(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
(Address of principal executive offices)
(Name and address of agent for service)
The annual report to shareholders for the period ended March 31, 2012 is filed herewith pursuant to rule 30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
May 25, 2012
To Our Shareholders:
We are pleased to submit to you the report of Oxford Lane Capital Corp. (the Fund or Oxford Lane) for the year ended March 31, 2012. The net asset value of our shares at that date was $17.05 per common share. The Funds common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and its share price can differ from its net asset value; at period end, the Funds closing price on the NASDAQ Global Select Market was $14.60, down from $18.75 at March 31, 2011. The total return for Oxford Lane, for the year ended March 31, 2012, as reflected in the Funds financial highlights, was (10.75%). This return reflects the change in market price for the year ended March 31, 2012, partially offset by the positive impact of $2.05 per share in dividends declared and paid.
We are not aware of any directly comparable benchmark in the marketplace for funds that invest in collateralized loan obligation (CLO) debt and equity tranches, however the past twelve months have seen significant declines in the shares of companies in the financial services sector. For example, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7.2% for the period, the NYSE Financial Index was down 6.9%, the NASDAQ Banks Index was up less than 1%, and the NYSE ARCA Securities Broker/Dealer Index was down 12.5%. Again, while we do not believe that any of these indices are directly comparable to the Fund, we do believe that the stock prices of many smaller companies in the financial services sector will often be influenced by exogenous market factors, not necessarily related to the performance of the companies.
We should also draw your attention to our dividend policy, which has been discussed in earlier reports, as we believe that the Fund is in an unusual position. Oxford Lane is subject to significant differences between its accounting income and its taxable income particularly as it relates to our CLO equity investments. We invest in CLO entities which generally constitute passive foreign investment companies and are subject to complex tax rules; the calculation of taxable income attributed to a CLO equity investment can be dramatically different from the calculation of income for financial reporting purposes. Taxable income is based upon the interest payments attributed to the equity class of CLO securities, while accounting income is currently based upon an effective yield calculation. In general, we currently expect the taxable income to be higher than reportable accounting income on the basis of actual cash received, and our dividend decisions will be based upon our expectations for that taxable income (as is required for a regulated investment company). While reportable accounting income from our CLO equity class investments for the year ended March 31, 2012 was approximately $3.3 million, we received or were entitled to receive approximately $5.9 million in interest payments. Our dividend distribution policy is based upon those interest payments.
The Funds investment objective is to maximize its portfolios total return. Our current focus is to seek current income by investing in structured finance investments, including CLO vehicles which own debt securities. We may also seek to make direct investment in corporate debt securities. As of March 31, 2012, we held investments in 21 different CLO structures.
The Fund has initially implemented its investment objective by purchasing in the secondary market the income notes (sometimes referred to as equity) and junior debt tranches of various CLO vehicles. Structurally, CLO vehicles are entities that were formed to purchase and manage a portfolio of loans. The loans within a CLO vehicle are limited to loans which meet established credit criteria. They are subject to concentration limitations in order to limit a CLO vehicles exposure to individual credits. The CLO vehicles which the Fund focuses on are collateralized primarily by senior loans, and generally have very little or no exposure to real estate, mortgage loans or to pools of consumer-based debt, such as credit card receivables or auto loans. Thus far, we are satisfied with the quality of our investment portfolio and the income stream that it is producing.
1
Despite recent strength across the credit markets broadly, we believe that the market for CLO-related assets continues to provide us with the opportunity to generate attractive risk adjusted returns within that strategy. We believe that a number of factors support this conclusion, including:
| We believe that the long-term and relatively low-cost capital that many CLO vehicles have secured compared with the current credit spreads for senior loans and their associated LIBOR floors have created opportunities to purchase certain CLO equity and junior debt instruments that may produce attractive risk-adjusted returns even after accounting for the increase in CLO prices from their lows of 2009. |
| We believe that investing in CLO securities and CLO equity instruments in particular, requires a high level of research and analysis. We believe that typically this analysis can only be adequately conducted by knowledgeable market participants since the analysis tends to be highly specialized. |
| We believe that larger institutional investors with sufficient resources to source, analyze and negotiate the purchase of these assets may refrain from purchasing assets of the size that we are primarily targeting, thereby potentially reducing the competition for our target investments. |
| We believe that a stronger credit market for senior loans has reduced the risk of collateral coverage test violations across many CLO structures, thereby reducing the risk that current cash distributions otherwise payable to junior debt tranches and/or equity will be diverted under the priority of payments to pay down the more senior obligations in various CLO structures. |
In addition to reviewing the junior debt and equity tranches of pre-2008 vintage CLOs, we have recently begun to review post-2010 CLOs (in both the primary and secondary markets). In 2011, we believe there were a total of 28 CLOs structured with a total of $11.1 billion and $1.2 billion of debt and equity issued, respectively. We believe issuance of CLOs was even more active in 2012 (YTD through May 16, 2012) with a total of 32 CLOs structured with a total of $11.8 billion and $1.7 billion of debt and equity issued, respectively. While the post-2010 CLOs generally have a higher cost of capital (which may result in a lower return for the equity investors in those CLOs) compared to pre-2008 CLOs, they offer certain attractive structural features (including better credit enhancement and lower leverage) and stronger collateral packages. As a result, we believe there are now a significant number of those investment opportunities to consider.
We have and continue to review a large number of CLO investment vehicles and, in the current market environment, we expect the majority of our portfolio holdings will continue to be focused on CLO debt and equity securities.
Jonathan H. Cohen
Chief Executive Officer
1. | Source: Standard & Poors. We believe the information provided by Standard & Poors regarding the amount of post-2010 CLOs issued is reliable but we make no representation regarding its accuracy. |
2
Investment | Maturity | Fair Value | % of Net Assets |
|||||||||
Waterfront CLO 2007 Class D Notes | August 2, 2020 | $ | 4,197,500 | 10.02 | % | |||||||
CIFC Funding 2006 1X Class B2L Notes | October 20, 2020 | 4,053,470 | 9.68 | % | ||||||||
Harbourview CLO 2006 1 Sub Notes | December 27, 2019 | 3,460,200 | 8.26 | % | ||||||||
Hewett Island CLO III Class D Notes | August 9, 2017 | 2,890,828 | 6.90 | % | ||||||||
Jersey Street CLO 2007 1A Income Notes | October 20, 2018 | 2,452,450 | 5.86 | % | ||||||||
Emporia III, Ltd. 2007 3A Class E Notes | April 23, 2021 | 2,425,950 | 5.79 | % | ||||||||
Kingsland IV, Ltd. 2007 4A Sub Notes | April 16, 2021 | 2,232,500 | 5.33 | % | ||||||||
Mountain Capital CLO IV, Ltd 2005 4X Class B2L Notes | March 15, 2018 | 2,143,389 | 5.12 | % | ||||||||
Octagon XI CLO 2007 1A Income Notes | August 25, 2021 | 2,025,000 | 4.84 | % | ||||||||
Lightpoint CLO VII, Ltd. 2007 7X Sub Notes | May 15, 2021 | 1,630,000 | 3.89 | % |
3
March 31, 2012 | ||||
ASSETS |
||||
Investments, at fair value (identified cost: $38,779,952) | $ | 40,524,367 | ||
Cash and cash equivalents | 1,615,609 | |||
Deferred offering costs | 149,039 | |||
Interest receivable, including accrued interest purchased | 258,555 | |||
Prepaid expenses | 48,602 | |||
Total assets | 42,596,172 | |||
LIABILITIES |
||||
Investment advisory fee payable to affiliate | 187,562 | |||
Incentive fees payable | 204,788 | |||
Directors' fees payable | 41,000 | |||
Administrator expense payable | 6,388 | |||
Accrued offering costs | 107,981 | |||
Accrued expenses | 169,252 | |||
Total liabilities | 716,971 | |||
NET ASSETS applicable to 2,456,511 shares of $0.01 par value common stock outstanding | $ | 41,879,201 | ||
NET ASSETS consist of: |
||||
Paid in capital | 42,560,991 | |||
Net realized gain (loss) on investments | | |||
Net unrealized appreciation on investments | 1,744,415 | |||
Distribution in excess of net investment income | (2,426,205 | ) | ||
Total net assets | $ | 41,879,201 | ||
Net asset value per common share | $ | 17.05 | ||
Market price per share | $ | 14.60 | ||
Market price discount to net asset value per share | (14.37 | %) |
See Accompanying Notes
4
COMPANY(1) | INDUSTRY | INVESTMENT | PRINCIPAL AMOUNT | COST | FAIR VALUE(2) | % of Net Assets | ||||||||||||||||||
Collateralized Loan Obligation Debt Investments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bridgeport CLO II | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class D(3)(4)(5) (4.72%, due June 18, 2021) |
$ | 1,130,500 | $ | 894,974 | $ | 746,130 | ||||||||||||||||
Canaras Summit CLO 2007-1A |
structured finance | CLO secured notes Class E(3)(4)(5) (4.82%, due June 19, 2021) |
750,000 | 514,632 | 532,500 | |||||||||||||||||||
Cent CDO 15 | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class D(3)(4)(5) (4.62%, due March 11, 2021) |
1,625,000 | 1,239,835 | 1,088,750 | |||||||||||||||||||
CIFC Funding 2006-1X | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class B2L(3)(4)(5) (4.56%, due October 20, 2020) |
5,730,501 | 4,118,365 | 4,053,470 | |||||||||||||||||||
Emporia III, Ltd. 2007-3A | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class E(3)(4)(5) (4.26%, due April 23, 2021) |
3,594,000 | 2,775,736 | 2,425,950 | |||||||||||||||||||
GSC VIII | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class D(3)(4)(5) (3.97%, due April 18, 2021) |
2,112,137 | 1,357,533 | 1,394,011 | |||||||||||||||||||
Hewett's Island CLO III | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class D(3)(4)(5) (6.27%, due August 09, 2017) |
3,516,068 | 2,816,362 | 2,890,828 | |||||||||||||||||||
Hewett's Island CLO IV | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class E(3)(4)(5) (5.07%, due May 09, 2018) |
1,500,000 | 1,315,364 | 1,154,250 | |||||||||||||||||||
Kingsland V, Ltd. 2007-5X | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class E(3)(4)(5) (4.82%, due July 14, 2021) |
2,250,000 | 1,659,652 | 1,507,500 | |||||||||||||||||||
Mountain Capital CLO IV, Ltd 2005-4X | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class B2L(3)(4)(5) (5.22%, due March 15, 2018) |
2,820,248 | 2,023,690 | 2,143,389 | |||||||||||||||||||
PPM Grayhawk CLO 2007 | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class D(3)(4)(5) (4.16%, due April 18, 2021) |
1,869,138 | 1,395,787 | 1,214,939 | |||||||||||||||||||
Waterfront CLO 2007 | structured finance | CLO secured notes Class D(3)(4)(5) (5.32%, due August 2, 2020) |
5,750,000 | 4,317,267 | 4,197,500 | |||||||||||||||||||
Total Collateralized Loan Obligation Debt Investments | $ | 24,429,197 | $ | 23,349,217 | 55.75 | % | ||||||||||||||||||
Collateralized Loan Obligation Equity Investments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Canaras Summit CLO 2007-1X |
structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 30.55%, maturity June 19, 2021) |
1,500,000 | 1,067,315 | 1,425,000 | |||||||||||||||||||
Gale Force 4 CLO 2007-4A | structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 25.72%, maturity August 20, 2021) |
1,500,000 | 930,915 | 1,230,000 | |||||||||||||||||||
Harbourview CLO 2006-1 | structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 26.16%, maturity December 27, 2019) |
4,380,000 | 2,751,158 | 3,460,200 | |||||||||||||||||||
Hillmark Funding Ltd. 2006-1A | structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 16.22%, maturity May 21, 2021) |
2,000,000 | 1,445,407 | 1,460,000 | |||||||||||||||||||
Jersey Street CLO 2007-1A | structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 23.05%, maturity October 20, 2018) |
3,185,000 | 2,243,449 | 2,452,450 | |||||||||||||||||||
Kingsland IV, Ltd. 2007-4A | structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 25.56%, maturity April 16, 2021) |
2,350,000 | 1,831,224 | 2,232,500 | |||||||||||||||||||
Lightpoint CLO VII, Ltd. 2007-7X | structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 28.71%, maturity May 15, 2021) |
2,000,000 | 1,280,081 | 1,630,000 | |||||||||||||||||||
Octagon XI CLO 2007-1A | structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 25.04%, maturity August 25, 2021) |
2,025,000 | 1,609,337 | 2,025,000 | |||||||||||||||||||
Rampart CLO 2007-1A | structured finance | CLO income notes(4)(6) (Estimated yield 17.88%, maturity October 25, 2021) |
1,500,000 | 1,191,869 | 1,260,000 | |||||||||||||||||||
Total Collateralized Loan Obligation Equity Investments | $ | 14,350,755 | $ | 17,175,150 | 41.01 | % | ||||||||||||||||||
Total Investments | $ | 38,779,952 | $ | 40,524,367 | 96.76% |
(1) | We do not control and are not an affiliate of any of our portfolio companies, each as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act). In general, under the 1940 Act, we would be presumed to control a portfolio company if we owned 25% or more of its voting securities and would be an affiliate of a portfolio company if we owned 5% or more of its voting securities. |
(Continued on next page)
See Accompanying Notes
5
(2) | Fair value is determined in good faith by the Board of Directors of the Company. |
(3) | Notes bear interest at variable rates. |
(4) | Cost value reflects accretion of original issue discount or market discount, and amortization of premium. |
(5) | The CLO secured notes generally bear interest at a rate determined by reference to LIBOR which resets quarterly. For each CLO debt investment, the rate provided is as of March 31, 2012. |
(6) | The CLO subordinated notes and income notes are considered equity positions. Equity investments are entitled to recurring distributions which are generally equal to the remaining cash flow of the payments made by the underlying fund's securities less contractual payments to debt holders and fund expenses. The estimated yield indicated is based upon a current projection of the amount and timing of these recurring distributions and the estimated amount of repayment of principal upon termination. Such projections are periodically reviewed and adjusted, and the estimated yield may not ultimately be realized. |
See Accompanying Notes
6
Year Ended March 31, 2012 |
||||
INVESTMENT INCOME |
||||
Interest income | $ | 5,012,160 | ||
EXPENSES |
||||
Investment advisory fees | 729,059 | |||
Incentive fees | 451,105 | |||
Professional fees | 328,930 | |||
Administrator expense | 427,553 | |||
Directors' fees | 170,000 | |||
General and administrative | 203,093 | |||
Insurance expense | 37,515 | |||
Transfer agent and custodian fees | 34,077 | |||
Total expenses | 2,381,332 | |||
Net investment income | 2,630,828 | |||
Net change in unrealized appreciation on investments | 1,786,915 | |||
Net realized gain (loss) on investments | | |||
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments | 1,786,915 | |||
Net increase in net assets resulting from operations | $ | 4,417,743 |
See Accompanying Notes
7
Year Ended March 31, 2012 |
January 25, 2011 (Commencement of Operations) to March 31, 2011 |
|||||||
Increase in net assets from operations: |
||||||||
Net investment income | $ | 2,630,828 | $ | 124,150 | ||||
Net realized gain (loss) on investments | | | ||||||
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments | 1,786,915 | (42,500 | ) | |||||
Net increase in net assets resulting from operations | 4,417,743 | 81,650 | ||||||
Distributions from net investment income | (4,736,315 | ) | (465,313 | ) | ||||
Capital share transaction: |
||||||||
Issuance of common stock (net of underwriting fees and offering costs) | 8,283,284 | 34,141,459 | ||||||
Reinvestment of dividends | 51,693 | | ||||||
Net increase in net assets from capital share transactions | 8,334,977 | 34,141,459 | ||||||
Total increase in net assets | 8,016,405 | 33,757,796 | ||||||
Net assets at beginning of period | 33,862,796 | 105,000 | ||||||
Net assets at end of period (including distributions in excess of net investment income of $2,426,205 and $361,163) | $ | 41,879,201 | $ | 33,862,796 |
See Accompanying Notes
8
Year Ended March 31, 2012 |
||||
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES |
||||
Net increase in net assets resulting from operations | $ | 4,417,743 | ||
Adjustments to reconcile net increase in net assets resulting from operations to net cash used in operating activities: |
||||
Amortization of discounts and premiums | (3,650,164 | ) | ||
Purchases of investments | (13,001,374 | ) | ||
Repayments of principal and reductions to investment cost value | 6,039,415 | |||
Net change in unrealized appreciation on investments | (1,786,915 | ) | ||
Increase in deferred offering costs | (149,039 | ) | ||
Decrease in interest receivable | 255,043 | |||
Increase in prepaid expenses | (17,416 | ) | ||
Increase in investment advisory fee payable | 60,713 | |||
Increase in incentive fee payable | 204,788 | |||
Increase in directors' fees payable | 10,500 | |||
Decrease in administrator expense payable | (22,735 | ) | ||
Increase in accrued offering costs | 107,981 | |||
Decrease in accrued expenses | (51,262 | ) | ||
Net cash used in operating activities | (7,582,722 | ) | ||
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES |
||||
Distributions paid (net of stock issued under dividend reinvestment plan of $51,693) | (5,149,935 | ) | ||
Proceeds from the issuance of common stock | 8,879,070 | |||
Underwriting fees and offering costs for the issuance of common stock | (595,786 | ) | ||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 3,133,349 | |||
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents | (4,449,373 | ) | ||
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period | 6,064,982 | |||
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period | $ | 1,615,609 |
See Accompanying Notes
9
Oxford Lane Capital Corp. (OXLC, we or the Fund) was incorporated under the General Corporation Laws of the State of Maryland on June 9, 2010 as a non-diversified closed-end management investment company that has registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or the 1940 Act. In addition, the Fund has elected to be treated for tax purposes as a regulated investment company, or RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The Funds investment objective is to maximize its portfolios total return and seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in senior secured loans and the equity and junior debt tranches of collateralized loan obligation (CLO) vehicles.
On January 25, 2011, the Fund closed its initial public offering and sold 1,825,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $20.00 per share, less an underwriting discount of $1.40 per share and offering expenses of $361,541. Certain of OXLC's directors and officers purchased shares at the public offering price. On February 24, 2011, the Fund issued an additional 30,000 shares of its common stock at the same price pursuant to the underwriters' overallotment. The total net proceeds to the Fund from the initial public offering, including the exercise of the overallotment, were $34,141,459.
OXLCs investment activities are managed by Oxford Lane Management LLC, (OXLC Management), a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, as amended. BDC Partners LLC (BDC Partners) is the managing member of OXLC Management and serves as the administrator of OXLC.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results may differ from those estimates.
In the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts that contain a variety of representations and provide indemnifications. The Funds maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund that have not yet occurred. However, based upon experience, the Fund expects the risk of loss to be remote.
The Fund considers all highly liquid debt instruments with a maturity of three months or less at the time of purchase to be cash equivalents.
The most significant estimate inherent in the preparation of the Funds financial statements is the valuation of investments and the related amounts of unrealized appreciation and depreciation of investments recorded. There is no single method for determining fair value in good faith. As a result, determining fair value requires that judgment be applied to the specific facts and circumstances of each portfolio investment while employing a consistently applied valuation process for the types of investments OXLC makes. The Fund is required to specifically fair value each individual investment on a quarterly basis.
In May 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-04, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures (TOPIC 820) Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurements and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS (ASU 2011-04). The amendments are of two types: (i) those that clarify the FASBs intent about the application of existing fair value measurement and disclosure requirements and (ii) those that change a particular principle or requirement for measuring fair value or for disclosing information about fair value measurements. The amendments that
10
change a particular principle or requirement for measuring fair value or disclosing information about fair value measurements relate to (i) measuring the fair value of the financial instruments that are managed within a portfolio; (ii) application of premium and discount in a fair value measurement; and (iii) additional disclosures about fair value measurements. The update is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011 with early adoption prohibited. OXLC does not believe the adoption of this update will have a material impact on its financial statements, other than to enhance the disclosures in OXLCs financial statements.
The Fund complies with ASC 820-10, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosure, which establishes a three-level valuation hierarchy for disclosure of fair value measurements. ASC 820-10 clarified the definition of fair value and requires companies to expand their disclosure about the use of fair value to measure assets and liabilities in interim and annual periods subsequent to initial recognition. ASC 820-10 defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. ASC 820-10 also establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. These tiers include: Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets; Level 2, which includes inputs such as quoted prices for similar securities in active markets and quoted prices for identical securities in markets that are not active; and Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs for which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions. The Fund has determined that due to the general illiquidity of the market for the Funds investment portfolio, whereby little or no market data exists, all of the Funds investments are valued based upon Level 3 inputs as of March 31, 2012. The Funds Board of Directors determines the value of OXLCs investment portfolio each quarter. The prices used by the Fund to value securities may differ from the value that would be realized if the securities were sold, and these differences could be material to the Funds financial statements.
The Fund has acquired a number of debt and equity positions in collateralized loan obligation (CLO) investment vehicles, which are special purpose financing vehicles. In valuing such investments, the Fund considers the indicative prices provided by brokers who arrange transactions in such investment vehicles, as well as any available information on other relevant transactions in the market. In addition, the Fund considers the operating metrics of the specific investment vehicle, including compliance with collateralization tests, defaulted and restructured securities, and payment defaults, if any. Members of OXLC Managements portfolio management team also prepare portfolio company valuations using the most recent trustee reports and note valuation reports, and consider the collateral position of the vehicle a significant input. OXLC Management or the Valuation Committee of the Board of Directors may request an additional analysis by a third-party firm to assist in the valuation process of CLO investment vehicles. All information is presented to the Board for its determination of fair value of these investments.
The Fund may also invest directly in senior secured loans (either in the primary or secondary markets). In valuing such investments, OXLC Management will prepare an analysis of each loan, including a financial summary, covenant compliance review, recent trading activity in the security, if known, and other business developments related to the portfolio company. All available information, including non-binding indicative bids obtained from large agent banks which may not be considered reliable, will be presented to the Valuation Committee of the Board to consider in its determination of fair value. In some instances, there may be limited trading activity in a security even though the market for the security is considered not active. In such cases the Board will consider the number of trades, the size and timing of each trade and other circumstances around such trades, to the extent such information is available, in its determination of fair value. At March 31, 2012, the Fund did not have any direct investments in senior secured loans.
ASC 820-10-35, Determining Fair Value When the Volume and Level of Activity for the Asset or Liability Have Significantly Decreased and Identifying Transactions That Are Not Orderly, provides guidance on factors that should be considered in determining when a previously active market becomes inactive and whether a transaction is orderly. In accordance with ASC 820-10-35, the Funds valuation procedures
11
specifically provide for the review of indicative quotes supplied by the brokers or large agent banks that make a market for each CLO investment or senior secured loan, respectively.
The Funds assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis subject to the disclosure requirements of ASC 820-10-35 at March 31, 2012, were as follows:
($ in millions) | Fair Value Measurements at Reporting Date Using | Total | ||||||||||||||
Assets | Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1) |
Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2) |
Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) |
|||||||||||||
CLO Debt | $ | | $ | | $ | 23.3 | $ | 23.3 | ||||||||
CLO Equity | | | 17.2 | 17.2 | ||||||||||||
Total | $ | | $ | | $ | 40.5 | $ | 40.5 |
A reconciliation of the fair value of investments for the year ended March 31, 2012, utilizing significant unobservable inputs, is as follows:
($ in millions) | Collateralized Loan Obligation Debt Investments | Collateralized Loan Obligation Equity Investments | Total | |||||||||
Balance at March 31, 2011 | $ | 15.8 | $ | 14.9 | $ | 30.7 | ||||||
Realized gains included in earnings | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||||||
Unrealized appreciation (depreciation) included in earnings | (1.3 | ) | 3.1 | 1.8 | ||||||||
Amortization of discounts and premiums | 0.5 | 3.1 | 3.6 | |||||||||
Purchases | 8.4 | 2.0 | 10.4 | |||||||||
Repayments, sales of principal and reductions to investment cost value | (0.1 | ) | (5.9 | ) | (6.0 | ) | ||||||
Transfers in and/or out of level 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||||||
Balance at March 31, 2012 | $ | 23.3 | $ | 17.2 | $ | 40.5 | ||||||
The amount of total gains for the period included in earnings attributable to the change in unrealized gains or losses related to our Level 3 assets still held at the reporting date and reported within the net change in unrealized gains or losses on investments in our Statement of Operations | ($1.3 | ) | $ | 3.1 | $ | 1.8 |
The Funds policy is to recognize transfers in and transfers out of valuation levels as of the beginning of the reporting period. There were no significant transfers between Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 during the year ended March 31, 2012.
Prepaid expenses consist primarily of insurance costs.
Interest income, including the amortization of premium or accretion of discount, is recorded on the accrual basis to the extent that such amounts are expected to be collected.
Interest income from investments in the equity class of security of CLO Funds (typically income notes or subordinated notes) is recorded based upon an estimation of an effective yield to maturity utilizing assumed
12
cash flows. The Fund monitors the expected cash inflows from its CLO equity investments, including the expected residual payments and the effective yield is determined and updated periodically.
The Fund intends to operate so as to qualify to be taxed as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code and, as such, to not be subject to federal income tax on the portion of its taxable income and gains distributed to stockholders. To qualify for RIC tax treatment, OXLC is required to distribute at least 90% of its investment company taxable income, as defined by the Code.
Because federal income tax regulations differ from accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, distributions in accordance with tax regulations may differ from net investment income and realized gains recognized for financial reporting purposes. Differences may be permanent or temporary. Permanent differences are reclassified among capital accounts in the financial statement to reflect their tax character. Temporary differences arise when certain items of income, expense, gain or loss are recognized at some time in the future. Differences in classification may also result from the treatment of short-term gains as ordinary income for tax purposes.
The Fund declared a dividend of $0.25 per share or approximately $465,000 for the period ended March 31, 2011, payable April 1, 2012. For tax purposes, that dividend is considered to have occurred in fiscal 2012. For the year ended March 31, 2012, the Fund also declared and paid dividends of $2.05 per share or approximately $4.7 million. For tax purposes, the Fund distributed a total of $5.2 million for the year ended March 31, 2012. The tax character of distributions paid in 2012 represented entirely ordinary income, with no return of capital.
As of March 31, 2012, the estimated components of distributable earnings, on a tax basis, were as follows:
Distributable ordinary income | $ | 1,608,020 | ||
Distributable long-term capital gains | 173,758 | |||
Unrealized depreciation on investments | (2,451,024 | ) |
The tax basis components of distributable earnings differ from the amounts reflected in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities due to temporary book/tax differences primarily arising from investments in equity CLOs and permanent book/tax differences attributable to non-deductible excise taxes. These amounts will be finalized before filing the federal tax return.
Aggregate gross unrealized appreciation for tax purposes is $248,511; aggregate gross unrealized depreciation for tax purposes is $2,699,535. For tax purposes, the cost basis of the portfolio investments at March 31, 2012 was approximately $42,975,391.
Dividends from net investment income and capital gain distributions are determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations, which differ from GAAP. Dividends from net investment income, if any, are expected to be declared and paid quarterly. Net realized capital gains, unless offset by any available capital loss carryforward, are typically distributed to shareholders annually. Dividends and distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date and are automatically reinvested in full and fractional shares of the Fund in accordance with the Funds dividend reinvestment plan unless the shareholder has elected to have them paid in cash.
Amounts required to be distributed reflect estimates made by the Fund. Dividends paid by the Fund are subject to re-characterization for tax purposes.
13
At March 31, 2012, the Fund maintained a cash balance with State Street Bank and Trust Co. The Fund is subject to credit risk arising should State Street Bank and Trust Co. be unable to fulfill its obligations. In addition, the Funds portfolio may be concentrated in a limited number of investments in CLO vehicles, which will subject the Fund to a risk of significant loss if that sector experiences a market downturn.
Securities transactions are recorded on trade date. Realized gains and losses on investments sold are recorded on the basis of specific identification.
Deferred offering costs consist principally of legal, accounting, filing and underwriting fees incurred through the balance sheet date that are related to an offering proposed by the Fund. The deferred offering costs will be charged to capital upon the completion of an offering or charged to expense if the offering is unsuccessful.
Effective September 9, 2010, the Fund entered into an Investment Advisory Agreement with OXLC Management, a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. BDC Partners is the managing member of OXLC Management and serves as the administrator of OXLC. Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, the Fund has agreed to pay OXLC Management a fee for advisory and management services consisting of two components a base management fee and an incentive fee. The base-management fee is calculated at an annual rate of 2.00% of the Funds gross assets. For services rendered under the Investment Advisory Agreement, the base management fee is payable quarterly in arrears.
The base management fee is calculated based on the average value of the Funds gross assets, which means all assets of any type, at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters, and appropriately adjusted for any share issuances or repurchases during the current calendar quarter. Base management fees for any partial month or quarter will be appropriately pro-rated.
The incentive fee is calculated and payable quarterly in arrears based on the pre-incentive fee net investment income for the immediately preceding calendar quarter. For this purpose, pre-incentive fee net investment income means interest income, dividend income and any other income (including any other fees, such as commitment, origination, structuring, diligence and consulting fees or other fees that are received from an investment) accrued during the calendar quarter, minus our operating expenses for the quarter (including the base management fee, expenses payable under the Administration Agreement to BDC Partners, and any interest expense and dividends paid on any issued and outstanding preferred stock, but excluding the incentive fee). Pre-incentive fee net investment income includes accrued income that the Fund has not yet received in cash. Pre-incentive fee net investment income does not include any realized or unrealized capital gains or losses, and the Fund could incur incentive fees in periods when there is a net decrease in net assets from operations. Pre-incentive fee net investment income, expressed as a rate of return on the value of the Funds net assets at the end of the immediately preceding calendar quarter, is compared to a hurdle of 1.75% per quarter (7.00% annualized). Our undistributed net investment income used to calculate the incentive fee is also included in the amount of the Funds gross assets used to calculate the 2.00% base management fee. The incentive fee with respect to the Funds pre-incentive fee net investment income in each calendar quarter is calculated as follows:
| no incentive fee in any calendar quarter in which the Funds pre-incentive fee net investment income does not exceed the hurdle of 1.75%; |
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| 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 but is less than 2.1875% in any calendar quarter (8.75% annualized). The Fund refers to this portion of the pre-incentive fee net investment income (which exceeds the hurdle but is less than 2.1875%) as the catch-up. The catch-up is meant to provide the investment adviser with 20% of the pre-incentive fee net investment income as if a hurdle did not apply if the net investment income exceeds 2.1875% in any calendar quarter; and |
| 20% of the amount of pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that exceeds 2.1875% in any calendar quarter (8.75% annualized) is payable to OXLC Management (once the hurdle is reached and the catch-up is achieved, 20% of all pre-incentive fee net investment income thereafter is allocated to OXLC Management). |
There is no offset in subsequent quarters for any quarter in which an incentive fee is not earned. For the year ended March 31, 2012, the Fund accrued incentive fee expenses of approximately $451.000. At March 31, 2012, the Fund has an incentive fee payable of approximately $205,000.
Effective September 9, 2010 the Fund entered into an administration agreement with BDC Partners to serve as its administrator. Under the administration agreement, BDC Partners performs, or oversees the performance of, the Funds required administrative services, which include, among other things, being responsible for the financial records which the Fund is required to maintain and preparing reports to the Funds stockholders. In addition, BDC Partners assists the Fund in determining and publishing the Funds net asset value, oversees the preparation and filing of the Funds tax returns and the printing and dissemination of reports to the Funds stockholders, and generally oversees the payment of the Funds expenses and the performance of administrative and professional services rendered to the Fund by others. Payments under the administration agreement are equal to an amount based upon the Funds allocable portion of BDC Partners overhead in performing its obligations under the administration agreement, including rent, the fees and expenses associated with performing compliance functions and the Funds allocable portion of the compensation of the Funds chief financial officer, chief compliance officer, controller and treasurer, and any administrative support staff. The administration agreement may be terminated by either party without penalty upon 60 days written notice to the other party.
The independent directors receive an annual fee of $35,000. In addition, the independent directors receive $2,000 plus reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending each Board meeting, $1,500 plus reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending each Valuation Committee meeting and $1,000 plus reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending each Audit Committee meeting. The Chairman of the Audit Committee also receives an additional annual fee of $5,000. No compensation will be paid to directors who are interested persons of the Fund as defined in the 1940 Act.
Certain directors, officers and other related parties, including members of OXLC Management, own 10.9% of the Fund at March 31, 2012.
Other income includes closing fees, or origination fees, associated with investments in portfolio companies. Such fees are normally paid at closing of the Funds investments, are fully earned and non-refundable, and are generally non-recurring. The Fund had no such income for the year ended March 31, 2012.
15
On August 3, 2011 (the Record Date) the Fund issued transferable rights to purchase common stock to its stockholders of record (Record Date Stockholders). Record Date Stockholders received one right for each outstanding share of common stock owned on the Record Date. The rights entitle the holders to purchase one new share of common stock for every three rights held. On August 26, 2011, the Fund closed its rights offering and sold 591,938 shares of its common stock at a price of $15.00 per share, less underwriting fees and offering costs of approximately $596,000. The total net proceeds to the Fund from the issuance of transferable rights of common stock to Record Date Stockholders were approximately $8.3 million.
Purchases and sales of securities, excluding short-term investments and prepayments, for the year ended March 31, 2012, totaled approximately $10.4 million and $0, respectively.
In the normal course of business, the Fund enters into a variety of undertakings containing warranties and indemnifications that may expose the Fund to some risk of loss. The risk of future loss arising from such undertakings, while not quantifiable, is expected to be remote.
As of March 31, 2012, the Fund had not issued any commitments to purchase additional debt investments and/or warrants from any portfolio companies.
Under the Funds organizational documents, its officers and directors are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Fund. In addition, in the normal course of business the Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of representations which provide general indemnifications. The Funds maximum exposure under these agreements cannot be known; however, the Fund expects any risk of loss to be remote.
16
Financial highlights for the year ended March 31, 2012 and for the period January 25, 2011 (Commencement of Operations) to March 31, 2011 are as follows:
Year Ended March 31, 2012 |
January 25, 2011 (Commencement of Operations) to March 31, 2011 |
|||||||
Per Share Data |
||||||||
Net asset value at beginning of period(1) | $ | 18.19 | $ | 16.80 | ||||
Net investment income(2) | 1.19 | 0.07 | ||||||
Net realized and unrealized capital gains(3) | 0.83 | (0.03 | ) | |||||
Total from investment operations | 2.02 | 0.04 | ||||||
Less distributions per share from net investment income | (2.05 | ) | (0.25 | ) | ||||
Less distributions per share based on weighted average share impact | (0.10 | ) | | |||||
Total distributions(4) | (2.15 | ) | (0.25 | ) | ||||
Effect of shares issued, net of underwriting expense(8) | (0.77 | ) | 1.79 | |||||
Effect of offering costs(8) | (0.24 | ) | (0.19 | ) | ||||
Effect of shares issued, net(8) | (1.01 | ) | 1.60 | |||||
Net asset value at end of period | $ | 17.05 | $ | 18.19 | ||||
Per share market value at beginning of period | $ | 18.75 | $ | 20.00 | ||||
Per share market value at end of period | $ | 14.60 | $ | 18.75 | ||||
Total return(5)(7) | (10.75 | %) | (5.0 | %) | ||||
Shares outstanding at end of period | 2,456,511 | 1,861,250 | ||||||
Ratios/Supplemental Data |
||||||||
Net assets at end of period (000s) | 41,879 | 33,863 | ||||||
Ratio of net investment income to average daily net assets | 7.18 | % | 3.51 | %(6) | ||||
Ratio of expenses to average daily net assets | 6.50 | % | 4.79 | %(6) | ||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 0.22 | % | 0.05 | % |
(1) | For period January 25, 2011 through March 31, 2011, represents the net asset value per share prior to commencement of operations. |
(2) | Represents per share net investment income for the period, based upon average shares outstanding. |
(3) | Net realized and unrealized capital gains include rounding adjustments, if necessary, to reconcile change in net asset value per share. |
(4) | Management monitors available taxable earnings, including net investment income and realized capital gains, to determine if a tax return of capital may occur for the year. To the extent the Fund's taxable earnings fall below the total amount of the Fund's distributions for that fiscal year, a portion of those distributions may be deemed a tax return of capital to the Fund's stockholders. |
(5) | Total return based on market value is calculated assuming that shares of the Fund's common stock were purchased at the market price as of the beginning of the period, dividends, capital gains and other distributions were reinvested as provided for in the Fund's dividend reinvestment plan and then sold at the closing market price per share on the last day of the period. The computation does not reflect any sales commission investors may incur in purchasing or selling shares of the Fund. |
(6) | Annualized, after adjusting for certain periodic expenses recorded during the period January 25, 2011 through March 31, 2011. |
(7) | Total return for the period January 25, 2011 through March 31, 2011 was not annualized. |
(8) | Based upon actual shares outstanding upon share issuance. |
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The U.S. capital markets have experienced periods of extreme volatility and disruption over the past three years. Disruptions in the capital markets tend to increase the spread between the yields realized on risk-free and higher risk securities, resulting in illiquidity in parts of the capital markets. The Fund believes these conditions may reoccur in the future. A prolonged period of market illiquidity may have an adverse effect on the Funds business, financial condition and results of operations. Adverse economic conditions could also limit the Funds access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to the Fund. These events could limit the Funds investment purchases, limit the Funds ability to grow and negatively impact the Funds operating results.
OXLC Managements investment team also presently manages the portfolios of TICC Capital Corp., a publicly-traded business development company that invests principally in the debt of U.S.-based companies, TICC CLO LLC, a subsidiary of TICC Capital Corp. 2011-1 Holdings, LLC, a direct subsidiary of TICC Capital Corp., the assets of which are included in the gross assets of TICC Capital Corp., Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited, a publicly-traded Guernsey fund that invests primarily in senior loans across a variety of industries globally, T2 Income Fund CLO I Ltd., a CLO structured finance vehicle that invests in a diversified portfolio of Senior Loans, the assets of which are included in the gross assets of Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited, and Oxford Gate Capital, LLC, a private partnership that invests in a broad range of assets, including the equity and debt of CLOs. In certain instances, the Fund may co-invest on a concurrent basis with affiliates of its investment adviser, subject to compliance with applicable regulations and regulatory guidance and our written allocation procedures. Such co-investment may require exemptive relief from the SEC. If relief is sought, there can be no assurance when, or if, such relief may be obtained. No co-investments that would require exemptive relief were made. The affiliated entities of the Fund are subject to a written policy with respect to the allocation of investment opportunities.
Given the structure of the Funds Investment Advisory Agreement with OXLC Management, any general increase in interest rates will likely have the effect of making it easier for OXLC Management to meet the quarterly hurdle rate for payment of income incentive fees under the Investment Advisory Agreement without any additional increase in relative performance on the part of the Funds investment adviser. In addition, in view of the catch-up provision applicable to income incentive fees under the Investment Advisory Agreement, the investment adviser could potentially receive a significant portion of the increase in the Funds investment income attributable to such a general increase in interest rates. If that were to occur, the Funds increase in net earnings, if any, would likely be significantly smaller than the relative increase in the investment advisers income incentive fee resulting from such a general increase in interest rates.
The Funds portfolio consists of equity and junior debt investments in CLO vehicles, which involves a number of significant risks. CLO vehicles are typically very highly levered (10-14 times), and therefore the junior debt and equity tranches that the Fund invests in are subject to a higher degree of risk of total loss. In particular, investors in CLO vehicles indirectly bear risks of the underlying debt investments held by such CLO vehicles. The Fund generally has the right to receive payments only from the CLO vehicles, and generally does not have direct rights against the underlying borrowers or the entity that sponsored the CLO vehicle. While the CLO vehicles the Fund targets generally enable the investor to acquire interests in a pool of senior loans without the expenses associated with directly holding the same investments, the Fund generally pays a proportionate share of the CLO vehicles administrative and other expenses. Although it is difficult to predict whether the prices of indices and securities underlying CLO vehicles will rise or fall, these prices (and, therefore, the prices of the CLO vehicles) will be influenced by the same types of political and economic events that affect issuers of securities and capital markets generally. The failure by a CLO vehicle in which we invest to satisfy financial covenants, including with respect to adequate collateralization and/or interest coverage tests, could lead to a reduction in its payments to us. In the event that a CLO vehicle fails certain tests, holders of debt senior to us may be entitled to additional payments that would, in turn, reduce the payments we would otherwise be entitled to receive. Separately, we may incur expenses to the extent
18
necessary to seek recovery upon default or to negotiate new terms, with a defaulting CLO vehicle or any other investment we may make. If any of these occur, it could materially and adversely affect our operating results and cash flows.
The interests the Fund has acquired in CLO vehicles are generally thinly traded or have only a limited trading market. CLO vehicles are typically privately offered and sold, even in the secondary market. As a result, investments in CLO vehicles may be characterized as illiquid securities. In addition to the general risks associated with investing in debt securities, CLO vehicles carry additional risks, including, but not limited to: (i) the possibility that distributions from collateral securities will not be adequate to make interest or other payments; (ii) the quality of the collateral may decline in value or default; (iii) the fact that the Funds investments in CLO tranches will likely be subordinate to other senior classes of note tranches thereof; and (iv) the complex structure of the security may not be fully understood at the time of investment and may produce disputes with the CLO vehicle or unexpected investment results. The Funds net asset value may also decline over time if the Funds principal recovery with respect to CLO equity investments is less than the price that the Fund paid for those investments. Further, to the extent income from the Funds CLO equity investments (which the Fund expects to decline as those vehicles deleverage after the end of their respective reinvestment periods) declines or if the Fund transitions its portfolio into lower yielding investments, the Funds ability to pay future dividends may be harmed.
OXLC Management anticipates that the CLO vehicles in which the Fund invests may constitute passive foreign investment companies (PFICs). If the Fund acquires shares in a PFIC (including equity tranche investments in CLO vehicles that are PFICs), the Fund may be subject to federal income tax on a portion of any excess distribution or gain from the disposition of such shares even if such income is distributed as a taxable dividend by the Fund to its stockholders. Certain elections may be available to mitigate or eliminate such tax on excess distributions, but such elections (if available) will generally require the Fund to recognize its share of the PFICs income for each year regardless of whether the Fund receives any distributions from such PFICs. The Fund must nonetheless distribute such income to maintain its status as a RIC.
If the Fund holds more than 10% of the shares in a foreign corporation that is treated as a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) (including equity tranche investments in a CLO vehicle treated as a CFC), the Fund may be treated as receiving a deemed distribution (taxable as ordinary income) each year from such foreign corporation in an amount equal to the Funds pro rata share of the corporations income for the tax year (including both ordinary earnings and capital gains). If the Fund is required to include such deemed distributions from a CFC in the Funds income, it will be required to distribute such income to maintain its RIC status regardless of whether or not the CFC makes an actual distribution during such year.
Legislation enacted in 2010 imposes a withholding tax of 30% on payments of U.S. source interest and dividends paid after December 31, 2013, or gross proceeds from the disposition of a instrument that produces U.S. source interest or dividends paid after December 31, 2014, to certain non-U.S. entities, including certain non-U.S. financial institutions and investment funds, unless such non-U.S. entity complies with certain reporting requirements regarding its United States account holders and its United States owners. Most CLO vehicles in which we invest will be treated as non-U.S. financial entities for this purpose, and therefore will be required to comply with these reporting requirements to avoid the 30% withholding. If a CLO vehicle in which we invest fails to properly comply with these reporting requirements, it could reduce the amounts available to distribute to equity and junior debt holders in such CLO vehicle, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results and cash flows.
If the Fund is required to include amounts in income prior to receiving distributions representing such income, the Fund may have to sell some of its investments at times and/or at prices management would not consider advantageous, raise additional debt or equity capital or forgo new investment opportunities for this purpose. If the Fund is not able to obtain cash from other sources, it may fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment
19
and thus become subject to corporate-level income tax. For additional discussion regarding the tax implications of a RIC, see Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Federal Income Taxes.
The Fund has evaluated events and transactions that occurred after March 31, 2012 and through the date that the financial statements were issued.
On April 11, 2012 (the Record Date) the Fund issued non-transferable rights to purchase common stock to its stockholders of record (Record Date Stockholders). Record Date Stockholders received four rights for each outstanding share of common stock owned on the record date. The rights entitled the holders to purchase one new share of common stock for every one right held. On April 27, 2012, the Fund closed its rights offering and sold 2,508,270 shares of its common stock at a price of $13.75 per share, less underwriting fees and offering costs of approximately $1.4 million. The total net proceeds to the Fund from the issuance of non-transferable rights to common stock to Record Date Stockholders were approximately $33.1 million.
On May 22, 2012, the Board of Directors declared a distribution of $0.55 per share for the fiscal first quarter, payable on June 29, 2012 to shareholders of record as of June 15, 2012.
20
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of
Oxford Lane Capital Corp.:
In our opinion, the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the schedule of investments, and the related statements of operations, of changes in net assets and of cash flows and the financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Oxford Lane Capital Corp. (the Fund) at March 31, 2012, and the results of its operations and cash flows for the year then ended and the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for the year ended March 31, 2012 and for the period January 25, 2011 (commencement of operations) through March 31, 2011, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. These financial statements and financial highlights (hereafter referred to as financial statements) are the responsibility of the Funds management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit, which included confirmation of securities at March 31, 2012 by correspondence with the custodian and brokers, provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
New York, New York
May 25, 2012
21
We have adopted a dividend reinvestment plan that provides for reinvestment of our dividends and other distributions on behalf of our stockholders, unless a stockholder elects to receive cash as provided below. As a result, if our Board of Directors authorizes, and we declare, a cash distribution, our stockholders who have not opted out of our dividend reinvestment plan will have their cash distributions automatically reinvested in additional shares of our common stock, rather than receiving the cash distributions.
No action will be required on the part of a registered stockholder to have his cash distribution reinvested in shares of our common stock. A registered stockholder may elect to receive an entire distribution in cash by notifying Computershare Trust Company, N.A., the plan administrator and our transfer agent and registrar, in writing so that such notice is received by the plan administrator no later than the record date for distributions to stockholders. The plan administrator will set up an account for shares acquired through the plan for each stockholder who has not elected to receive distributions in cash and hold such shares in non-certificated form. Upon request by a stockholder participating in the plan, received in writing not less than 10 days prior to the record date, the plan administrator will, instead of crediting shares to the participants account, issue a certificate registered in the participants name for the number of whole shares of our common stock and a check for any fractional share.
Those stockholders whose shares are held by a broker or other financial intermediary may receive distributions in cash by notifying their broker or other financial intermediary of their election.
We intend to use primarily newly issued shares to implement the plan, whether our shares are trading at a premium or at a discount to net asset value. However, we reserve the right to purchase shares in the open market in connection with our implementation of the plan. If we declare a distribution to stockholders, the plan administrator may be instructed not to credit accounts with newly-issued shares and instead to buy shares in the market if (i) the price at which newly-issued shares are to be credited does not exceed 110% of the last determined net asset value of the shares; or (ii) we have advised the plan administrator that since such net asset value was last determined, we have become aware of events that indicate the possibility of a material change in per share net asset value as a result of which the net asset value of the shares on the payment date might be higher than the price at which the plan administrator would credit newly-issued shares to stockholders. The number of shares to be issued to a stockholder is determined by dividing the total dollar amount of the distribution payable to such stockholder by the market price per share of our common stock at the close of regular trading on the valuation date for such distribution. Market price per share on that date will be the closing price for such shares on the national securities exchange on which our shares are then listed or, if no sale is reported for such day, at the average of their reported bid and asked prices. The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after giving effect to payment of the distribution cannot be established until the value per share at which additional shares will be issued has been determined and elections of our stockholders have been tabulated.
There will be no brokerage charges or other charges to stockholders who participate in the plan. The plan administrators fees under the plan will be paid by us. If a participant elects by written notice to the plan administrator to have the plan administrator sell part or all of the shares held by the plan administrator in the participants account and remit the proceeds to the participant, the plan administrator is authorized to deduct a transaction fee of $2.50 plus a per share brokerage commissions from the proceeds.
Stockholders who receive distributions in the form of stock are subject to the same federal, state and local tax consequences as are stockholders who elect to receive their distributions in cash. A stockholders basis for determining gain or loss upon the sale of stock received in a distribution from us will be equal to the total dollar amount of the distribution payable to the stockholder. Any stock received in a distribution will have a new holding period for tax purposes commencing on the day following the day on which the shares are credited to the stockholders account.
The plan may be terminated by us upon notice in writing mailed to each participant at least 30 days prior to any record date for the payment of any distribution by us. All correspondence concerning the plan should be directed to the plan administrator by mail at 250 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021 or by phone at (781) 575-2973.
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Our Board of Directors oversees our management. The Board of Directors currently consists of five members, three of whom are not interested persons of Oxford Lane Capital Corp. as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act. We refer to these individuals as our independent directors. Our Board of Directors elects our officers, who serve at the discretion of the Board of Directors. The responsibilities of each director will include, among other things, the oversight of our investment activity, the quarterly valuation of our assets, and oversight of our financing arrangements. The Board of Directors has also established an Audit Committee and a Valuation Committee, and may establish additional committees in the future.
Our directors and officers and their principal occupations during the past five years are set forth below. Our prospectus includes additional information about our directors and is available, without charge, upon request by calling (203) 983-5275.
Information regarding the Board of Directors is as follows:
Name | Age | Position | Director Since |
Expiration of Term |
||||
Interested Directors |
||||||||
Jonathan H. Cohen | 47 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | 2010 | 2013 | ||||
Saul B. Rosenthal | 43 | President and Director | 2010 | 2012 | ||||
Independent Directors |
||||||||
Mark J. Ashenfelter | 52 | Chairman of the Board of Directors | 2010 | 2013 | ||||
John Reardon | 45 | Director | 2010 | 2014 | ||||
David S. Shin | 44 | Director | 2010 | 2012 |
The address for each of our directors is c/o Oxford Lane Capital Corp., 8 Sound Shore Drive, Suite 255, Greenwich, CT 06830.
Name | Age | Position | ||
Patrick F. Conroy | 55 | Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary |
Our directors have been divided into two groups interested directors and independent directors. An interested director is an interested person as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act.
Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal are interested persons of Oxford Lane Capital as defined in the 1940 Act. Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal are interested persons of Oxford Lane Capital due to their positions as Chief Executive Officer and President, respectively, of Oxford Lane Capital and Oxford Lane Management, Oxford Lane Capitals investment adviser, and as the managing member and non-managing member, respectively, of BDC Partners, the administrator for Oxford Lane Capital.
Jonathan H. Cohen has served as Chief Executive Officer of both Oxford Lane Capital Corp. and Oxford Lane Management since 2010. Mr. Cohen has also served since 2003 as Chief Executive Officer of both TICC Capital Corp. (NasdaqGS: TICC), a publicly traded business development company, and TICC Management, LLC, TICC Capital Corp.s investment adviser, and as the managing member of BDC Partners. Mr. Cohen is also a member of the Board of Directors of TICC Capital Corp. In addition, Mr. Cohen has served since 2005 as the Chief Executive Officer of T2 Advisers, LLC, which serves as the investment adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited (LSE AIM: GLIF), a Guernsey fund that invests primarily in
23
leveraged corporate loans across a variety of industries. Mr. Cohen was previously the managing member, and a principal of JHC Capital Management, a registered investment adviser, and was previously a managing member and principal of Privet Financial Securities, LLC, a registered investment adviser that served as the sub-adviser to the Royce Technology Value Fund, a technology-focused mutual fund. Prior to that, Mr. Cohen managed technology equity research groups at Wit Capital, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Smith Barney. Mr. Cohen serves on the board of Algorithmic Implementations, Inc. (d/b/a Ai Squared) and is member of the Board of Trustees of Connecticut College. Mr. Cohens depth of experience in managerial positions in investment management, securities research and financial services, as well as his intimate knowledge of our business and operations, gives our Board of Directors valuable industry-specific knowledge and expertise on these and other matters.
Saul B. Rosenthal has served as President of both Oxford Lane Capital Corp. and Oxford Lane Management since 2010. Mr. Rosenthal has also served as Chief Operating Officer since 2003 and President since 2004 of TICC Capital Corp. (NasdaqGS: TICC), a publicly traded business development company, and TICC Management, LLC, TICC Capital Corp.s investment adviser, and is a member of BDC Partners. In addition, Mr. Rosenthal has also served since 2005 as the President of T2 Advisers, LLC, which serves as investment adviser for Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited (LSE AIM: GLIF), a Guernsey fund that invests primarily in Senior Loans and which also serves as collateral manager of T2 Income Fund CLO I Ltd., a CLO vehicle sponsored by Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited. Mr. Rosenthal was previously a Vice President and co-founder of the Private Equity Group at Wit Capital. Prior to joining Wit Capital, Mr. Rosenthal was an attorney at the law firm of Shearman & Sterling LLP. Mr. Rosenthal serves on the board of Algorithmic Implementations, Inc. (d/b/a Ai Squared) and is member of the board of the Museum of Mathematics and the New York City chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
The following directors are not interested persons of Oxford Lane Capital, as defined in the 1940 Act.
Mark J. Ashenfelter presently serves as a Senior Vice President and the General Counsel of Haebler Capital, a private investment company located in Greenwich, CT. Prior to joining Haebler Capital in 1994, Mr. Ashenfelter was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore from 1985 to 1992 and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft from 1992 to 1994. Mr. Ashenfelter received a B.A., cum laude, from Harvard University, a J.D., magna cum laude, from New York Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the Law Review, and a LL.M. (Taxation) from New York University School of Law. Mr. Ashenfelters extensive corporate legal experience, particularly in connection with investment companies, provides our Board of Directors with valuable insight and perspective.
John Reardon is the principal of Reardon Consulting, LLP, which specializes in providing management consulting services to technology companies in the telecom, software, and cyber security industries. Mr. Reardon also serves as the General Manager of Maritime Communications/Land Mobile, LLC. Previously, Mr. Reardon managed telecommunications companies in the mobile voice, data and engineering services markets as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Mobex Communications, Inc. from 2001 to 2005. From 1997 2001, he served as General Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Directors of Mobex Communications, Inc. Mr. Reardon began his career in telecom law at the boutique Washington, DC firm of Keller and Heckman, LLP. Mr. Reardon received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Boston University, summa cum laude, and earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School. He is admitted to the New York State Bar and the Washington, DC Bar, and is the current president of the Columbia Law School Alumni Association of Washington, DC. Mr. Reardons extensive experience as a senior corporate executive provides our Board of Directors the perspective of a knowledgeable corporate leader.
David S. Shin presently serves as an asset management professional at Perella Weinberg Partners, a financial services firm. From 2010 to 2011, Mr. Shin served as a Managing Director at Bentley Associates, an investment banking firm. Prior to joining Bentley Associates, Mr. Shin worked in the Global Real Estate Investment Banking Group at Deutsche Bank Securities from 2005 to 2008, and in the Real Estate & Lodging Group of Citigroup Global Markets from 2004 to 2005. Prior to that, Mr. Shin worked for William Street Advisors, LLC, a boutique financial advisory firm affiliated with Saratoga Management Company, from 2002 to 2004. After receiving his J.D. in 1995, Mr. Shin was a member of the Healthcare Group of Dean Witter
24
Reynolds from 1995 to 1996, and was subsequently a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Merrill Lynch & Co. from 1996 to 2002. Mr. Shin started his career as a CPA in the Corporate Tax Department of KPMG Peat Marwicks Financial Institutions Group, where he served from 1990 to 1992, before attending law school. Mr. Shin received a B.S. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Mr. Shins extensive experience in investment banking provides the Board of Directors with valuable insights of an experienced and diligent financial professional, as well as a diverse perspective.
Patrick F. Conroy has served as our Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary since 2010. Mr. Conroy has also served as the Chief Financial Officer since 2003, and the Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary since 2004, of TICC Capital Corp., a publicly traded business development company. Mr. Conroy also currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Treasurer of Oxford Lane Management, TICC Management, LLC and BDC Partners. Mr. Conroy has also served since 2005 as the Chief Financial Officer of T2 Advisers, LLC and the Chief Financial Officer of Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited, a Guernsey fund that invests primarily in senior loans, for which T2 Advisers, LLC serves as investment adviser. Prior to joining TICC Capital Corp. in December 2003, Mr. Conroy was a consultant on financial reporting and compliance matters, as well as an adjunct professor of accounting and finance at St. Thomas Aquinas College. He is a certified public accountant. Mr. Conroy received a B.S. in Accounting, summa cum laude, from St. Johns University and did graduate work at Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York.
The following table sets forth compensation of our directors for the year ended March 31, 2012.
Name | Fees Earned or Paid in Cash(1) |
All Other Compensation(2) |
Total | |||||||||
Interested Directors |
||||||||||||
Jonathan H. Cohen | | | | |||||||||
Saul B. Rosenthal | | | | |||||||||
Independent Directors |
||||||||||||
Mark J. Ashenfelter | $ | 55,000 | | $ | 55,000 | |||||||
John Reardon | $ | 55,000 | | $ | 55,000 | |||||||
David S. Shin | $ | 60,000 | | $ | 60,000 |
(1) | For a discussion of the independent directors compensation, see below. |
(2) | We do not maintain a stock or option plan, non-equity incentive plan or pension plan for our directors. |
The independent directors receive an annual fee of $35,000. In addition, the independent directors receive $2,000 plus reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending each Board of Directors meeting, $1,500 plus reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending each Valuation Committee meeting and $1,000 plus reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending each Audit Committee meeting. The Chairman of the Audit Committee also receives an additional annual fee of $5,000. No compensation is paid to directors who are interested persons of Oxford Lane Capital as defined in the 1940 Act.
We do not have a compensation committee because our executive officers will not receive any direct compensation from Oxford Lane Capital. Mr. Cohen, our Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Rosenthal, our President, through their ownership interest in BDC Partners, the managing member of Oxford Lane Management, are entitled to a portion of any profits earned by Oxford Lane Management, which includes any fees payable to Oxford Lane Management under the terms of the Investment Advisory Agreement, less expenses incurred by Oxford Lane Management in performing its services under the Investment Advisory Agreement. Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal will not receive any additional compensation from Oxford Lane Management in connection with the management of our portfolio.
The compensation of Mr. Conroy, our Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary, is paid by our administrator, BDC Partners, subject to reimbursement by us of an allocable portion of such compensation for services rendered by Mr. Conroy to Oxford Lane Capital.
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At an in-person meeting of our Board of Directors held on September 9, 2010, our Board of Directors unanimously voted to approve the investment advisory agreement (the Advisory Agreement) by and between the Fund and Oxford Lane Management, LLC (Oxford Lane Management). In reaching a decision to approve the investment advisory agreement, the Board of Directors reviewed a significant amount of information and considered, among other things:
| the nature, quality and extent of the advisory and other services to be provided to the Fund by Oxford Lane Management; |
| the investment performance of the Fund and Oxford Lane Management; |
| comparative data with respect to advisory fees or similar expenses paid by other registered management investment companies with similar investment objectives; |
| the Funds projected operating expenses and expense ratio compared to registered management investment companies with similar investment objectives; |
| any existing and potential sources of indirect income to Oxford Lane Management or BDC Partners, LLC from their relationships with the Fund and the profitability of those relationships; |
| information about the services to be performed and the personnel performing such services under the Advisory Agreement; |
| the organizational capability and financial condition of Oxford Lane Management and its affiliates; |
| Oxford Lane Managements practices regarding the selection and compensation of brokers that may execute portfolio transactions for the Fund and the brokers provision of brokerage and research services to Oxford Lane Management; and |
| the possibility of obtaining similar services from other third party service providers or through an internally managed structure. |
Based on the information reviewed and the discussions detailed above, the Board of Directors, including all of the directors who are not interested persons as defined in the 1940 Act, concluded that fees payable to Oxford Lane Management pursuant to the Advisory Agreement were reasonable in relation to the services to be provided. The Board of Directors did not assign relative weights to the above factors or the other factors considered by it. In addition, the Board of Directors did not reach any specific conclusion on each factor considered, but conducted an overall analysis of these factors. Individual members of the Board of Directors may have given different weights to different factors.
The Fund held its Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the Meeting) on December 8, 2011 and submitted one matter to the vote of the shareholders. At the Meeting, shareholders elected one nominee for director to serve for a three-year term to expire at the 2014 Annual Meeting of Shareholders based on the following votes:
Name | Votes For | Votes Withheld |
||||||
John Reardon | 1,984,843 | 214,788 |
In addition to the nominee elected at the Meeting, the terms of office as directors of the Fund continued after the Meeting for Jonathan H. Cohen, Saul B. Rosenthal, Mark J. Ashenfelter and David S. Shin.
26
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q, within sixty days after the end of the relevant period. Form N-Q filings of the Fund are available on the Commissions website at http://www.sec.gov, and may be reviewed and copied at the Commissions Public Reference Room in Washington, DC. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 1-800-SEC-0330. This information is also available free of charge by contacting the Fund by mail at 8 Sound Shore Drive, Suite 255, Greenwich, CT 06830, by telephone at (203) 983-5275 or on its website at http://www.oxfordlanecapital.com.
A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities, as well as information relating to how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended March 31, is available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling (203) 983-5275; (ii) on the Funds website at http://www.oxfordlanecapital.com and (iii) on the Commissions website at http://www.sec.gov.
For tax purposes, distributions to shareholders during the year ended March 31, 2012, were approximately $5.2 million.
We are committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy notice, which is required by federal law, explains privacy policies of Oxford Lane Capital Corp. and its affiliated companies. This notice supersedes any other privacy notice you may have received from Oxford Lane Capital Corp., and its terms apply both to our current stockholders and to former stockholders as well.
We will safeguard, according to strict standards of security and confidentiality, all information we receive about you. With regard to this information, we maintain procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards.
Our goal is to limit the collection and use of information about you. When you purchase shares of our common stock, our transfer agent collects personal information about you, such as your name, address, social security number or tax identification number.
This information is used only so that we can send you annual reports, proxy statements and other information required by law, and to send you information we believe may be of interest to you.
We do not share such information with any non-affiliated third party except as described below:
| It is our policy that only authorized employees of our investment adviser, Oxford Lane Management, LLC, who need to know your personal information will have access to it. |
| We may disclose stockholder-related information to companies that provide services on our behalf, such as record keeping, processing your trades, and mailing you information. These companies are required to protect your information and use it solely for the purpose for which they received it. |
| If required by law, we may disclose stockholder-related information in accordance with a court order or at the request of government regulators. Only that information required by law, subpoena, or court order will be disclosed. |
27
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Independent Directors
Mark J. Ashenfelter, Chairman of the Board of Directors
John Reardon
David S. Shin
Interested Directors(1)
Jonathan H. Cohen
Saul B. Rosenthal
OFFICERS
Jonathan H. Cohen, Chief Executive Officer
Saul B. Rosenthal, President
Patrick F. Conroy, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary
Bruce L. Rubin, Treasurer and Controller
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
Oxford Lane Management, LLC
8 Sound Shore Drive, Suite 255
Greenwich, CT 06830
(1) | As defined under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. |
8 Sound Shore Drive, Suite 255 | Greenwich, CT 06830 | oxfordlanecapital.com | (202) 983-5275
Registrant has adopted a code of ethics which applies to, among others, its senior officers, including its Chief Executive Officer (its principal executive officer) and Chief Financial Officer (its principal financial officer), as well as every officer, director and employee of Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Registrants code of ethics can be accessed via its website at http://www.oxfordlanecapital.com. There were no amendments to the Code during the period covered by the report. Registrant did not grant any waivers, including implicit waivers, from any provisions of the code of ethics during the period covered by this report.
Registrants Board of Directors has determined that Registrant has at least one audit committee financial expert (as defined in Item 3 of Form N-CSR) serving on its Audit Committee. The Audit Committee financial expert is David S. Shin. Mr. Shin is independent within the meaning of that term used in Form N-CSR.
(a) | Audit Fees. The aggregate fees billed for professional services rendered by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PWC), the Registrants independent registered public accounting firm, for services that are normally provided by the accountant in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2012 and 2011 were $70,000 and $115,000, respectively. |
(b) | Audit-Related Fees. The aggregate fees billed for assurance and related services rendered by PWC that are reasonably related to the performance of the audit of the Registrants financial statements and not reported under paragraph (a) of this Item 4 in the fiscal years ended March 31, 2012 and 2011 were $98,500 and $2,500, respectively. These fees related to services provided in connection with securities offerings. |
(c) | Tax Fees. The aggregate fees billed for professional services by PWC for tax compliance, tax advice and tax return preparation for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2012 and 2011 were $0 and $15,000, respectively. |
(d) | All Other Fees. No such fees were billed during the last two fiscal years for products and services provided by PWC. |
(e)(1) | Registrants audit committee is required to pre-approve any independent accountants engagement to render audit and/or permissible non-audit services (including the fees charged and proposed to be charged by the independent accountants), subject to the exceptions under Section 10A(i)(1)(B) of the Exchange Act, and as otherwise required by law. The audit committee also is required to pre-approve non-audit services performed by Registrants principal accountant for Registrants investment adviser (not including any sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and who is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser) and/or to any entity controlling, controlled by or under common control with Registrants investment adviser that provides ongoing services to the registrant, if the engagement for services relates directly to the operations and financial reporting of the registrant. The Audit Committee may delegate its pre-approval responsibilities to one or more of its members. The member(s) to whom such responsibility is delegated must report, for informational purposes only, any pre-approval decisions to the Audit Committee at its next scheduled meeting. |
(e)(2) | Not applicable. |
(f) | Not applicable. |
(g) | For the fiscal years ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, the aggregate fees billed by Registrants principal accountant for non-audit services rendered to the registrant and for non-audit services rendered to Registrants investment adviser (not including any sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and who is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser) |
2
and/or to any entity controlling, controlled by or under common control with Registrants investment adviser that provides ongoing services to Registrant and Registrants investment adviser were $0 and $15,000, respectively. |
(h) | There were no non-audit services rendered to Registrants investment adviser (not including any sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and who is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser) and/or to any entity controlling, controlled by or under common control with Registrants investment adviser that provides ongoing services to Registrant that were not required to be pre-approved pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(ii) of Rule 2-01. |
Registrant has a separately-designated standing audit committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The members of the audit committee are Mark J. Ashenfelter, John Reardon and David S. Shin (chairman).
Please see the schedule of investments contained in the Report to Stockholders included under Item 1 of this Form N-CSR.
Registrant has delegated proxy voting responsibility to Oxford Lane Management, LLC. The Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures of Oxford Lane Management are set forth below.
The guidelines will be reviewed periodically by Oxford Lane Management and the registrants non-interested directors, and, accordingly, are subject to change. For purposes of these Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures described below, we, our and us refers to Oxford Lane Management, LLC.
An investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act has a fiduciary duty to act solely in the best interests of its clients. As part of this duty, we recognize that we must vote client securities in a timely manner free of conflicts of interest and in the best interests of our clients. These policies and procedures for voting proxies for our investment advisory clients are intended to comply with Section 206 of, and Rule 206(4)-6 under, the Advisers Act.
We will vote proxies relating to our portfolio securities in what we perceive to be the best interest of our clients stockholders. We will review on a case-by-case basis each proposal submitted to a stockholder vote to determine its impact on the portfolio securities held by our clients. Although we will generally vote against proposals that may have a negative impact on our clients portfolio securities, we may vote for such a proposal if there exist compelling long-term reasons to do so. Our proxy voting decisions will be made by the senior officers who are responsible for monitoring each of our clients investments. To ensure that our vote is not the product of a conflict of interest, we will require that: (1) anyone involved in the decision making process disclose to our managing members any potential conflict that he or she is aware of and any contact that he or she has had with any interested party regarding a proxy vote; and (2) employees involved in the decision making process or vote administration are prohibited from revealing how we intend to vote on a proposal in order to reduce any attempted influence from interested parties.
You may obtain information about how we voted proxies by making a written request for proxy voting information to: Oxford Lane Management, LLC, 8 Sound Shore Drive, Suite 255, Greenwich, CT 06830.
3
We are committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy notice, which is required by federal law, explains privacy policies of Oxford Lane Capital Corp. and its affiliated companies. This notice supersedes any other privacy notice you may have received from Oxford Lane Capital Corp., and its terms apply both to our current stockholders and to former stockholders as well. We will safeguard, according to strict standards of security and confidentiality, all information we receive about you. With regard to this information, we maintain procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards.
Information pertaining to the portfolio manager of the registrant, as of March 31, 2012, is set forth below.
The management of Registrants investment portfolio is the responsibility of Oxford Lane Management, LLC (Oxford Lane Management), and its investment committee, which currently consists of Jonathan H. Cohen, Registrants Chief Executive Officer, and Saul B. Rosenthal, Registrant President. Registrants investment advisers investment committee must approve each new investment that Registrant makes. The members of Registrants investment advisers investment committee are not employed by Registrant, and receive no compensation from Registrant in connection with their portfolio management activities. Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal, through their ownership of BDC Partners, the managing member of Oxford Lane Management, are entitled to a portion of any investment advisory fees paid by Registrant to Oxford Lane Management.
Because Oxford Lane Management currently provides portfolio management services only to Registrant, Registrant does not believe there are any conflicts of interests with respect to Oxford Lane Managements management of Registrants portfolio on the one hand, and the management of other accounts or investment vehicles by Oxford Lane Management on the other. However, Mr. Cohen currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Rosenthal currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of TICC Capital Corp., a publicly-traded business development company that invests principally in the debt of U.S.-based companies, and its investment adviser, TICC Management. In addition, Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal currently serve as Chief Executive Officer and President, respectively, for T2 Advisers, LLC, an investment adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited, a publicly-traded Guernsey fund that invests primarily in senior loans across a variety of industries globally. T2 Advisers, LLC also manages T2 Income Fund CLO I Ltd., a CLO vehicle established by Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited. BDC Partners is the managing member, and Royce & Associates is a non-managing member, of TICC Management, LLC. As a result, Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal may be subject to certain conflicts of interests with respect to their management of Registrants portfolio on the one hand, and their respective obligations to manage TICC Capital Corp., Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited and T2 Income Fund CLO I Ltd. on the other hand.
Set forth below is additional information regarding the additional entities currently managed by Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal:
Name | Entity | Investment Focus | Gross Assets(1) | |||
TICC Capital Corp.(2) | Business development company | Principally debt investments in U.S.-based companies | $495 million | |||
Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited(3) | Guernsey-based fund | Principally debt investments across a variety of industries globally | $339 million |
(1) | Gross assets are calculated as of March 31, 2012, and are rounded to the nearest million. |
(2) | Includes the gross assets held by TICC CLO LLC. |
(3) | Includes the gross assets held by T2 Income Fund CLO I Ltd. |
4
Registrants investment adviser is led by Jonathan H. Cohen, Registrants Chief Executive Officer, and Saul B. Rosenthal, Registrants President. Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal are assisted by Darryl M. Monasebian and Hari Srinivasan, who serve as Senior Managing Director and Managing Director, respectively, for Oxford Lane Management. Registrant considers Messrs. Cohen, Rosenthal, Monasebian and Srinivasan to be Oxford Lane Managements senior investment team. Registrant considers Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal, who are the members of Registrants investment advisers investment committee, to be Registrants portfolio managers.
The table below shows the dollar range of shares of Registrants common stock owned by each of its portfolio managers as of March 31, 2012.
Name of Portfolio Manager | Dollar Range of Equity Securities in Oxford Lane Capital(1) |
|
Jonathan H. Cohen | $500,001 $1,000,000 | |
Saul B. Rosenthal | $500,001 $1,000,000 |
(1) | Dollar ranges are as follows: None, $1 $10,000, $10,001 $50,000, $50,001 $100,000, $100,001 $500,000; $500,001 $1,000,000 or Over $1,000,000. |
(2) | The dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned in us is based on the closing price of our common stock of $14.60 on March 31, 2012 on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. |
The following information pertains to the members of Oxford Lane Managements investment team:
Jonathan H. Cohen has served as Chief Executive Officer of both Oxford Lane Capital Corp. and Oxford Lane Management since 2010. Mr. Cohen has also served since 2003 as Chief Executive Officer of both TICC Capital Corp. (NasdaqGS: TICC), a publicly traded business development company, and TICC Management, LLC, TICC Capital Corp.s investment adviser, and as the managing member of BDC Partners. Mr. Cohen is also a member of the Board of Directors of TICC Capital Corp. In addition, Mr. Cohen has served since 2005 as the Chief Executive Officer of T2 Advisers, LLC, which serves as the investment adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited (LSE AIM: GLIF), a Guernsey fund that invests primarily in leveraged corporate loans across a variety of industries. Mr. Cohen was previously the managing member, and a principal of JHC Capital Management, a registered investment adviser, and was previously a managing member and principal of Privet Financial Securities, LLC, a registered investment adviser that served as the sub-adviser to the Royce Technology Value Fund, a technology-focused mutual fund. Prior to that, Mr. Cohen managed technology equity research groups at Wit Capital, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Smith Barney. Mr. Cohen serves on the board of Algorithmic Implementations, Inc. (d/b/a Ai Squared) and is member of the Board of Trustees of Connecticut College. Mr. Cohens depth of experience in managerial positions in investment management, securities research and financial services, as well as his intimate knowledge of our business and operations, gives our Board of Directors valuable industry-specific knowledge and expertise on these and other matters.
Saul B. Rosenthal has served as President of both Oxford Lane Capital Corp. and Oxford Lane Management since 2010. Mr. Rosenthal has also served as Chief Operating Officer since 2003 and President since 2004 of TICC Capital Corp. (NasdaqGS: TICC), a publicly traded business development company, and TICC Management, LLC, TICC Capital Corp.s investment adviser, and is a member of BDC Partners. In addition, Mr. Rosenthal has also served since 2005 as the President of T2 Advisers, LLC, which serves as investment adviser for Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited (LSE AIM: GLIF), a Guernsey fund that invests primarily in Senior Loans and which also serves as collateral manager of T2 Income Fund CLO I Ltd., a CLO vehicle sponsored by Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited. Mr. Rosenthal was previously a Vice President and co-founder of the Private Equity Group at Wit Capital. Prior to joining Wit Capital, Mr. Rosenthal was an attorney at the law firm of Shearman & Sterling LLP. Mr. Rosenthal serves on the board of Algorithmic Implementations, Inc. (d/b/a Ai Squared) and is member of the board of the Museum of Mathematics and the New York City chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
5
Darryl M. Monasebian. Mr. Monasebian is the Senior Managing Director and head of portfolio management of Oxford Lane Management, and also holds those same positions at TICC Management, LLC, the investment adviser to TICC Capital Corp. Mr. Monasebian has also served since 2005 as the senior managing director and head of portfolio management of T2 Advisers, LLC, the investment adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited, a Guernsey fund that invests primarily in Senior Loans across a variety of industries globally. Prior to joining TICC Management, LLC, Mr. Monasebian was a director in the Merchant Banking Group at BNP Paribas, and prior to that was a director at Swiss Bank Corporation and a senior account officer at Citibank. He began his business career at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as an investment analyst in the Corporate Investments Department. Mr. Monasebian received a B.S. in Management Science/Operations Research from Case Western Reserve University and a Masters of Business Administration from Boston Universitys Graduate School of Management.
Hari Srinivasan. Mr. Srinivasan is a Managing Director and portfolio manager of Oxford Lane Management, and also holds those same positions at TICC Management, LLC, the investment adviser to TICC Capital Corp., and at T2 Advisers, LLC, the investment adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited, a Guernsey fund that invests primarily in Senior Loans across a variety of industries globally. Previously, Mr. Srinivasan was a credit manager at Lucent Technologies from 2002 to 2005, focusing on restructuring and monetization of distressed assets in Lucents vendor finance portfolio, and credit analysis of Lucents telecom customers. Prior to that, Mr. Srinivasan was an analyst in the fixed income group at Lehman Brothers from 1998 to 2002. Mr. Srinivasan received a B.S. in Computer Science from Poona University, India and a Masters of Business Administration from New York Universitys Stern School of Business.
Kevin P. Yonon. Mr. Yonon is a Senior Vice President of Oxford Lane Management, and also holds the same position at TICC Management, LLC, the investment adviser to TICC Capital Corp., and T2 Advisers, LLC, the investment adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited. Previously, Mr. Yonon was an Associate at Deutsche Bank Securities and prior to that he was an Analyst at Blackstone Mezzanine Partners. Before joining Blackstone, he worked as an Analyst at Merrill Lynch in the Mergers & Acquisitions group. Mr. Yonon received a B.S. in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated magna cum laude, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
Debdeep Maji. Mr. Maji is a Vice President of Oxford Lane Management, TICC Management, LLC, the investment adviser to TICC Capital Corp., and T2 Advisers, LLC, the investment adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited. Mr. Maji graduated from the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology at the University of Pennsylvania where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School (and was designated a Joseph Wharton Scholar) and a Bachelor of Applied Science from the School of Engineering.
Joseph Kupka. Mr. Kupka is an Senior Associate of Oxford Lane Management, TICC Management, LLC, the investment adviser to TICC Capital Corp. and T2 Advisers, LLC, the investment adviser to Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited. Previously, he worked as a risk analyst for First Equity Card Corporation. Mr. Kupka received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
None of Oxford Lane Managements investment personnel receive any direct compensation from Registrant in connection with the management of Registrants portfolio. Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal, through their ownership interest in BDC Partners, the managing member of Oxford Lane Management, are entitled to a portion of any profits earned by Oxford Lane Management, which includes any fees payable to Oxford Lane Management under the terms of the Investment Advisory Agreement, less expenses incurred by Oxford Lane Management in performing its services under the Investment Advisory Agreement. Messrs. Cohen and Rosenthal do not receive any additional compensation from Oxford Lane Management in connection with the management of Registrants portfolio. The compensation paid by Oxford Lane Management to its other investment personnel includes: (i) annual base salary; (ii) annual cash bonus; (iii) portfolio-based performance award; and (iv) individual performance award and/or individual performance bonus.
6
Neither the Registrant nor any affiliated purchasers, as defined in Rule 10b-18(a)(3) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, purchased any shares of the Registrant that are registered by the Registrant pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Not applicable.
(a) Based on an evaluation of the Disclosure Controls and Procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Disclosure Controls) as of a date within 90 days prior to the filing date (the Filing Date) of this Form N-CSR (the Report), the Chief Executive Officer (its principal executive officer) and Chief Financial Officer (its principal financial officer) have concluded that the Disclosure Controls are reasonably designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Registrant in the Report is recorded, processed, summarized and reported by the Filing Date, including ensuring that information required to be disclosed in the Report is accumulated and communicated to the Registrants management, including the Registrants principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
(b) There were no changes in the Registrants internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) that occurred during the Registrants second fiscal half-year that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect the Registrants internal control over financial reporting.
(a)(1) Not applicable.
(a)(2) Certifications of the principal executive officer and the principal financial officer of the Registrant as required by Rule 30a-2(a) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
(b) Certifications of the principal executive officer and the principal financial officer of the Registrant, as required by Rule 30a-2(b) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
7
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
OXFORD LANE CAPITAL CORP.
By: | /s/ Jonathan H. Cohen |
Jonathan H. Cohen
Chief Executive Officer
Date: May 25, 2012
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
By: | /s/ Jonathan H. Cohen |
Jonathan H. Cohen
Chief Executive Officer
Date: May 25, 2012
By: | /s/ Patrick F. Conroy |
Patrick F. Conroy
Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer
and Corporate Secretary
Date: May 25, 2012