
Origination
We believe we benefit from the Adviser’s highly differentiated direct origination platform. The MS Private Credit origination platform is complemented by opportunities sourced by other Morgan Stanley divisions and businesses.
The Firm has deep relationships with many middle-market private equity firms and middle-market companies that provide significant investment opportunities. MS Private Credit is the primary private credit investment management platform across the Firm. We seek to capitalize on a significant number of lending opportunities with middle-market companies that the Firm has longstanding relationships with.
We believe the large volume of untapped potential lending opportunities sourced by the Firm and the scale of the MS Private Credit origination platform should allow us to increase investment selectivity and potentially enhance risk-adjusted returns.
Preliminary Screen
An initial review of each investment opportunity is conducted by the Investment Team to determine whether it is consistent with our investment objectives and credit standards. If the opportunity fits our investment objective and 1940 Act requirements, the opportunity is further evaluated by the Investment Team.
The Investment Team utilizes the extensive industry expertise resident in IM and ISG (subject in all cases to applicable regulations, confidentiality provisions, information barriers and policies and procedures) to assist in this preliminary evaluation. Access to these resources allows the Investment Team to assess each opportunity quickly and effectively and enables it to focus only on compelling opportunities.
If the members of the Investment Team conducting the initial review conclude that the investment opportunity meets our objectives, the Investment Team prepares a screening memo which is discussed with a subset of the Investment Committee at a Preliminary Screen meeting. At a Preliminary Screen meeting, the Investment Team presents an overview of the business, proposed capital structure, proposed terms (if applicable at this stage), key investment highlights and risks, and preliminary financial analysis. Opportunities that are approved at the Preliminary Screen meeting advance to the Due Diligence & Structuring phase.
Due Diligence & Structuring
All investment opportunities that pass the Preliminary Screen are subject to a comprehensive due diligence process. The Adviser uses both internal and external resources in its due diligence process including leveraging the extensive industry expertise resident in Morgan Stanley’s businesses (subject in all cases to applicable regulations, confidentiality provisions, information barriers and policies and procedures). Diligence typically involves meeting with company management and the financial sponsor to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the portfolio company’s competitive positioning, competitive advantage, company strategy and risks and mitigants associated with the proposed investment.
Additionally, the Investment Team, to the extent applicable, conducts supplemental diligence including:
• Financial analysis;
• Capital structure review;
• Covenant analysis;
• Review of third-party due diligence reports (financial, industry, legal, technology, insurance and/or environmental);
• Industry research;
• Customer calls;
• Industry expert calls;
• Management background checks;
• Consideration of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) issues; and
• Negotiation of legal documentation.
The Investment Team reviews ESG considerations as part of its due diligence process. As a part of ESG due diligence, the Investment Team evaluates each potential borrower utilizing a standard ESG template to determine an ESG score for each potential borrower. Borrowers who score beneath an internally set threshold require additional discussion and consideration by the Investment Committee. The identification of a material ESG risk will not necessarily be determinative in our Adviser’s decision to lend to a potential borrower. In addition, material ESG issues are reported and discussed as part of the Adviser’s ongoing portfolio management processes on a regular basis.
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Investment Committee Approval & Closing
The Investment Committee is engaged throughout the investment process to provide guidance on best practices, industry expertise and related deal experience drawn from their relevant experience.
Based on the findings in the Due Diligence & Structuring phase, the Investment Team prepares a detailed memo that is presented to the Investment Committee. A majority of the Investment Committee, including approval by Jeffrey S. Levin, must approve a transaction in order for us to pursue the opportunity. Once approved, the Investment Team works towards closing and funding the investment. Any changes to the investment after approval along with key legal terms are documented and circulated to the Investment Committee prior to closing in the form of a closing memo.
Portfolio Monitoring and Risk Management
We believe that proactive monitoring of our portfolio companies is an important part of the investment process. The Adviser engages in formal and informal dialogue with portfolio company management teams, private equity sponsors, suppliers and customers, as appropriate, through conversations facilitated, in part, by the Firm’s global network in an attempt to give us an ongoing advantage relative to other investors. The Adviser receives monthly or quarterly financial reports from portfolio companies. This information access and ongoing interactions with portfolio companies and sponsors should provide the Adviser with the ability to anticipate any potential performance or liquidity issues at an early stage and to work proactively toward mitigating potential losses. Our Adviser holds quarterly portfolio reviews. In conjunction with the quarterly portfolio reviews, the Adviser compiles a quarterly risk report that examines, among other things, migration in portfolio and loan level investment mix, industry diversification, ESG review, Internal Risk Ratings, revenue, EBITDA and leverage.
Frequency of review of individual loans is determined on a case-by-case basis, based on an Internal Risk Rating, total exposure and other criteria set forth by the Investment Committee. Performing loans, or loans on which the borrower has historically made payments of principal and interest on time, are typically discussed every quarter, while any loan that has been downgraded under our Internal Risk Rating scale is typically discussed quarterly at a minimum and more frequently as appropriate. In addition, the Adviser holds monthly “watchlist” meetings which include a discussion of all transactions that have been downgraded, or are at risk for downgrade, under our Adviser’s Internal Risk Rating system.
As part of the monitoring process, our Adviser has developed risk policies pursuant to which it regularly assesses the risk profile of each of our debt investments. Our Adviser has developed a classification system to group investments into four categories. The investments are evaluated regularly and assigned a category based on certain credit metrics. Our Adviser’s ratings do not constitute any rating of investments by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization or represent or reflect any third-party assessment of any of our investments. Please see below for a description of the four categories of the Adviser’s Internal Risk Rating system:
Category 1 In the opinion of our Adviser, investments in Category 1 involve the least amount of risk relative to our initial cost basis at the time of origination or acquisition. Category 1 investments performance is above our initial underwriting expectations and the business trends and risk factors are generally favorable, which may include the performance of the portfolio company, or the likelihood of a potential exit.
Category 2 In the opinion of our Adviser, investments in Category 2 involve a level of risk relative to our initial cost basis at the time of origination or acquisition. Category 2 investments are generally performing in line with our initial underwriting expectations and risk factors to ultimately recoup the cost of our principal investment and are neutral to favorable. All new originated or acquired investments are initially included in Category 2.
Category 3 In the opinion of our Adviser, investments in Category 3 indicate that the risk to our ability to recoup the initial cost basis at the time of origination or acquisition has increased materially since the origination or acquisition of the investment, such as declining financial performance and non-compliance with debt covenants; however principal and interest payments are not more than 120 days past due.
Category 4 In the opinion of our Adviser, investments in Category 4 involve a borrower performing substantially below expectations and indicate that the loan’s risk has increased substantially since origination or acquisition. Most or all of the debt covenants are out of compliance and payments are substantially delinquent. For Category 4 investments, it is anticipated that we will not recoup our initial cost basis and may realize a substantial loss of our initial cost basis at the time of origination or acquisition upon exit.
Our Adviser rates the investments in our portfolio at least quarterly, and it is possible that the rating of a portfolio investment may be reduced or increased over time. For investments rated 3 or 4, our Adviser enhances its level of scrutiny over the monitoring of such portfolio company by conducting a formal review of the portfolio company on a monthly basis and taking any actions deemed appropriate from the results of such review. Refer to “ Item 7. Management ’ s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Portfolio, Investment Activity and Results of Operations. ” for the portfolio distribution of Internal Risk Rating as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021.
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Beyond the policies and protocols detailed above, our Adviser’s Investment Team servicing the Company performs analysis and projections in response to market conditions to assess potential exposure to our portfolio. Sample analysis includes evaluation of the impact from a rise in energy prices, volatility in foreign currency exchange rates, interruptions in the supply chain, inflation expectations and interest rate sensitivity.
The Internal Risk Ratings do not constitute any rating of investments by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization or represent or reflect any third-party assessment of any of our investments.
Allocation of Investment Opportunities and Potential Conflicts of Interest; Co-Investment Opportunities
As a diversified global financial services firm, Morgan Stanley engages in a broad spectrum of activities.
In the ordinary course of its business, Morgan Stanley is a full-service investment banking and financial services firm and therefore engages in activities where Morgan Stanley’s interests or the interests of its clients may conflict with the interests of our investors. Morgan Stanley has advised and may advise clients and has sponsored, managed or advised Affiliated Investment Accounts (as defined below) with a wide variety of investment objectives that in some instances may overlap or conflict with our investment objectives and present conflicts of interest. Certain members of the Investment Team and the Investment Committee will make investment decisions on behalf of Affiliated Investment Accounts, including Affiliated Investment Accounts with investment objectives that overlap with ours. The term “Affiliated Investment Accounts” includes certain alternative investment funds, regulated funds and investment programs, accounts and businesses that are advised by or affiliated with the Adviser or its affiliates or through which IM otherwise conducts its business, together with any new or successor to such funds, programs, accounts or businesses. For instance, the Adviser serves as the investment adviser to the other MS BDCs. For the avoidance of doubt, we are not a subsidiary of or consolidated with Morgan Stanley. Furthermore, Morgan Stanley has no obligation, contractual or otherwise, to financially support us. See “ Item 7 — Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — MS Credit Partners Holdings Investment .” Morgan Stanley has no history of financially supporting any of the BDCs on the MS Private Credit platform, even during periods of financial distress.
These activities create potential conflicts in allocating investment opportunities among us and other Affiliated Investment Accounts. As a BDC regulated under the 1940 Act, we are subject to certain limitations relating to co-investments and joint transactions with affiliates, which likely will, in certain circumstances, limit our ability to make investments or enter into other transactions alongside the Adviser and other Affiliated Investment Accounts. Although the Adviser has implemented allocation policies and procedures, there can be no assurance that such regulatory restrictions will not adversely affect our ability to capitalize on attractive investment opportunities.
We may, however, invest alongside the Affiliated Investment Accounts in certain circumstances where doing so is consistent with our Adviser’s allocation policies and procedures, applicable law and SEC staff interpretations, guidance and any exemptive relief order applicable to us and/or the Adviser. The SEC has granted our Adviser an exemptive order (as amended, the “Order”) that, allows us to enter into certain negotiated co-investment transactions alongside certain Affiliated Investment Accounts, in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies, and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors, subject to compliance with the Order. Pursuant to the Order, we are permitted to co-invest with our affiliates if a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of our eligible directors makes 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 stockholders and do not involve overreaching in respect of us or our stockholders on the part of any person concerned, and (2) the transaction is consistent with the interests of our stockholders and is consistent with our investment objective and strategies.
Competition
Our primary competitors in providing financing to middle-market companies include public and private investment funds, other BDCs, commercial finance companies and, to the extent they provide an alternative form of financing, private equity, mezzanine and hedge funds, as well as issuers of CLOs and other structured loan funds, and to a lesser extent, commercial and investment banks. Some of our potential competitors may be more experienced and may have more resources than we do. For example, some competitors may have a lower cost of funds and access to funding sources that are not available to us. Our competitors have incurred, or may in the future incur, leverage to finance their debt investments at levels or on terms more favorable than those available to us. In addition, some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments than we do, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and establish more relationships than us.
Among other factors, the returns on investments available in the marketplace are a function of the supply of investment opportunities and the amount of capital investing in such opportunities. Strong competition for investments, including from new competitors, could result in fewer investment opportunities and less favorable pricing for us, as our competitors target the same or similar investments that we intend to purchase. Moreover, identifying attractive investment opportunities is difficult and involves a high degree of uncertainty. For additional information concerning the competitive risks we face, see “ Item 1A. Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Our Business and Structure — We operate in a highly competitive market for investment opportunities, which could reduce returns and result in losses. ”
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Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company
We currently are and expect to remain an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, as amended (the “JOBS Act”), until the earliest of:
• the last day of our fiscal year in which the fifth anniversary of an Exchange Listing (as defined below) occurs;
• the end of the fiscal year in which our total annual gross revenues first exceed $1.235 billion;
• the date on which we have, during the prior three-year period, issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt; and
• the last day of a fiscal year in which we (1) have an aggregate worldwide market value of shares of our Common Stock held by non-affiliates of $700 million or more, computed at the end of each fiscal year as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter and (2) have been an Exchange Act reporting company for at least one year (and filed at least one annual report under the Exchange Act).
Under the JOBS Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), we are exempt from the provisions of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which would require that our independent registered public accounting firm provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, until such time as we cease to be an emerging growth company and become an accelerated filer as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act. This may increase the risk that material weaknesses or other deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting go undetected.
Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have made an irrevocable election not to take advantage of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards. We therefore are subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.
Investments
As of December 31, 2022, we had investments in 150 portfolio companies across 30 industries. Based on fair value as of December 31, 2022, approximately 100% of our debt portfolio was invested in debt bearing a floating interest rate, which floating rate debt investments primarily are subject to interest rate floors. A pproximately 99.4% of our debt portfolio at fair value had an interest rate floor denoted in LIBOR or SOFR. O ur weighted average total yield of investments in debt securities at amortized cost was 10.9%. Weighted average yields include the effect of accretion of discounts and amortization of premiums and are based on interest rates as of December 31, 2022.
The composition of our investment portfolio at cost and fair value is as follows (dollar amounts in thousands):
December 31, 2022
Cost Fair Value % of Total Investments at Fair Value
First Lien Debt $ 2,753,620 $ 2,694,111 93.8 %
Second Lien Debt 136,620 128,350 4.5
Other Securities 49,406 51,127 1.7
Total $ 2,939,646 $ 2,873,588 100.0 %
December 31, 2021
Cost Fair Value % of Total Investments at Fair Value
First Lien Debt $ 2,213,332 $ 2,224,100 93.2 %
Second Lien Debt 120,124 121,550 5.1
Other Securities 39,979 41,724 1.7
Total $ 2,373,435 $ 2,387,374 100.0 %
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The industry composition of our investments at fair value is as follows:
December 31, 2022 December 31, 2021
Aerospace & Defense 1.8 % 1.7 %
Air Freight & Logistics 1.1 0.5
Auto Components 3.8 3.3
Automobiles 5.1 7.4
Biotechnology 0.5 0.6
Chemicals 0.6 —
Commercial Services & Supplies 11.2 13.0
Construction & Engineering 1.3 1.5
Containers & Packaging 1.6 1.6
Distributors 4.2 1.2
Diversified Consumer Services 3.0 1.5
Diversified Financial Services 0.7 0.1
Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components 1.0 0.7
Energy Equipment & Services 0.5 0.6
Food Products 2.5 3.1
Health Care Equipment & Supplies 0.3 0.4
Health Care Providers & Services 3.4 2.9
Health Care Technology 0.7 0.9
Industrial Conglomerates 0.2 1.8
Insurance Services 15.7 17.1
Interactive Media & Services 3.5 3.8
IT Services 9.6 10.8
Leisure Products 0.8 2.4
Machinery 3.0 2.0
Multi-Utilities 0.6 0.4
Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels 0.0 (1) —
Pharmaceuticals 0.4 —
Professional Services 3.2 4.0
Real Estate Management & Development 5.4 5.2
Software 14.3 11.5
Total 100.0 % 100.0 %
(1) Amount rounds to 0.0%.
The geographic composition of our investments at cost and fair value is as follows (dollar amounts in thousands):
December 31, 2022 December 31, 2021
Cost Fair Value % of Total
Investments at
Fair Value Cost Fair Value % of Total
Investments at
Fair Value
Australia $ 10,187 $ 9,870 0.3 % $ — $ — — %
Canada 108,820 105,764 3.7 81,935 81,386 3.4
United Kingdom 11,157 11,157 0.4 17,804 18,200 0.8
United States 2,809,482 2,746,797 95.6 2,273,696 2,287,788 95.8
Total $ 2,939,646 $ 2,873,588 100.0 % $ 2,373,435 $ 2,387,374 100.0 %
See the Consolidated Schedule of Investments as of December 31, 2022 in “ Item 8. Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Consolidated Schedule of Investments ” for more information on these investments.
Capital Resources and Borrowings
As a RIC, we intend to distribute substantially all of our net income to our stockholders. We anticipate generating cash from the issuance of shares and cash flows from operations, including interest received on our debt investments.
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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. As of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, our asset coverage ratio was 191.2% and 195.1%.
While any indebtedness and senior securities remain outstanding, we must take provisions to prohibit any distribution to our stockholders (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 facilities. See “ Item 7. Management ’ s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Financial Condition, Liquidity and Capital Resources. ”
Investment Advisory Agreement
Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement with our Adviser, we pay our Adviser a fee for investment advisory and management services consisting of two components—a base management fee and an incentive fee. As a part of the Investment Advisory Agreement, we agreed to reimburse the Adviser for certain expenses it incurs on our behalf. The Adviser agreed to waive any reimbursement by us of offering and organizational expenses the Adviser incurs on the Company’s behalf in excess of the greater of (i) one million dollars ($1,000,000), and (ii) one-tenth of one percent (0.10%) of the aggregate capital commitments raised in the initial and subsequent closings of our initial private offering during the three-year period commencing on the date of the Initial Closing. The Investment Advisory Agreement had an initial term of two years and continues thereafter from year to year if approved annually by the Board of Directors or our stockholders, including, in each case, a majority of Independent Directors. The Investment Advisory Agreement was most recently renewed in August 2022.
Base Management Fee
The base management fee is calculated at an annual rate of 1.0% of our average gross assets at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters, including assets purchased with borrowed funds or other forms of leverage but excluding cash and cash equivalents. Prior to a quotation or listing of our Common Stock on a national securities exchange, including an initial public offering (an “Exchange Listing”), the Adviser has agreed to irrevocably waive the portion of the base management fee in excess of 0.25% of our average gross assets calculated in accordance with the Investment Advisory Agreement, which waived base management fees are not subject to recoupment by the Adviser. For services rendered under the Investment Advisory Agreement, the base management fee is payable quarterly in arrears. No management fee will be charged on committed but undrawn capital commitments. Base management fees for any partial month or quarter will be appropriately pro-rated.
The Adviser and its affiliates, at their own expense and out of their own assets, may make payments to, or enter into arrangements with, financial intermediaries or other persons in consideration of services, arrangements, significant investments in shares of our Common Stock or other activities that the Adviser and its affiliates believe may, among other things, benefit our business, facilitate investment in our Common Stock or otherwise benefit our stockholders. Payments of the type described above are sometimes referred to as profit-sharing payments.
Incentive Fee
We also pay the Adviser an incentive fee consisting of two parts. The first part is determined and paid quarterly based on our pre-incentive fee net investment income and the second part is determined and payable in arrears based on net capital gains as of the end of each calendar year or upon termination of the Investment Advisory Agreement.
Pre-incentive fee net investment income is defined as interest income, dividend income and any other income accrued during the calendar quarter, minus operating expenses for the quarter, including the base management fee, expenses payable under the Administration Agreement, any interest expense and distributions paid on any issued and outstanding preferred stock, but excluding the incentive fee. Pre-incentive fee net investment income does not include any realized capital gains, realized capital losses or unrealized capital appreciation or depreciation.
Pre-incentive fee net investment income includes, in the case of investments with a deferred interest feature (such as debt instruments with pay-in-kind (“PIK”) interest and zero coupon securities), accrued income that we have not yet received in cash. Our Adviser is not obligated to return to us 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.
Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, we pay the Adviser an incentive fee with respect to our pre-incentive fee net investment income as follows:
• No incentive fee based on pre-incentive fee net investment income in any calendar quarter in which our pre-incentive fee net investment income does not exceed a hurdle rate of 1.50% (6% annualized);
• 100% of pre-incentive fee net investment income with respect to that portion of such pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that exceeds the hurdle rate but is less than 1.8182% in any calendar quarter (7.2728% annualized). We refer
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to this portion of the pre-incentive fee net investment income (which exceeds the hurdle rate but is less than 1.8182%) as the “catch-up.” The “catch-up” is meant to provide the Adviser with approximately 17.5% of our pre-incentive fee net investment income as if a hurdle rate did not apply if this net investment income exceeds 1.8182% in any calendar quarter; and
• 17.5% of the pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that exceeds 1.8182% in any calendar quarter (7.2728% annualized), which reflects that once the hurdle rate is reached and the catch-up is achieved, 17.5% of all pre-incentive fee net investment income is paid to the Adviser.
The following is a graphical representative of the incentive fee calculation pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement:
Quarterly Income Component of Income and Capital Gains Incentive Fee Calculation Based on Net Income
Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income
(Expressed as a Percentage of the Value of Net Assets)
If market interest rates rise, we may be able to invest our funds in debt instruments that provide for a higher return, which would increase our pre-incentive fee net investment income and make it easier for the Adviser to surpass the hurdle rate and receive an incentive fee on such net investment income. PIK interest and original issue discount (“OID”) will also increase our pre-incentive fee net investment income and make it easier to surpass the hurdle rate. Our pre-incentive fee net investment income used to calculate this part of the incentive fee is also included in the amount of our total assets (other than cash and cash equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts) used to calculate the base management fee.
Under the Investment Advisory Agreement, we pay the Adviser an incentive fee on capital gains calculated and payable in arrears in cash as of the end of each calendar year or upon the termination of the Investment Advisory Agreement in an amount equal to 17.5% of our realized capital gains, if any, on a cumulative basis from the date of our election to be regulated as a BDC through the end of a given calendar year or upon the termination of the Investment Advisory Agreement, computed net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis, less the aggregate amount of any previously paid capital gain incentive fees (the “Cumulative Capital Gains”). For the purpose of computing the incentive fee on capital gains, the calculation methodology looks through derivative financial instruments or swaps as if we owned the reference assets directly.
Our Board of Directors monitors the mix and performance of our investments over time and seeks to satisfy itself that the Adviser is acting in our interests and that our fee structure appropriately incentivizes the Adviser to do so.
Examples of Quarterly Incentive Fee Calculation
Example 1: Income Related Portion of Incentive Fee (*) :
Alternative 1
Assumptions
Investment income (including interest, dividends, fees, etc.) = 1.25%
Hurdle rate (1) = 1.5%
Base management fee (2) = 0.0625%
Other expenses (legal, accounting, custodian, transfer agent, etc.) (3) = 0.2%
Pre-incentive fee net investment income
(investment income – (base management fee + other expenses)) = 0.9875%
Pre-incentive net investment income does not exceed hurdle rate, therefore there is no incentive fee.
Alternative 2
Assumptions
Investment income (including interest, dividends, fees, etc.) = 2.0%
Hurdle rate (1) = 1.5%
Base management fee (2) = 0.0625%
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Other expenses (legal, accounting, custodian, transfer agent, etc.) (3) = 0.2%
Pre-incentive fee net investment income
(investment income – (base management fee + other expenses)) = 1.7375% which exceeds the hurdle rate
Incentive fee = 17.5% × pre-incentive fee net investment income, subject to the “catch-up” (4)
= 100% × (1.7375% – 1.5%)
= 0.2375%
Alternative 3
Assumptions
Investment income (including interest, dividends, fees, etc.) = 2.5%
Hurdle rate (1) = 1.5%
Base management fee (2) = 0.0625%
Other expenses (legal, accounting, custodian, transfer agent, etc.) (3) = 0.2%
Pre-incentive fee net investment income
(investment income – (base management fee + other expenses)) = 2.2375%
Incentive fee = 17.5% × pre-incentive fee net investment income, subject to “catch-up” (4)
= 100% × "catch-up" + (17.5% × (pre-incentive fee net investment income – 1.8182%))
Catch-up = 1.8182% – 1.5% = 0.3182%
Incentive fee = (100% × 0.3182%) + (17.5% × (2.2375% – 1.8182%))
= 0.3182% + (17.5% × 0.4193%)
= 0.3182% + 0.0734%
= 0.3916%
(*) The hypothetical amount of pre-incentive fee net investment income shown is based on a percentage of total net assets.
(1) Represents 6% annualized hurdle rate.
(2) Represents 0.25% annualized base management fee.
(3) Excludes organizational and offering expenses
(4) The “catch-up” provision is intended to provide our Adviser with an incentive fee of 17.5% on all of our pre-incentive fee net investment income as if a hurdle rate did not apply when our net investment income exceeds 1.8182% in any calendar quarter.
Example 2: Capital Gains Portion of Incentive Fee:
Alternative 1
Assumptions
• Year 1: $20 million investment made in Company A (“Investment A”), and $30 million investment made in Company B (“Investment B”)
• Year 2: Investment A sold for $50 million and fair market value (“FMV”) of Investment B determined to be $32 million
• Year 3: FMV of Investment B determined to be $25 million
• Year 4: Investment B sold for $31 million
The capital gains portion of the incentive fee, if any, would be:
• Year 1: None
• Year 2: $5.25 million capital gains incentive fee
$30 million realized capital gains on sale of Investment A multiplied by 17.5%
• Year 3: None
$4.375 million cumulative fee (17.5% multiplied by $25 million ($30 million Cumulative Capital Gains less
$5 million cumulative capital depreciation)) less $5.25 million (previous capital gains fee paid in Year 2)
• Year 4: $175,000 capital gains incentive fee
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$5.425 million cumulative fee ($31 million cumulative realized capital gains multiplied by 17.5%) less
$5.25 million (previous capital gains fee paid in Year 2)
Alternative 2
Assumptions
• Year 1: Investment A, Investment B and $25 million investment made in Company C (“Investment C”)
• Year 2: Investment A sold for $50 million, FMV of Investment B determined to be $25 million and FMV of Investment C determined to be $25 million
• Year 3: FMV of Investment B determined to be $27 million and Investment C sold for $30 million
• Year 4: FMV of Investment B determined to be $35 million
• Year 5: Investment B sold for $20 million
The capital gains portion of the incentive fee, if any, would be:
• Year 1: None
• Year 2: $4.375 million capital gains incentive fee
17.5% multiplied by $25 million ($30 million realized capital gains on sale of Investment A less $5 million unrealized capital depreciation on Investment B)
• Year 3: $1.225 capital gains incentive fee
$5.6 million cumulative fee (17.5% multiplied by $32 million ($35 million cumulative realized capital gains less $3 million unrealized capital depreciation)) less $4.375 million (previous capital gains fee paid in Year 2)
• Year 4: $525,000 capital gains incentive fee, calculated as follows:
$6.125 million cumulative fee (17.5% multiplied by $35 million cumulative realized capital gains) less $5.6 million (previous cumulative capital gains fees paid in Year 2 and Year 3)
• Year 5: None
$4.375 million cumulative fee (17.5% multiplied by $25 million ($35 million cumulative realized capital gains less $10 million realized capital losses)) less $6.125 million (previous Cumulative Capital Gains fee paid in Year 2, 3 and Year 4)
Administration Agreement
We entered into the Administration Agreement with our Administrator, who provides us with office space, office services and equipment. Under the Administration Agreement, our Administrator also performs, or oversees the performance of, our required administrative services, which include, among other things, providing assistance in accounting, legal, compliance, operations, technology, internal audit and investor relations, and being responsible for the financial records that we are required to maintain and preparing reports to our stockholders and reports filed with the SEC. In addition, our Administrator assists us in determining and publishing our net asset value, overseeing the preparation and filing of our tax returns and the printing and dissemination of reports to our stockholders, our internal control assessment under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and generally overseeing the payment of our expenses and the performance of administrative and professional services rendered to us by others. The Administration Agreement had an initial term of two years and continues thereafter from year to year if approved annually by our Board of Directors, which most recently approved the renewal of the Administration Agreement in August 2022.
Payments under the Administration Agreement are equal to an amount that reimburses our Administrator for its costs and expenses and our allocable portion of certain expenses incurred by our Administrator in performing its obligations under the Administration Agreement, including our allocable portion of the compensation paid to our Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Our Board of Directors, including our Independent Directors, reviews the allocable portion of certain expenses incurred by our Administrator in performing its obligations under the Administration Agreement to determine whether such expenses are reasonable and allocated appropriately among the Company and other funds sponsored or advised by the Administrator and its affiliates. The Administration Agreement may be terminated by either party without penalty upon 60 days’ written notice to the other party. Additionally, we ultimately bear the costs of any sub-administration agreements that our Administrator enters into.
Our Administrator reserves the right to waive all or part of any reimbursements due from the Company at its sole discretion.
The Administration Agreement provides that, absent willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of its duties or by reason of the reckless disregard of its duties and obligations, our Administrator and its officers, managers, partners, agents, employees, controlling persons, members and any other person or entity affiliated with it will be entitled to indemnification from us for any damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and amounts reasonably paid in settlement)
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arising from the rendering of our Administrator’s services under the Administration Agreement or otherwise as an administrator for us, subject to the provisions of the 1940 Act.
In addition, our Administrator has, pursuant to a sub-administration agreement, engaged State Street Bank and Trust Company ( “ State Street ” ), to act on behalf of our Administrator in the performance of certain other administrative services for us. We have also engaged State Street directly to serve as our custodian, transfer agent, distribution paying agent and registrar.
Summary Risk Factors
The risk factors described below are a summary of the principal risk factors associated with an investment in us. These are not the only risks we face. You should carefully consider these risk factors, together with the risk factors set forth in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of this report and other reports and documents we file with the SEC.
Risks Relating to Our Business and Structure
• Operating as a BDC imposes numerous constraints on us and significantly reduces our operating flexibility.
• We are subject to risks associated with the current interest rate environment and to the extent we use debt to finance our investments, changes in interest rates will affect our cost of capital and net investment income.
• The discontinuation of LIBOR may adversely affect our business and results of operations.
• We depend upon our Adviser and Administrator for our success and upon their access to the investment professionals and partners of Morgan Stanley and its affiliates.
• Our business model depends to a significant extent upon strong referral relationships with private equity sponsors.
• We may not replicate the historical results achieved by other entities advised by or sponsored by members of the Investment Committee or by the Adviser or its affiliates.
• The Adviser may frequently be required to make investment analyses and decisions on an expedited basis.
• There are significant potential conflicts of interest that could affect our investment returns.
• Our management fee and incentive fee structure may create incentives for the Adviser that are not fully aligned with the interests of our stockholders and may induce the Adviser to make speculative investments.
• Our ability to enter into transactions with our affiliates is restricted.
• Shares of our Common Stock are illiquid investments for which there is not a secondary market.
• We operate in a highly competitive market for investment opportunities.
• We will be subject to corporate-level income tax if we are unable to qualify as a RIC.
• We will need to raise additional capital to grow because we must distribute most of our income.
• Regulations governing our operation as a BDC affect our ability to, and the way in which we, raise additional capital.
• We are subject to risks associated with our Credit Facilities.
• Investors in shares of our Common Stock may fail to fund their capital commitments when due.
• Failure to qualify as a BDC would decrease our operating flexibility.
• Certain investors are limited in their ability to make significant investments in us
• The majority of our portfolio investments are recorded at fair value as determined in good faith by our Valuation Designee, and, as a result, there may be uncertainty as to the value of our portfolio investments.
• Our Board of Directors may change our investment objective, operating policies and strategies without prior notice or stockholder approval, and we may temporarily deviate from our regular investment strategy.
• The Adviser and Administrator can each resign on 60 days’ notice, and we may not be able to find a suitable replacement within that time.
• The liability of each of the Adviser and the Administrator is limited.
Risks Relating to Our Investments
• Limitations of investment due diligence expose us to investment risk.
• Our debt investments may be risky, and we could lose all or part of our investments.
• Defaults by our portfolio companies will harm our operating results.
• Economic recessions or downturns could impair our portfolio companies and defaults by our portfolio companies will harm our operating results.
• Subordinated liens on collateral securing debt investments that we will make to our portfolio companies may be subject to control by senior creditors with first priority liens.
• Covenant-lite loans may expose us to different risks.
• The lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our business.
• Price declines and illiquidity in the corporate debt markets may adversely affect the fair value of our portfolio investments, reducing our net asset value through increased net unrealized depreciation.
• Our portfolio companies may repay loans, which may reduce our yields if capital returned cannot be invested in transactions with equal or greater expected yields.
• Our failure to make follow-on investments in our portfolio companies could impair the value of our portfolio.
• Because we generally do not hold controlling equity interests in our portfolio companies, we may not be able to exercise control over our portfolio companies.
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• We can offer no assurance that portfolio company management will be able to operate their companies in accordance with our expectations.
• Our portfolio companies may incur debt that ranks equally with, or senior to, our investments in such companies.
Risks Relating to Our Common Stock
• There is no public market for shares of our Common Stock, and there is no assurance that a public market of shares of our Common Stock will develop.
• There are restrictions on holders of our Common Stock.
• The net asset value of our Common Stock may fluctuate significantly.
• There is a risk you may not receive distributions.
• Investing in our Common Stock may involve an above average degree of risk.
• We have not established any limit on the amount of funds we may use from available sources to fund dividends.
Risks Relating to the Notes
• The Company’s 4.50% notes due 2027, or the 2027 Notes, and the Company’s 7.55% Series A Senior Notes due September 13, 2025, or the 2025 Notes and, together with the 2027 Notes, the Notes, are unsecured and therefore are effectively subordinated to any secured indebtedness we may incur. Additionally, the Notes are not guaranteed by Morgan Stanley.
• The Notes are subordinated structurally to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries.
• A downgrade, suspension or withdrawal of the credit rating assigned by a rating agency to us or the Notes, if any, could cause the liquidity or market value of the Notes to decline significantly.
• An increase in market interest rates could result in a decrease in the value of the Notes.
General Risk Factors
• We are operating in a period of capital markets volatility and economic uncertainty.
• New or modified laws or regulations governing our or Morgan Stanley’s operations may adversely affect our business.
• We are highly dependent on information systems, and systems failures could significantly disrupt our business.
• Terrorist attacks, acts of war, natural disasters, outbreaks, or pandemics, may impact our portfolio companies and our Adviser and harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Regulation as a Business Development Company
General
On November 25, 2019, we elected to be regulated as a BDC under the 1940 Act. A BDC is a specialized investment vehicle that elects to be regulated under the 1940 Act as an investment company but is generally subject to less onerous requirements than other registered investment companies under a regime designed to encourage lending to U.S.-based small and mid-sized businesses. Unlike many similar types of investment vehicles that are restricted to being private entities, the stock of a BDC is permitted to trade in the public equity markets. Shares of our Common Stock are not currently listed on a national securities exchange; however, we may pursue a Liquidity Event, including an Exchange Listing, in the future. We define a “Liquidity Event” as any of: (1) an Exchange Listing, (2) the sale of all or substantially all of our assets to, or other liquidity event with, another entity or (3) a transaction or series of transactions, including by way of merger, consolidation, recapitalization, reorganization, or sale of stock in each case for consideration of either cash and/or publicly listed securities of the acquirer. BDCs are also eligible to elect to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code. A RIC typically does not incur significant entity-level income taxes, because it is generally entitled to deduct distributions made to its stockholders. We have elected to be treated and intend to qualify annually as a RIC. See “Certain Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.”
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 BDC’s total assets. The principal categories of qualifying assets relevant to our proposed business are 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;
b) is not an investment company (other than a small business investment company wholly owned by the BDC) or a company that would be an investment company but for certain exclusions under the 1940 Act; and
c) satisfies either of the following:
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i) does not have any class of securities listed on a national securities exchange or has any class of securities listed on a national securities exchange subject to a $250 million market capitalization maximum; or
ii) is controlled by a BDC or a group of companies including a BDC, the BDC actually exercises a controlling influence over the management or policies of the eligible portfolio company, and, as a result, the BDC has an affiliated person who is a director of the eligible portfolio company.
2) Securities of any eligible portfolio company which we control.
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 we already own 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.
We deem certain U.S. Treasury bills, repurchase agreements and other high-quality, short-term debt securities as cash equivalents. We primarily make investments in securities described in paragraphs 1 through 3 of Section 55(a) of the 1940 Act. From time to time, including at or near the end of each fiscal quarter, we may consider using various temporary investment strategies for our business, including taking proactive steps by utilizing cash equivalents as temporary assets with the objective of enhancing our investment flexibility pursuant to Section 55 of the 1940 Act. More specifically, from time-to-time we may draw down our credit facilities, as deemed appropriate, and repay such borrowings subsequent to quarter end. We may also purchase U.S. Treasury bills or other high-quality, short-term debt securities at or near the end of the quarter and typically close out the position on a net cash basis subsequent to quarter end. The Investment Advisory Agreement excludes the amount of these transactions or such cash drawn for this purpose from total assets for purposes of computing the base management fee.
Managerial Assistance to Portfolio Companies
In addition, a BDC must have been organized and have its principal place of business in the United States and must be operated for the purpose of making investments in the types of securities described in (1), (2) or (3) 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 significant managerial assistance. However, when a BDC purchases 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. Making available managerial assistance means, among other things, any arrangement whereby the BDC, through its directors, officers or employees, offers to provide, and, if accepted, does so provide, significant guidance and counsel concerning the management, operations or business objectives and policies of a portfolio company.
Temporary Investments
Pending investment in other types of “qualifying assets,” as described above, our investments may consist of cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities or high-quality debt securities maturing in one year or less from the time of investment, which we refer to, collectively, as temporary investments, so that 70% of our assets are qualifying assets.
Senior Securities
As a BDC, we are permitted, under specified conditions, to issue multiple classes of indebtedness and one class of stock senior to shares of our Common Stock if our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, is at least equal to the percentage set forth in Section 61 of the 1940 Act that is applicable to us at such time. On December 16, 2019, our sole stockholder approved the application of the reduced asset coverage requirements in Section 61(a)(2) to us, effective as of December 17, 2019. As a result of stockholder approval, effective December 17, 2019, the asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act applicable to us decreased to 150% from 200%, so long as we meet certain disclosure requirements, which means that for every $100 of net assets we hold, we may raise $200 from borrowing and issuing senior securities as compared to $100 from borrowing and issuing senior securities for every $100 of net assets under 200% asset coverage. In addition, while any senior securities remain outstanding, we will be required to make provisions to prohibit any dividend distribution to our stockholders or the repurchase of such securities or shares unless we meet the applicable asset coverage ratios at the time of the distribution or repurchase. We are also permitted to borrow amounts up to 5% of the value of our total assets for temporary or emergency purposes without regard to asset coverage, which borrowings would not be considered senior securities, provided that any such borrowings in excess of 5% of the value of our total assets would be subject to the asset coverage
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ratio requirements of the 1940 Act, even if for temporary or emergency purposes. Regulations governing our operations as a BDC will affect our ability to raise, and the method of raising, additional capital, which may expose us to risks.
Code of Ethics
We and our Adviser have adopted a code of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act that establishes procedures for personal investments and restricts certain personal securities transactions. Personnel subject to the code of ethics may invest in securities for their personal investment accounts, including securities that may be purchased or held by us, so long as such investments are made in accordance with the codes of ethics’ requirements. The codes of ethics for each of the Adviser and the Company are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and you may obtain copies of the code of ethics, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following email address: publicinfo@sec.gov.
Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures
We have delegated our proxy voting responsibility to our Adviser. A summary of the Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures of our Adviser are set forth below. These policies and procedures are reviewed periodically by our Adviser and our Independent Directors, and, accordingly, are subject to change.
An investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, or the Advisers Act, has a fiduciary duty to act solely in the best interests of its clients. As part of this duty, the Adviser recognizes that it must vote the Company’s securities in a timely manner free of conflicts of interest and in our best interests and the best interests of the Company’s stockholders.
These policies and procedures for voting proxies are intended to comply with Section 206 of, and Rule 206(4)-6 under, the Advisers Act.
The Adviser votes proxies relating to the Company’s portfolio securities in what it believes to be the best interest of the Company’s stockholders. To ensure that our vote is not the product of a conflict of interest, the Adviser requires that: (1) anyone involved in the decision making process disclose to the Company’s Chief Compliance Officer any potential conflict that he or she is aware of and any contact that he or she has had with any interested party regarding a proxy vote; and (2) employees involved in the decision making process or vote administration are prohibited from revealing how the Company intends to vote on a proposal in order to reduce any attempted influence from interested parties.
A copy of the Adviser’s policies and procedures with respect to the voting of proxies relating to the Company’s portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request. Stockholders may obtain information regarding how the Adviser voted proxies by making a written request for proxy voting information to: Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund c/o Morgan Stanley 1585 Broadway, New York, NY 10036 Attn: Chief Compliance Officer.
Privacy Principles
The Adviser has established policies with respect to nonpublic personal information provided to it with respect to individuals who are investors in the Company, which policies also apply to the Administrator. We have adopted the privacy policies of the Adviser as applicable to us.
We and the Adviser each recognizes the importance of maintaining the privacy of any nonpublic personal information it receives with respect to each investor. In the course of providing management services to us, the Adviser collects nonpublic personal information about investors from the Subscription Agreements and the certificates and exhibits thereto that each investor submits. We and the Adviser may also collect nonpublic personal information about each investor from conversations and correspondence between each investor and us or the Adviser, both prior to and during the course of each investor’s investment in the Company.
We and the Adviser each treat all of the nonpublic personal information it receives with respect to each investor as confidential. We and the Adviser restrict access to such information to those employees, affiliates and agents who need to know the information in order for us and the Adviser to determine whether each investor meets the regulatory requirements for an investment in the Company and, in the case of the Adviser, to provide ongoing management services to us. The Adviser maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to comply with U.S. federal standards to guard each investor’s nonpublic personal information.
The Adviser does not disclose any nonpublic personal information about any investor to any third parties, other than the Adviser’s agents, representatives and/or affiliates, or as permitted or required by law. Among other things, the law permits the Adviser to disclose such information for purposes of making investments on our behalf, complying with anti-money laundering laws, preparing tax returns and reports for each investor and determining whether each investor meets the regulatory requirements for investing in us.
Other
We are prohibited under the 1940 Act from knowingly participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our Independent Directors and, in some cases, prior approval by the SEC.
We will be periodically examined by the SEC for compliance with the 1940 Act.
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We are required to provide and maintain a bond issued by a reputable fidelity insurance company to protect us against larceny and embezzlement. Furthermore, as a BDC, we are prohibited from protecting any director or officer against any liability to us or our stockholders arising from willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of such person’s office.
We and our Adviser are each required to adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violation of the federal securities laws, review these policies and procedures annually for their adequacy and the effectiveness of their implementation, and designate a chief compliance officer to be responsible for administering the policies and procedures.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act imposes a variety of regulatory requirements on companies with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act and their insiders. Many of these requirements affect us. For example:
• pursuant to Rule 13a-14 under the Exchange Act our principal executive officer and principal financial officer must certify the accuracy of the financial statements contained in our periodic reports;
• pursuant to Item 307 under Regulation S-K under the Securities Act our periodic reports must disclose our conclusions about the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures;
• pursuant to Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act, our management must prepare an annual report regarding its assessment of our internal control over financial reporting, which must be audited by our independent registered public accounting firm; and
• pursuant to Item 308 of Regulation S-K under the Securities Act and Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act, our periodic reports must disclose whether there were significant changes in our internal controls over financial reporting or in other factors that could significantly affect these controls subsequent to the date of their evaluation, including any corrective actions with regard to significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires us to review our current policies and procedures to determine whether we comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the regulations promulgated under such act. We will continue to monitor our compliance with all regulations that are adopted under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and will take actions necessary to ensure that we comply with that act in the future.
Bank Holding Company Act
As a bank holding company (“BHC”) that has elected Financial Holding Company, or FHC, status under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “BHCA”), Morgan Stanley and its affiliates are subject to comprehensive, consolidated supervision and regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”). Because a Morgan Stanley affiliate is acting as our Adviser and Morgan Stanley has a 5% or greater voting investment in us, we are subject to the certain federal banking and financial requirements, including the BHCA, regulations of the Federal Reserve, and certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Because we are controlled by Morgan Stanley for purposes of the BHCA, we must generally comply with the investment and activity restrictions applicable to Morgan Stanley under the BHCA. Such restrictions may place certain limitations on our ability to engage in activities or make investments in companies. For instance, the BHCA permits a BHC as well as any non-bank affiliate of such BHC, to make investment representing less than 5% of any class of voting shares of another company so long as that investment is otherwise non-controlling under the BHCA. The BHCA also permits well-capitalized, well-managed BHCs that have elected to be treated as an FHC to engage in expanded “financial in nature” activities without prior approval of the Federal Reserve. Such financial in nature activities include bona fide merchant banking activities, so long as (i) the FHC holds its merchant banking investments only for a period of time sufficient to enable the sale or disposition thereof on a reasonable basis (generally no more than 10 years) and (ii) the FHC does not routinely manage or operate the companies in which it invests except as necessary or required to obtain a reasonable return on its investment. The BHCA does not, however, require Morgan Stanley to financially support us.
The BHCA generally prohibits BHCs, such as Morgan Stanley, and its subsidiaries from acquiring more than de minimis equity interests in non-financial companies unless certain exemptions apply. Further, under the BHCA, eligible FHCs and their subsidiaries have authority to engage in a broader range of investments and activities than BHCs that are not FHCs.
A significant focus of the regulatory framework that applies to Morgan Stanley is to ensure that Morgan Stanley and its subsidiaries operate in a safe and sound manner, with sufficient capital, earnings and liquidity to allow Morgan Stanley to serve as a source of financial and managerial strength to Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A. and Morgan Stanley Private Bank, National Association, or the Banks. These Banks must remain well capitalized and well managed if Morgan Stanley is to maintain its FHC status and continue to engage in the widest range of permissible financial activities. In addition, the general exercise by the Federal Reserve of its regulatory, supervisory and enforcement authority with respect to Morgan Stanley and certain provisions of Dodd-Frank could result in the need for Morgan Stanley to change its business practices or the scope of its current lines of business, including certain limited divestitures. Although such changes could have an impact on and consequences for Morgan Stanley and the Adviser, any limited divestiture should not directly involve the Adviser.
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Dodd-Frank and Volcker Rule Disclosure
Section 619 of Dodd-Frank, commonly known as the “Volcker Rule,” and regulations to implement the Volcker Rule issued by the U.S. federal financial regulators in December 2013, referred to as the Implementing Regulations, generally restrict any “banking entity” (which includes Morgan Stanley and most affiliates of Morgan Stanley) from engaging in “proprietary trading” as well as from acquiring or retaining any “ownership interest” in a “covered fund”, in each case unless the investment or activity is conducted in accordance with an exclusion or exemption. The Volcker Rule also generally prohibits certain transactions between a banking entity and any of its affiliates, on the one hand, and a covered fund for which the banking entity or any of its affiliates serves, directly or indirectly, as the investment manager, investment adviser, or that the banking entity or any of its affiliates sponsors in connection with organizing and offering that fund (or with any other covered fund that is controlled by such fund, on the other hand. The term “covered fund” includes, among others, hedge funds and private-equity funds that are privately offered in the United States and that rely on Sections 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act to avoid being treated as “investment companies” under the 1940 Act.
The Volcker Rule and the Implementing Regulations impose a number of restrictions on Morgan Stanley and its affiliates that affect us and the Adviser. As a BDC, we are not considered to be a covered fund. As a result, Morgan Stanley and its subsidiaries investments in us would not be subject to the Volcker Rule restrictions on investments in covered funds, but we would during that time be considered a banking entity subject to restrictions on proprietary trading to the extent we are “controlled” by Morgan Stanley or its affiliates. Generally, we will be deemed to be controlled for these purposes for so long as entities affiliated with Morgan Stanley own 5% or more of our outstanding voting securities. However, for a limited seeding period following the Initial Closing, which pursuant to the Volcker Rule and the Implementing Regulations, may be three years or more, we will not be deemed to be a “banking entity” solely because of the ownership of our voting securities by Morgan Stanley and its affiliates. We can offer no assurances that, at the conclusion of this seeding period, Morgan Stanley and its subsidiaries would not be deemed to control us for purposes of the Volcker Rule as a result of their investment in us. To the extent that we are deemed a banking entity under the Volcker Rule and the Implementing Regulations, our operations may be restricted, although, given the anticipated nature of the investments we make and intend to make, we do not anticipate that these restrictions, if they were to apply, would impose material limitations on our operations, but can provide no assurances that they would not. Furthermore, we can offer no assurances that the rules and regulations enacted under the Volcker Rule, the BHCA and other statutes will not change in a future in a manner that would limit our operations and investments.
It is not certain how all aspects of the Volcker Rule will be interpreted and applied, or what the impact of the Volcker Rule will have on us. In addition, the restrictions and limitation on Morgan Stanley and us may change in the future as the Federal Reserve and other agencies consider whether and how to revise and apply the Volcker Rule. We believe that we may perform our activities and services without violation of applicable U.S. banking laws and regulations. However, it is possible that future changes or clarifications in the BHCA and Volcker Rule, as well as judicial or administrative decisions or interpretations of present of future laws or regulations, could restrict (or possibly prevent) our ability to continue to conduct our operations as currently contemplated. In such event, we, the Adviser and/or Morgan Stanley may agree to make certain amendments or changes to the extent necessary to permit the Adviser to continue to provide services to us, while enabling us to continue to achieve our purposes and objectives.
Exclusion of the Adviser from Commodity Pool Operator Definition
Engaging in commodity interest transactions such as swap transactions or futures contracts for us may cause the Adviser to fall within the definition of “commodity pool operator” under the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) and related Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) regulations. On January 24, 2020, the Adviser claimed an exclusion from the definition of the term “commodity pool operator” under the CEA and the CFTC regulations in connection with its management of us (the “Exclusion”) and, therefore, the Adviser is not subject to CFTC registration or regulation under the CEA as a commodity pool operator with respect to its management of us. The Adviser intends to affirm the Exclusion on an annual basis, which current annual affirmation was filed by the Adviser on February 24, 2023.
Reporting Obligations and Available Information
We furnish our stockholders with annual reports containing audited financial statements, quarterly reports, and such other periodic reports as we determine to be appropriate or as may be required by law. We are required to comply with all periodic reporting, proxy solicitation and other applicable requirements under the Exchange Act.
The SEC also maintains a website that contains annual reports, quarterly reports, current reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including us, which can be accessed at www.sec.gov.
Certain Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations
The following discussion is a general summary of the material U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to us and to an investment in shares of our Common Stock. This summary does not purport to be a complete description of the income tax considerations applicable to such an investment. For example, we have not described certain considerations that may be relevant to certain types of holders subject to special treatment under U.S. federal income tax laws, including stockholders subject to the alternative minimum tax (the “AMT”), tax-exempt organizations, insurance companies, dealers in securities, traders in securities that elect to mark-to-market their securities holdings, pension plans and trusts, persons that have a functional currency (as defined in
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Section 985 of the Code) other than the U.S. dollar and financial institutions. This summary assumes that investors hold shares of our Common Stock as capital assets (within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code). The discussion is based upon the Code, Treasury regulations, and administrative and judicial interpretations, each as of the date of the filing 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 Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), regarding any offering of our securities. This summary does not discuss any aspects of U.S. estate or gift tax or foreign, state or local tax. It 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, references to “dividends” are to dividends within the meaning of the U.S. federal income tax laws and associated regulations and may include amounts subject to treatment as a return of capital under section 19(a) of the 1940 Act.
A “U.S. stockholder” is a beneficial owner of shares of our Common Stock that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes:
• a citizen or individual resident of the United States;
• a corporation, or other entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, created or organized in or under the laws of the United States or any state thereof or the District of Columbia;
• an estate, the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source; or
• a trust if either a U.S. court can exercise primary supervision over its administration and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all of its substantial decisions or the trust was in existence on August 20, 1996, was treated as a U.S. person prior to that date, and has made a valid election to be treated as a U.S. person.
A “non-U.S. stockholder” is a beneficial owner of shares of our Common Stock that is not a U.S. stockholder.
If a partnership (including an entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds shares of 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. A prospective investor that is a partner in a partnership that will hold shares of Common Stock should consult its tax advisors with respect to the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of Common Stock.
Tax matters are very complicated and the tax consequences to an investor of an investment in shares of our Common Stock will depend on the facts of his, her or its particular situation. We encourage investors to consult their own tax advisors regarding the specific consequences of such an investment, including tax reporting requirements, the applicability of U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax laws, eligibility for the benefits of any applicable tax treaty, and the effect of any possible changes in the tax laws.
Election to Be Taxed as a RIC
We have elected to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code, and we intend to operate in a manner so as to continue to qualify for the tax treatment applicable to RICs. As a RIC, we generally will not have to pay corporate-level U.S. federal income taxes on any net ordinary income or capital gains that we timely distribute to our stockholders 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, we must distribute to our stockholders, for each taxable year, dividends of an amount at least equal to 90% of our investment company taxable income (“ICTI”), as defined by the code, which is generally our net ordinary income plus the excess of realized net short-term capital gains over realized net long-term capital losses and determined without regard to any deduction for dividends paid (the “Annual Distribution Requirement”). Although not required for us to maintain our RIC tax status, in order to preclude the imposition of a 4% nondeductible federal excise tax imposed on RICs, we must distribute to our stockholders in respect of each calendar year dividends of an amount at least equal to the sum of (1) 98% of our net ordinary income (taking into account certain deferrals and elections) for the calendar year, (2) 98.2% of the excess (if any) of our realized capital gains over our realized capital losses, or capital gain net income (adjusted for certain ordinary losses), generally for the one-year period ending on October 31 of the calendar year and (3) the sum of any net ordinary income plus capital gains net income for preceding years that were not distributed during such years and on which we paid no federal income tax (the “Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement”).
Taxation as a RIC
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 ICTI and net capital gain, defined as net long-term capital gains in excess of net short-term capital losses, we distribute to stockholders. As a RIC, we will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at regular corporate rates on any net income or net capital gain not distributed as dividends to our stockholders.
In order to qualify as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we must, among other things:
• qualify to be regulated as a BDC under the 1940 Act at all times during each taxable year;
• derive in each taxable year at least 90% of our gross income from dividends, interest, payments with respect to certain securities loans, gains from the sale of stock or other securities, or other income derived with respect to our business of investing in such stock or securities, and net income derived from interests in “qualified publicly traded
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partnerships” (partnerships that are traded on an established securities market or tradable on a secondary market, other than partnerships that derive 90% of their income from interest, dividends and other permitted RIC income) (the “90% Income Test”); and
• diversify our holdings so that at the end of each quarter of the taxable year:
◦ 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
◦ no more than 25% of the value of our assets is invested in the securities, other than U.S. government securities or securities of other RICs, of one issuer or of two or more issuers that are controlled, as determined under applicable tax rules, by us and that are engaged in the same or similar or related trades or businesses or in the securities of one or more qualified publicly traded partnerships.
We may invest in partnerships, including qualified publicly traded partnerships, which may result in our being subject to state, local or foreign income, franchise or other tax liabilities.
In addition, as a RIC we are subject to ordinary income and capital gain distribution requirements under the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement. If we do not meet the required distributions, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible federal excise tax on the undistributed amount. The failure to meet the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement will not cause us to lose our RIC status. Although we currently intend to make sufficient distributions each taxable year to satisfy the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement, under certain circumstances, we may choose to retain taxable income or capital gains in excess of current year distributions into the next tax year in an amount less than what would trigger payments of federal income tax under Subchapter M of the Code. We may then be required to pay a 4% excise tax on such income or capital gains.
A RIC is limited in its ability to deduct expenses in excess of its ICTI. If our deductible expenses in a given taxable year exceed our ICTI, we may incur a net operating loss for that taxable year. However, a RIC is not permitted to carry forward net operating losses to subsequent taxable years and such net operating losses do not pass through to its stockholders. In addition, deductible expenses can be used only to offset ICTI, not net capital gain. A RIC may not use any net capital losses (that is, the excess of realized capital losses over realized capital gains) to offset its ICTI, but may carry forward such net capital losses, and use them to offset future capital gains, indefinitely. Due to these limits on deductibility of expenses and net capital losses, we may for tax purposes have aggregate taxable income for several taxable years that we are required to distribute and that is taxable to our stockholders even if such taxable income is greater than the net income we actually earn during those taxable years.
Any underwriting fees paid by us are not deductible. 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 OID (such as debt instruments with PIK interest or, in certain cases, with increasing interest rates or issued with warrants), we must include in income each year a portion of the OID that accrues over the life of the obligation, regardless of whether cash representing such income is received by us in the same taxable year. Because any OID accrued will be included in our ICTI for the taxable year of accrual, we may be required to make a distribution to our stockholders in order to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement, even though we will not have received any corresponding cash amount. Furthermore, a portfolio company in which we hold equity or debt instruments may face financial difficulty that requires us to work out, modify, or otherwise restructure such equity or debt instruments. Any such restructuring could, depending upon the terms of the restructuring, cause us to incur unusable or nondeductible losses or recognize future non-cash taxable income.
Certain of our investment practices may be subject to special and complex U.S. federal income tax provisions that may, among other things, (1) treat dividends that would otherwise constitute qualified dividend income as non-qualified dividend income, (2) treat dividends that would otherwise be eligible for the corporate dividends-received deduction as ineligible for such treatment, (3) disallow, suspend or otherwise limit the allowance of certain losses or deductions, (4) convert lower-taxed long-term capital gain into higher-taxed short-term capital gain or ordinary income, (5) convert an ordinary loss or a deduction into a capital loss (the deductibility of which is more limited), (6) cause us to recognize income or gain without a corresponding receipt of cash, (7) adversely affect the time as to when a purchase or sale of stock or securities is deemed to occur, (8) adversely alter the characterization of certain complex financial transactions and (9) produce income that will not be qualifying income for purposes of the 90% Income Test. We intend to monitor our transactions and may make certain tax elections to mitigate the potential adverse effect of these provisions, but there can be no assurance that we will be eligible for any such tax elections or that any adverse effects of these provisions will be mitigated.
Gain or loss realized by us from warrants acquired by us as well as any loss attributable to the lapse of such warrants generally will be treated as capital gain or loss. Such gain or loss generally will be long-term or short-term, depending on how long we held a particular warrant or security.
A portfolio company in which we invest may face financial difficulties that require us to work-out, modify or otherwise restructure its investment in the portfolio company. Any such transaction could, depending upon the specific terms of the transaction, result in
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unusable capital losses and future non-cash income. Any such transaction could also result in our receiving assets that give rise to income that is not qualifying income for purposes of the 90% Income Test.
Our investment in non-U.S. securities may be subject to non-U.S. income, withholding and other taxes. In that case, our yield on those securities would be decreased. stockholders generally will not be entitled to claim a U.S. foreign tax credit or deduction with respect to non-U.S. taxes paid by the Company.
Although we do not presently expect to do so, we are authorized to borrow funds and to sell assets in order to satisfy distribution requirements. However, under the 1940 Act, we are not permitted to make distributions to our stockholders while our debt obligations and other senior securities are outstanding unless certain “asset coverage” tests are met. See “ Item 1. Business—Regulation as a Business Development Company—Senior Securities .” Moreover, our ability to dispose of assets to meet our distribution requirements may be limited by (1) the illiquid nature of our portfolio and/or (2) other requirements relating to our qualification as a RIC, including certain diversification tests in order to qualify as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes (the “Diversification Tests”). If we dispose of assets in order to meet the Annual Distribution Requirement or the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement, we may make such dispositions at times that, from an investment standpoint, are not advantageous.
Some of the income and fees that we may recognize, such as fees for providing managerial assistance, certain fees earned with respect to our investments, income recognized in a work-out or restructuring of a portfolio investment, or income recognized from an equity investment in an operating partnership, will not satisfy the 90% Income Test. In order to manage the risk that such income and fees might disqualify us as a RIC for a failure to satisfy the 90% Income Test, we may be required to recognize such income and fees indirectly through one or more entities treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Such corporations will be required to pay U.S. corporate income tax on their earnings, which ultimately will reduce our return on such income and fees.
There may be uncertainty as to the appropriate treatment of certain of our investments for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In particular, we may invest a portion of our net assets in below investment grade instruments. U.S. federal income tax rules with respect to such instruments are not entirely clear about issues such as if an instrument is treated as debt or equity, whether and to what extent we should recognize interest, OID or market discount, when and to what extent deductions may be taken for bad debts or worthless instruments, how payments received on obligations in default should be allocated between principal and income and whether exchanges of debt obligations in a bankruptcy or workout context are taxable. These and other issues will be addressed by us, to the extent necessary, in order to seek to ensure that we distribute sufficient income to qualify, and maintain our qualification as, a RIC and to ensure that we do not become subject to U.S. federal income or excise tax.
Income received by us from sources outside the United States may be subject to withholding and other taxes imposed by such countries, thereby reducing income available to us. Tax conventions between certain countries and the United States may reduce or eliminate such taxes. We generally intend to conduct our investment activities to minimize the impact of foreign taxation, but there is no guarantee that we will be successful in this regard.
We may invest in stocks of foreign companies that are classified under the Code as passive foreign investment companies (“PFICs”). In general, a foreign company is classified as a PFIC if at least 50% of its assets constitute investment-type assets or 75% or more of its gross income is investment-type income. In general, under the PFIC rules, an “excess distribution” received with respect to PFIC stock is treated as having been realized ratably over the period during which we held the PFIC stock. We will be subject to tax on the portion, if any, of the excess distribution that is allocated to our holding period in prior taxable years (and an interest factor will be added to the tax, as if the tax had actually been payable in such prior taxable years) even though we distribute the corresponding income to stockholders. Excess distributions include any gain from the sale of PFIC stock as well as certain distributions from a PFIC. All excess distributions are taxable as ordinary income.
We may be eligible to elect alternative tax treatment with respect to PFIC stock. Under such an election, we generally would be required to include in our gross income its share of the earnings of a PFIC on a current basis, regardless of whether any distributions are received from the PFIC. If this election is made, the special rules, discussed above, relating to the taxation of excess distributions, would not apply. Alternatively, we may be able to elect to mark to market our PFIC stock, resulting in any unrealized gains at year end being treated as though they were realized and reported as ordinary income. Any mark-to-market losses and any loss from an actual disposition of the PFIC’s shares would be deductible as ordinary losses to the extent of any net mark-to-market gains included in income in prior years with respect to stock in the same PFIC.
Because the application of the PFIC rules may affect, among other things, the character of gains, the amount of gain or loss and the timing of the recognition of income with respect to PFIC stock, as well as subject us to tax on certain income from PFIC stock, the amount that must be distributed to stockholders, and which will be taxed to stockholders as ordinary income or long-term capital gain, may be increased or decreased substantially as compared to a fund that did not invest in PFIC stock.
Under the Code, gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates that occur between the time we accrue interest income or other receivables or accrues expenses or other liabilities denominated in a foreign currency and the time we actually collect such receivables or pays such liabilities generally are treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss. Similarly, on disposition of some investments, including debt securities and certain forward contracts denominated in a foreign currency, gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in the value of foreign currency between the date of acquisition of the security or contract and the date of
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disposition also are treated as ordinary gain or loss. These gains and losses, referred to under the Code as “section 988” gains and losses, may increase or decrease the amount of our ICTI to be distributed to stockholders as ordinary income. For example, fluctuations in exchange rates may increase the amount of income that we must distribute in order to qualify for treatment as a RIC and to prevent application of an excise tax on undistributed income. Alternatively, fluctuations in exchange rates may decrease or eliminate income available for distribution. If section 988 losses exceed other ICTI during a taxable year, we would not be able to make ordinary distributions, or distributions made before the losses were realized would be re-characterized as a return of capital to stockholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes, rather than as ordinary dividend income, and would reduce each stockholder’s basis in Shares.
Certain distributions reported by us as section 163(j) interest dividends may be treated as interest income by stockholders for purposes of the tax rules applicable to interest expense limitations under Code section 163(j). Such treatment by the stockholder is generally subject to holding period requirements and other potential limitations, although the holding period requirements are generally not applicable to dividends declared by money market funds and certain other funds that declare dividends daily and pay such dividends on a monthly or more frequent basis. The amount that we are eligible to report as a Section 163(j) dividend for a tax year is generally limited to the excess of our business interest income over the sum of our (i) business interest expense and (ii) other deductions properly allocable to our business interest income.
Failure to Qualify as a RIC
If we were unable to qualify for treatment as a RIC and are unable to cure the failure, for example, by disposing of certain investments quickly or raising additional capital to prevent the loss of RIC status, we would be subject to tax on all of our taxable income at regular corporate rates. The Code provides some relief from RIC disqualification due to failures to comply with the 90% Income Test and the Diversification Tests, although there may be additional taxes due in such cases. We cannot assure you that we would qualify for any such relief should we fail the 90% Income Test or the Diversification Tests.
Should failure occur, all our taxable income would be subject to tax at regular corporate rates and we would not be able to deduct our dividend distributions to stockholders. Additionally, we would no longer be required to distribute our income and gains. Distributions, including distributions of net long-term capital gain, would generally be taxable to our stockholders as ordinary dividend income to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits. Subject to certain limitations under the Code, certain corporate stockholders would be eligible to claim a dividends-received deduction with respect to such dividends and non-corporate stockholders would generally be able to treat such dividends as “ qualified dividend income, ” which is subject to reduced rates of U.S. federal income tax. Distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits would be treated first as a return of capital to the extent of the stockholder ’ s tax basis, and any remaining distributions would be treated as a capital gain. If we fail to qualify as a RIC, we may be subject to regular corporate tax on any net built-in gains with respect to certain of our assets (i.e., the excess of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets if we had been liquidated) that we elect to recognize on requalification or when recognized over the next five taxable years.
Staffing
We do not currently have any employees. Our day-to-day investment operations are managed by our Adviser, and our Administrator provides services necessary to conduct our business. We pay no compensation directly to any interested director or executive officer of the Company. We pay our Administrator our allocable portion of certain expenses incurred by our Administrator in performing its obligations under the Administration Agreement, including our allocable portion of the cost of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer.
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Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.