UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 20192020

OR  

For the transition period from            to            

Commission File Number: 814-01219

OWL ROCK CAPITAL CORPORATION II

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (212) 419-3000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    YES ☐  NO ☒

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act.    YES ☐  NO ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.     YES ☒    NO  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☐    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

The aggregate market value of common stock held by non-affiliates as of June 30, 20192020 has not been provided because there is no established market for the registrant’s shares of common stock.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    YES ☐  NO ☒

As of February 25, 2020,March 4, 2021, the registrant had 118,779,709150,473,719 shares of common stock, $0.01 par value per share, outstanding.

i

Table of Contents

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors and undue reliance should not be placed thereon. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Owl Rock Capital Corporation II (the “Company,” “we” or “our”), our current and prospective portfolio investments, our industry, our beliefs and opinions, and our assumptions. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “will,” “may,” “continue,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “targets,” “projects,” “outlook,” “potential,” “predicts” and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation:

Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate, and as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be inaccurate. In light of these and other uncertainties, the inclusion of a projection or forward-looking statement in this report should not be regarded as a representation by us that our plans and objectives will be achieved. These forward-looking statements apply only as of the date of this report. Moreover, we assume no duty and do not undertake to update the forward-looking statements. Because we are an investment company, the forward-looking statements and projections contained in this report are excluded from the safe harbor protection provided by Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).

PART I

Item 1. Business.

Our Company

Owl Rock Capital Corporation II was formed on October 15, 2015 as a corporation under the laws of the State of Maryland. We are an externally managed, closed-end management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a BDC under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). We have elected to be treated, and intend to qualify annually, as a RIC under the Code for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a BDC and a RIC, we are required to comply with certain regulatory requirements. As a BDC, at least 70% of our assets must be assets of the type listed in Section 55(a) of the 1940 Act, as described herein. We will not invest more than 30% of our total assets in companies whose principal place of business is outside the United States. See “— Regulation as a Business Development Company” and “— Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.”

We are externally managed by Owl Rock Capital Advisors, which is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”). The Adviser is responsible for sourcing potential investments, conducting due diligence on prospective investments, analyzing investment opportunities, structuring investments and monitoring our portfolio on an ongoing basis. Since our Adviser began its investment activities in April 2016 through December 31, 2019,2020, our Adviser and its affiliates have originated $19.0$27.7 billion aggregate principal amount of investments, and $17.4$25.8 billion aggregate principal amount of investments prior to any subsequent exits or repayments, was retained by either us or a corporation or fund advised by our Adviser or its affiliates.

Our investment objective is to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns. Our investment strategy focuses primarily on originating and making loans to, and making debt and equity investments in, U.S. middle market companies. We invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans and, to a lesser extent, equity and equity-related securities which includes common and preferred stock, securities convertible into common stock, and warrants. We define “middle market companies” to generally mean companies with earnings before interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) between $10 million and $250 million annually, and/or annual revenue of $50 million to $2.5 billion at the time of investment. We may on occasion invest in smaller or larger companies if an attractive opportunity presents itself, especially when there are dislocations in the capital markets, including the high yield and large syndicated loan markets. We generally invest in companies with a low loan-to-value ratio, which we consider to be 50% of below. Our target credit investments will typically have maturities between three and ten years and generally range in size between $10 million and $125 million, although the investment size will vary with the size of our capital base. As of December 31, 2019,2020, excluding certain investments that fall outside our typical borrower profile, our portfolio companies representing 96.7%93.8% of our total debt portfolio based on fair value, had weighted average annual revenue of $454$515 million and weighted average annual EBITDA of $96$118 million.

While our investment strategy focuses primarily on middle market companies in the United States, including senior secured loans, we also may invest up to 30% of our portfolio in investments of non-qualifying portfolio companies. Specifically, as part of this 30% basket, we may consider investments in investment funds that are operating pursuant to certain exceptions to the 1940 Act, as well as in debt and equity of companies located outside of the United States and debt and equity of public companies that do not meet the definition of eligible portfolio companies because their market capitalization of publicly traded equity securities exceeds the levels provided for in the 1940 Act.

As of December 31, 2019,2020, based on fair value, our portfolio consisted of 82.7%74.8% first lien debt investments, 17.2%22.8% second-lien debt investments, 0.3% unsecured investments and 0.1%2.1% equity investments. Approximately 100.0%97.0% of our debt investments based on fair value as of December 31, 20192020 are floating rate in nature, the majority of which are subject to an interest rate floor. As of December 31, 2019,2020, we had investments in 89115 portfolio companies, with an average investment size in each of our portfolio companies of approximately $16.2$18.6 million based on fair value.

As of December 31, 2019,2020, our portfolio was invested across 2628 different industries. The largest industries in our portfolio as of December 31, 20192020 were healthcare providersinternet software and services and professional services,food and beverage, which represented, as a percentage of our portfolio, 7.9%13.5% and 7.8%8.9%, respectively, based on fair value.

We commenced a continuous public offering for up to 264,000,000 shares of our common stock on April 4, 2017. On January 29, 2020, we commenced our follow-on continuous public offering (the ”follow-on offering”) for up to 160,000,000 shares of our common stock. See “Continuous Public Offering.” On September 30, 2016, the Adviser purchased 100 shares of our common stock at $9.00 per share, which represented the initial public offering price of $9.47 per share, net of combined upfront selling commissions and dealer manager fees. The Adviser will not tender these shares for repurchase as long as the Adviser remains our investment adviser. There is no current intention for the Adviser to discontinue in its role. On April 4, 2017, we received subscription agreements

totaling $10.0 million for the purchase of shares of our common stock from a private placement from certain individuals and entities affiliated with the Adviser. Pursuant to the terms of those subscription agreements, the individuals and entities affiliated with the Adviser agreed to pay for such shares of common stock upon demand by one of our executive officers. On April 4, 2017, we sold 277,778 shares pursuant to such subscription agreements and met the minimum offering requirement for our continuous public offering of $2.5 million. The purchase price of these shares sold in the private placement was $9.00 per share, which represented the initial public offering price of $9.47 per share, net of selling commissions and dealer manager fees. In April 2017, we commenced operations and made our first portfolio company investment. Since meeting the minimum offering requirement and commencing our continuous public offering and through December 31, 2019,2020, we have issued 104,001,760143,313,940 shares of our common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $963.7 million.$1.3 billion. As of February 25, 2020,March 4, 2021, we had raised total gross proceeds of approximately $1.1$1.4 billion, including seed capital contributed by our Adviser in September 2016 and approximately $10.0 million in gross proceeds raised in the private placement from certain individuals and entities affiliated with the Adviser.

We generally intend to distribute, out of assets legally available for distribution, substantially all of our available earnings, on a monthly basis, as determined by our board of directors (“the Board” or “our Board”) in its discretion.

Certain of our consolidated subsidiaries are subject to U.S. federal and state corporate-level income taxes.

To achieve our investment objective, we will leverage the Adviser’s investment team’s expertise, skill and network of business contacts. There are no assurances that we will achieve our investment objective.

From time to time, we may be exposed to significant market risk. Our investment portfolio may be concentrated. We are subject to certain investment restrictions with respect to leverage and type of investment. See “ITEM 1A. Risk Factors.”

We may borrow money from time to time if immediately after such borrowing, the ratio of our total assets (less total liabilities other than indebtedness represented by senior securities) to our total indebtedness represented by senior securities plus preferred stock, if any, is at least 200% (or 150% if certain conditions are met). This means that generally, we can borrow up to $1 for every $1 of investor equity (or, if certain conditions are met, we can borrow up to $2 for every $1 of investor equity). We have entered into an SPVtwo special purpose vehicle asset credit facilities (the “SPV Asset Facility”)Facility I”, and the “SPV Asset Facility II”, respectively) and a promissory note (the “Promissory Note”), which matured on December 31, 2020, and in the future may enter into additional credit facilities. The special purpose vehicle asset credit facilities are financing facilities pursuant to which we formed a wholly owned subsidiary, or SPV, which enters into a credit agreement. We periodically sell and contribute investments to the SPV and the SPV uses the proceeds from the credit agreement to finance the purchase of assets, including from us. In addition, we have issued unsecured notes maturing in 2024 (the “2024 Notes”).  We expect to use our credit facilities and other borrowings, along with proceeds from the rotation of our portfolio and proceeds from our continuous public offering to finance our investment objectives. See “— Regulations as a Business Development Company” for discussion of BDC regulation and other regulatory considerations. See “ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationS — Debt” for a discussion of the SPV Asset FacilityFacilities and the Promissory Note.

The Adviser and Administrator – Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC

Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC serves as our investment adviser pursuant to the Second Amended and Restated Investment Advisory Agreement (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”) between us and the Adviser. See “Investment Advisory Agreement” below.  The Adviser also serves as our Administrator pursuant to an Administration Agreement between us and the Adviser, which was entered into on February 6, 2017 (the “Administration Agreement”). See “ADMINISTRATION AGREEMENTAdministration Agreement” below.

The Adviser is a Delaware limited liability company that has registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”). The Adviser is an indirect subsidiary of Owl Rock Capital Partners LP (“Owl Rock Capital Partners”).  Owl Rock Capital Partners is led by its three co-founders, Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz and Craig W. Packer.  The Adviser’s investment team (the “Investment Team”) is also led by Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz and Craig W. Packer and is supported by certain members of the Adviser’s senior executive team and the investment committee (the “Investment Committee”). All investment decisions require the unanimous approval of the Investment Committee, which is currently comprised of Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz, Craig W. Packer and Alexis Maged. Subject to the overall supervision of the Board, the Adviser manages our day-to-day operations, and provides investment advisory and management services to us.

The Adviser also serves as investment adviser to

On December 23, 2020, Owl Rock Capital Corporation.Group, the parent of the Adviser (and a subsidiary of Owl Rock Capital Partners), and Dyal Capital Partners (“Dyal”) announced they are merging to form Blue Owl Capital (“Blue Owl”).  Blue Owl will enter the public market via its acquisition by Altimar Acquisition Corporation was formed on October 15, 2015 as(NYSE:ATAC) (“Altimar”), a corporation underspecial purpose acquisition company (the “Transaction”). If the lawsTransaction is consummated, there will be no changes to the Company’s investment strategy or the Adviser’s investment team or investment process with respect to the Company; however, the Transaction with result in a change in control of the StateAdviser, which will be deemed an assignment of Maryland and has elected to be treated as a BDC underthe Investment Advisory Agreement in accordance with the 1940 Act. ItsAs a result, the Board, after considering the Transaction and subsequent change in control, has determined that upon consummation of the Transaction and subject to the approval of the Company’s shareholders at a special meeting expected to be held on March 17, 2021, the Company should enter into an amended and restated investment objective is similaradvisory agreement with the Adviser on terms that are identical to our investment objective, which isthe Investment Advisory Agreement. The Board also determined that upon consummation of the Transaction, the Company should enter into an amended and restated administration agreement with the Adviser on terms that are identical to generate current income, and to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by targeting investment opportunities with favorable risk-adjusted returns. On July 18, 2019, Owl Rock Capital Corporation’s common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ORCC" and on July 22, 2019, Owl Rock Capital Corporation closed its initial public offering.Administration Agreement.

The Adviser is affiliated with Owl Rock Technology Advisors LLC (“ORTA”), Owl Rock Capital Diversified Advisors LLC (“ORDA”), and Owl Rock Capital Private Fund Advisors LLC (“ORPFA” and collectivelytogether with the Adviser, ORDA and ORTA, the “Owl Rock Advisers”), which also are investment advisers and subsidiaries of Owl Rock Capital Partners. The Adviser, ORTA, ORPFA and Owl Rock Capital Partners are referred to, collectively,

as “Owl Rock.” ORTA’s and ORPFA’s investment teams are led by Douglas I. Ostrover, Marc S. Lipschultz and Craig W. Packer. ORTA serves as investment adviser to Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. and ORPFA serves as investment adviser, among other clients, to Owl Rock First Lien Master Fund, L.P.

Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. is a BDC and its investment objective is to maximize total return by generating current income from its debt investments and other income producing securities, and capital appreciation from its equity and equity-linked investments. Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. has adopted a policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of its assets in technology-related companies. Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. conducts private offerings of its common stock to investors in reliance on exemptions from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”Advisors”). As of December 31, 2019,2020, the Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. had approximately $2.5Advisors managed $27.1 billion in total Capital Commitments from investors of which approximately $0.8 billion had been drawn.

AUM. The Owl Rock First Lien Master Fund intendsAdvisors focus on direct lending to originate and make loans to, and make debt investments in, U.S. middle market companies.companies primarily in the United States under the following four investment strategies:

In addition

We refer to the Owl Rock Capital Corporation,BDCs and the Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. andPrivate Funds, as the “Owl Rock Clients.”

The Owl Rock First Lien Master Fund, L.P., the Adviser and its affiliatesAdvisers may provide management or investment advisory services to entities that have overlapping objectives with us. The Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts in the allocation of investment opportunities to us and others. In order to address these conflicts, the Owl Rock Advisers have put in place an allocation policy that addresses the allocation of investment opportunities as well as co-investment restrictions under the 1940 Act.

We, the Adviser and certain of its affiliates have been granted exemptive relief by the SEC to co-invest with other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. Pursuant to such exemptive relief, we generally are permitted to co-invest with certain of our affiliates if a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of our independent directors make certain conclusions in connection with a co-investment transaction, including that (1) the terms of the transaction, including the consideration to be paid, are reasonable and fair to us and our shareholders and do not involve overreaching of us or our shareholders on the part of any person concerned, (2) the transaction is consistent with the interests of our shareholders and is consistent with our investment objective and strategies, and (3) the investment by our affiliates would not disadvantage us, and our participation would not be on a basis different from or less advantageous than that on which our affiliates are investing. In addition, pursuant to an exemptive order issued by the SEC on April 8, 2020 and applicable to all BDCs, through December 31, 2020, we were permitted, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, complete follow-on investments in our existing portfolio companies with certain private funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates and covered by our exemptive relief, even if such private funds had not previously invested in such existing portfolio company. Without this order, private funds would generally not be able to participate in such follow-on investments with us unless the private funds had previously acquired securities of the portfolio company in a co-investment transaction with us. The Owl Rock Advisers’ allocation policy incorporates the conditions of the exemptive relief. As a result of the exemptive relief, there could be significant overlap in our investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of the Owl Rock Capital Corporation, Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp.Clients and/or other funds established by the Adviser or its affiliatesOwl Rock Advisers that could avail themselves of the exemptive relief. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors —Risks Related to our Adviser and its Affiliates — We may compete for capital and investment opportunities with other entities managed by our Adviser or its affiliates, subjecting the Adviser to certain conflicts of interest.”

The Adviser or its affiliates may engage in certain origination activities and receive attendant arrangement, structuring or similar fees.  See “Item 1A. Risk Factors —Risks Related to our Adviser and its Affiliates — The Adviser and its affiliates may face conflicts of interest with respect to services performed for issuers in which we invest.”

The Adviser's address is 399 Park Avenue, 38th floor, New York, NY 10022.

Market Trends

We believe the middle-market lending environment provides opportunities for us to meet our goal of making investments that generate attractive risk-adjusted returns based on a combination of the following factors:factors which continue to remain true in the current environment, with the economic shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 national health emergency:

Limited Availability of Capital for Middle Market Companies. We believe that regulatory and structural changes in the market have reduced the amount of capital available to U.S. middle-market companies. In particular, we believe there are currently fewer providers of capital to middle market companies. We believe that many commercial and investment banks have, in recent years, de-emphasized their service and product offerings to middle-market businesses in favor of lending to large corporate clients and managing capital markets transactions. In addition, these lenders may be constrained in their ability to underwrite and hold bank loans and high yield securities for middle-market issuers as they seek to meet existing and future regulatory capital requirements. We also believe that there is a lack of market participants that are willing to hold meaningful amounts of certain middle-market loans. As a result, we believe our ability to minimize syndication risk for a company seeking financing by being able to hold its loans without having to syndicate them, coupled with reduced capacity of traditional lenders to serve the middle-market, present an attractive opportunity to invest in middle-market companies.

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

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

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

Robust Demand for Debt Capital. We believe U.S. middle market companies will continue to require access to debt capital to refinance existing debt, support growth and finance acquisitions. In addition, we believe the large amount of uninvested capital held by funds of private equity firms, estimated by Preqin Ltd., an alternative assets industry data and research company, to be $1.26$1.5 trillion as of March 2019October 2020 will continue to drive deal activity. We expect that private equity sponsors will continue to pursue acquisitions and leverage their equity investments with secured loans provided by companies such as us.

The Middle Market is a Large Addressable Market. According to GE Capital’s National Center for the Middle Market 4th4^th quarter 20192020 Middle Market Indicator, there are approximately 200,000 U.S. middle market companies, which have approximately 47.948 million aggregate employees. Moreover, the U.S. middle market accounts for one-third of private sector gross domestic product (“GDP”). GE defines U.S. middle market companies as those between $10 million and $1 billion in annual revenue, which we believe has significant overlap with our definition of U.S. middle market companies.

Attractive Investment Dynamics. An imbalance between the supply of, and demand for, middle market debt capital creates attractive pricing dynamics. We believe the directly negotiated nature of middle market financings also generally provides more favorable terms to the lender, including stronger covenant and reporting packages, better call protection, and lender-protective change of control provisions. Additionally, we believe BDC managers’ expertise in credit selection and ability to manage through credit cycles has generally resulted in BDCs experiencing lower loss rates than U.S. commercial banks through credit cycles. Further, we believe that historical middle market default rates have been lower, and recovery rates have been higher, as compared to the larger market capitalization, broadly distributed market, leading to lower cumulative losses. Lastly, we believe that in the current environment, as the economy reopens following the economic shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 national health emergency, lenders with available capital may be able to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities as the economy reopens and may be able to achieve improved economic spreads and documentation terms.

Conservative Capital Structures. Following the credit crisis, which we define broadly as occurring between mid-2007 and mid-2009, lenders have generally required borrowers to maintain more equity as a percentage of their total capitalization, specifically to protect lenders during economic downturns. With more conservative capital structures, U.S. middle market companies have exhibited higher levels of cash flows available to service their debt. In addition, U.S. middle market companies often are characterized by simpler capital structures than larger borrowers, which facilitates a streamlined underwriting process and, when necessary, restructuring process.

Attractive Opportunities in Investments in Loans. We invest in senior secured or unsecured loans, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans and, to a lesser extent, equity and equity-related securities. We believe that opportunities in senior secured loans are significant because of the floating rate structure of most senior secured debt issuances and because of the strong defensive characteristics of these types of investments. Given the current low interest rate environment, we believe that debt issues with floating interest rates offer a superior return profile as compared with fixed-rate investments, since floating rate structures are generally less susceptible to declines in value experienced by fixed-rate securities in a rising interest rate environment. Senior secured debt also provides strong defensive characteristics. Senior secured debt has priority in payment among an issuer’s security holders whereby

holders are due to receive payment before junior creditors and equity holders. Further, these investments are secured by the issuer’s assets, which may provide protection in the event of a default.

Potential Competitive Strengths

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

Experienced Team Withwith Expertise Across all Levels of the Corporate Capital Structure. The members of the Investment Committee each have over 25 years of experience in private lending and investing at all levels of a company’s capital structure, particularly in high yield securities, leveraged loans, high yield credit derivatives and distressed securities, as well as experience in operations, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. The members of the Investment Committee have diverse backgrounds with investing experience through multiple business and credit cycles. Moreover, certain members of the Investment Committee and other executives and employees of the Adviser and its affiliates have operating and/or investing experience on behalf of BDCs. We believe this experience provides the Adviser with an in-depth understanding of the strategic, financial and operational challenges and opportunities of middle market companies and will afford it numerous tools to manage risk while preserving the opportunity for attractive risk-adjusted returns on our investments.

Distinctive Origination Platform. To date, a substantial majority of our investments have been sourced directly. We believe that our origination platform provides us the ability to originate investments without the assistance of investment banks or other traditional Wall Street intermediaries. The Investment Team includes over 50 investment professionals and is responsible for originating, underwriting, executing and managing the assets of our direct lending transactions and for sourcing and executing opportunities directly. The Investment Team has significant experience as transaction originators and building and maintaining strong relationships with private equity sponsors and companies.

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

Since its inception through December 31, 2019,2020, the Adviser and its affiliates have reviewed over 4,2005,200 opportunities and have sourced potential investment opportunities from over 445530 private equity sponsors and venture capital firms. We believe that the Adviser receives “early looks” and “last looks” based on its relationships, allowing it to be highly selective in the transactions it pursues.

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

Defensive, Income-Orientated Investment Philosophy. The Adviser employs a defensive investment approach focused on long-term credit performance and principal protection. This investment approach involves a multi-stage selection process for each investment opportunity as well as ongoing monitoring of each investment made, with particular emphasis on early detection of credit deterioration. This strategy is designed to minimize potential losses and achieve attractive risk adjusted returns.  

Active Portfolio Monitoring. The Adviser closely monitors the investments in our portfolio and takes a proactive approach to identifying and addressing sector- or company-specific risks. The Adviser receives and reviews detailed financial information from portfolio companies no less than quarterly and seeks to maintain regular dialogue with portfolio company management teams regarding current and forecasted performance. In addition, the Adviser has built out its portfolio management team to include workout experts who closely monitor our portfolio companies and assess each portfolio company’s operational and liquidity exposure and outlook. Although we may invest in “covenant lite”“covenant-lite” loans, which generally do not have a complete set of financial maintenance covenants, we anticipate that many of our investments will have financial covenants that we believe will provide an early warning of potential problems facing our borrowers, allowing lenders, including us, to identify and carefully manage risk.

Further, we anticipate that many of our equity investments will provide us the opportunity to nominate a member or observer to the board of directors of the portfolio company, which we believe will allow us to closely monitor the performance of our portfolio companies.

Investment Selection

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

Established Companies with Positive Cash Flow. We seek to invest in companies with sound historical financial performance which we believe tend to be well-positioned to maintain consistent cash flow to service and repay their obligations and maintain growth in their businesses or market share in all market conditions, including in the event of a recession. The Adviser typically focuses on upper middle market companies with a history of profitability on an operating cash flow basis. The Adviser does not intend to invest in start-up companies that have not achieved sustainable profitability and cash flow generation or companies with speculative business plans.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Investments in Different Portfolio Companies and Industries. We seek to invest broadly among portfolio companies and industries, thereby potentially reducing the risk of any one company or industry having a disproportionate impact on the value of our portfolio; however, there can be no assurances in this regard. We seek to invest not more than 20% of our portfolio in any single industry classification and target portfolio companies that comprise 1-2% of our portfolio (with no individual portfolio company generally expected to comprise greater than 5% of our portfolio).

Investment Process Overview

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

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

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

Structuring and Execution. Approval of an investment requires the unanimous approval of the Investment Committee. Once the Investment Committee has determined that a prospective portfolio company is suitable for investment, the Adviser works with the management team of that company and its other capital providers, including senior, junior and equity capital providers, if any, to finalize the structure and terms of the investment.  

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

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

Structure of Investments

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

We expect that generally our portfolio composition will be majority debt or income producing securities, which may include “covenant-lite” loans, with a lesser allocation to equity or equity-linked opportunities. In addition, we may invest a portion of our portfolio in opportunistic investments, which will not be our primary focus, but will be intended to enhance returns to our Shareholders. These investments may include high-yield bonds and broadly-syndicated loans. Our portfolio composition may fluctuate from time to time based on market conditions and interest rates.

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

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

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

Our debt investments are typically structured with the maximum seniority and collateral that we can reasonably obtain while seeking to achieve our total return target. The Adviser seeks to limit the downside potential of our investments by:

Within our portfolio, the Adviser aims to maintain the appropriate proportion among the various types of first-lien loans, as well as second-lien debt and mezzanine debt, to allow us to achieve our target returns while maintaining our targeted amount of credit risk.

Equity Investments.

Our investment in a portfolio company may include an equity or equity linked interest, such as a warrant or profit participation right. In certain instances, we will make direct equity investments, although those situations are generally limited to those cases where we are also making an investment in a more senior part of the capital structure of the issuer.

Investment Portfolio

As of December 31, 20192020 and 2018,2019, we had made investments with an aggregate fair value of $1.4$2.1 billion and $0.7$1.4 billion, respectively, in 89115 and 5989 portfolio companies, respectively. Investments consisted of the following at December 31, 20192020 and 2018:2019:

As of December 31, 20192020 and 2018,2019, we had outstanding commitments to fund unfunded investments totaling $146.8$124.1 million and $89.9$146.8 million, respectively.

The industry composition of investments at fair value at December 31, 20192020 and 20182019 was as follows:

________________

The geographic composition of investments at fair value at December 31, 20192020 and 20182019 was as follows:

Capital Resources and Borrowings

We anticipate generating cash in the future from the issuance of common stock and debt securities and cash flows from operations, including interest received on our debt investments.

Additionally, we are permitted, under specified conditions, to issue multiple classes of indebtedness and one class of shares senior to our common stock if our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, is at least equal to 200% (or 150% if certain requirements are met) immediately after each such issuance. Our current target leverage ratio is 0.75x. As of December 31, 20192020 and 2018,2019, our asset coverage was 269%242% and 240%269%, respectively. See “Regulation as a Business Development Company – Senior Securities” below.

Furthermore, while any indebtedness and senior securities remain outstanding, we must make provisions to prohibit any distribution to our shareholders (which may cause us to fail to distribute amounts necessary to avoid entity-level taxation under the Code), or the repurchase of such securities or shares unless we meet the applicable asset coverage ratios at the time of the distribution or repurchase. In addition, we must also comply with positive and negative covenants customary for these types of indebtedness or senior securities.

Our debt obligations consisted of the following as of December 31, 20192020 and 2018:2019:

________________

________________

See “Item 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS —Financial Condition, Liquidity and Capital Resources — Debt”.

Dividend Policy

Subject to our board of directors' discretion and applicable legal restrictions, we intend to authorize and declare cash distributions to our shareholders on a weekly basis and pay such distributions on a monthly basis. Because we have elected to be treated and intend to maintain our tax treatment as a RIC, we intend to distribute (or be treated as distributing) in each taxable year dividends of an amount equal to at least 90% of our investment company taxable income (which includes, among other items, dividends, interest, the excess of any net short-term capital gains over net long-term capital losses, as well as other taxable income, excluding any net capital gains reduced by deductible expenses) and 90% of our net tax-exempt income for that taxable year. As a RIC, we generally will not be subject to corporate-level U.S. federal income tax on our investment company taxable income and net capital gains that we distribute to shareholders as dividends. We may be subject to a nondeductible 4% U.S. federal excise tax, if we do not distribute (or are treated as distributing) in each calendar year an amount at least equal to the sum of:

We can be expected to incur in the future such excise tax on a portion of our income and gains. While we intend to distribute income and capital gains to minimize exposure to the 4% excise tax, we may not be able to, or may not choose to, distribute amounts sufficient to avoid the imposition of the tax entirely. In that event, we will be liable for the tax only on the amount by which we do not meet the foregoing distribution requirement. See “ITEM 1A RISK FACTORS – Federal Income Tax Risks – We will be subject to corporate-level U.S. federal income tax if we are unable to qualify and maintain our tax treatment as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code or if we make investments through taxable subsidiaries.”

We may fund our cash distributions to shareholders from any sources of funds available to us, including fee waivers or deferrals by our Adviser that may be subject to repayment, as well as cash otherwise available. We have not established limits on the amount of funds we may use from any available sources to make distributions; however, we will not borrow funds for the purpose of making distributions if the amount of such distributions would exceed our accrued and received revenues ("Net Revenues"), which we define as accrued and received revenues, less paid and accrued operating expenses with respect to such revenues and costs, for the previous four quarters. Distributions may be supported by our Adviser in the form of operating expense support payments pursuant to the Expense Support and Conditional Reimbursement Agreement, or the Expense Support Agreement, we have entered into with the Adviser and the deferral or waiver of investment advisory fees. See "ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationS —Expense Support and Conditional Reimbursement Agreement" for additional information regarding the Expense Support Agreement. We may be obligated to repay our Adviser over several years, and these repayments, if any, will reduce the future distributions that you would otherwise be entitled to receive from us. You should understand that such distributions may not be based on our investment performance. There can be no assurance that we will achieve the performance necessary to sustain our distributions, or that we will be able to pay distributions at a specific rate, or at all. Our Adviser has no obligation to waive or defer its advisory fees or otherwise reimburse expenses in future periods.

The following table presents cash distributions per share that were declared during the year ended December 31, 2020:

The following table presents cash distributions per share that were declared during the year ended December 31, 2019:

The following table presents cash distributions per share that were declared during the year ended December 31, 2018:

The following table presents cash distributions per share that were declared during the year ended December 31, 2017:

Continuous Public Offering

We commenced a continuous public offering of up to 264,000,000 shares of our common stock on April 4, 2017. On January 29, 2020, we commenced the follow-on offering for up to 160,000,000 shares of our common stock. As of December 31, 20192020 we were selling shares or our common stock at an offering price of $9.49 per share.  If our net asset value increases above our net proceeds per share, we will sell our shares at a higher price as necessary to ensure that shares are not sold at a net price, after deducting upfront selling commissions and dealer manager fees, that is below our net asset value per share. Also, in the event of a material decline in our net asset value per share, which we consider to be a 2.5% decrease below our current net offering price, we will reduce our offering price in order to establish a new net offering price per share that is not more than 2.5% above our net asset value.

Since commencing our continuous public offering and through December 31, 2019,2020, we have issued 104,001,760143,313,940 shares of our common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $963.7 million.$1.3 billion. As of  February 25, 2020,March 4, 2021, we have raised total gross proceeds of approximately $1.1$1.4 billion, including seed capital contributed by our Adviser in September 2016 and approximately $10.0 million in gross proceeds raised in a private placement from certain individuals and entities affiliated with Owl Rock Capital Advisors.

Distribution Reinvestment Plan

We have adopted a distribution reinvestment plan, pursuant to which we will reinvest all cash distributions declared by the Board on behalf of our shareholders who elect to participate, or “opt-in.” As a result, if the Board authorizes, and we declare, a cash dividend or other distribution, then our shareholders who have opted in to our distribution reinvestment plan will have their cash distribution automatically reinvested in additional shares of our common stock as described below, rather than receiving the cash distribution or other distribution. Shareholders who receive distributions in the form of shares of common stock will be subject to the same U.S. federal, state and local tax consequences as if they received cash distributions.

Participation in the distribution reinvestment plan will commence with the next distribution paid after receipt of an investor’s written election to participate in the plan and to all other calendar months thereafter, provided such notification is received by the plan administrator no later than the record date to which such distribution relates.

The number of shares to be issued to a shareholder participating in the distribution reinvestment plan will be determined by dividing the total dollar amount of the distribution payable to each shareholder by a price per share equivalent to the current net public offering price that the shares are sold in our continuous public offering at the closing immediately following the distribution date. In the event that our offering is suspended or terminated, then the reinvestment purchase price will be the net asset value per share. Shares issued pursuant to our distribution reinvestment plan will have the same voting rights as the shares of our common stock.

Share Repurchase Program

In the third quarter of 2017, we began offering, and on a quarterly basis intend to continue offering, to repurchase shares of our common stock on such terms as may be determined by our Board in its complete discretion. Our Board has complete discretion to determine whether we will engage in any share repurchase, and if so, the terms of such repurchase. At the discretion of our Board, we may use cash on hand, cash available from borrowings, and cash from the sale of our investments as of the end of the applicable period to repurchase shares.  We have not established limits on the amount of funds we may use from any available sources to repurchase shares; however, we will not borrow funds for the purpose of repurchasing shares if the amount of such repurchase would exceed our accrued and received Net Revenues for the previous four quarters.

We intend to limit the number of shares to be repurchased in each quarter to the lesser of (a) 2.5% of the weighted average number of shares of our common stock outstanding in the prior 12-month period and (b) the number of shares we can repurchase with the proceeds we receive from the sale of shares of our common stock under our distribution reinvestment plan. All shares purchased by us pursuant to the terms of each offer to repurchase will be retired and thereafter will be authorized and unissued shares.

Any periodic repurchase offers are subject in part to our available cash and compliance with the BDC and RIC qualification and diversification rules promulgated under the 1940 Act and the Code, respectively. While we intend to continue to conduct quarterly tender offers as described above, we are not required to do so and may suspend or terminate the share repurchase program at any time.

On August 22, 2017, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $14 thousand of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.04 per share (which reflects our net offering price per share in effect as of September 20, 2017). The offer to purchase expired on September 19, 2017. No shares were repurchased in connection with the offer to purchase.

On November 13, 2017, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $121 thousand of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.04 per share (which reflects our net offering price per share in effect as of December 13, 2017). The offer to purchase expired on December 12, 2017. No shares were repurchased in connection with the offer to purchase.

On March 12, 2018, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $528 thousand of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.07 per share (which reflects the net offering price per share in effect as of April 11, 2018). The offer expired on April 6, 2018, with 4,425 shares purchased in connection with the repurchase offer.

On May 21, 2018, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $1.3 million of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.07 per share (which reflects the net offering price per share in effect as of June 20, 2018). The offer expired on June 18, 2018, with 11,973 shares purchased in connection with the repurchase offer.

On August 20, 2018, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $2.6 million of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.08 per share (which reflects the net offering price per share in effect as of September 19, 2018). The offer expired on September 17, 2018, with 118,465 shares purchased in connection with the repurchase offer.

On November 19, 2018, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $3.6 million of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.09 per share (which reflects the net offering price per share in effect as of December 19, 2018). The offer expired on December 17, 2018, with 33,243 shares purchased in connection with the repurchase offer.

On March 4, 2019, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $6.2 million of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.06 per share (which reflects the net offering price per share in effect as of April 3, 2019). The offer expired on March 29, 2019, with approximately 119,874 shares purchased in connection with the repurchase offer.

On May 13, 2019, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $9.0 million of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.07 per share (which reflects the net offering price per share in effect as of June 12, 2019). The offer expired on June 10, 2019, with approximately 100,108 shares purchased in connection with the repurchase offer.

On August 19, 2019, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $13.1 million of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.08 per share (which reflects the net offering price per share in effect as of September 18, 2019). The offer expired on September 16, 2019, with approximately 234,693 shares purchased in connection with the repurchase offer.

On November 18, 2019, we conducted a tender offer to repurchase up to $17.0 million of our issued and outstanding common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at a price equal to $9.02 per share (which reflects the net offering price per share in effect as of December 18, 2019). The offer expired on December 16, 2019, with approximately 396,914 shares purchased in connection with the repurchase offer.

To the extent that the number of shares of our common stock tendered to us for repurchase exceeds the number of shares that we are able to purchase, we will repurchase shares on a pro rata basis. Further, we will have no obligation to repurchase shares if the repurchase would violate the restrictions on distributions under federal law or Maryland law. The limitations and restrictions described above may prevent us from accommodating all repurchase requests made in any quarter. Our share repurchase program has many limitations, including the limitations described above, and should not in any way be viewed as the equivalent of a secondary market.

We will offer to repurchase shares on such terms as may be determined by our Board in its complete and absolute discretion unless, in the judgment of our independent directors, such repurchases would not be in the best interests of our shareholders or would violate applicable law. There is no assurance that our Board will exercise its discretion to offer to repurchase shares or that there will be sufficient funds available to accommodate all of our shareholders’ requests for repurchase. As a result, we may repurchase less than the full amount of shares that you request to have repurchased. If we do not repurchase the full amount of your shares that you have requested to be repurchased, or we determine not to make repurchases of our shares, you will likely not be able to dispose of your shares, even if we underperform. Any periodic repurchase offers will be subject in part to our available cash and compliance with the

RIC qualification and diversification rules and the 1940 Act. Shareholders will not pay a fee to us in connection with our repurchase of shares under the share repurchase program.

Competition

Our primary competitors in providing financing to middle market companies include public and private funds, other BDCs, commercial and investment banks, commercial finance companies and, to the extent they provide an alternative form of financing, private equity and hedge funds. Many of our competitors are substantially larger and have considerably greater financial, technical, and marketing resources than we do. Some competitors may have access to funding sources that are not available to us. In addition, some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and establish more relationships than us. Further, many of our competitors are not subject to the regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act imposes on us as a business development company, or to the distribution and other requirements we must satisfy to maintain our RIC tax treatment. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors — Risk Relating to Our Business — We may face increasing competition for investment opportunities, which could delay further deployment of our capital, reduce returns and result in losses.”

Investment Advisory Agreement

The description below of the Investment Advisory Agreement is only a summary and is not necessarily complete. The description set forth below is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Investment Advisory Agreement.

Under the terms of the Investment Advisory Agreement, the Adviser is responsible for the following:

The Adviser’s services under the Investment Advisory Agreement are not exclusive, and it is free to furnish similar services to other entities so long as its services to us are not impaired.

Term

The Investment Advisory Agreement was approved by the Board on February 19, 2020,January 12, 2021, as described further below under “Business – Board Approval of Investment Advisory Agreement.” Unless earlier terminated as described below, the Investment Advisory Agreement will remain in effect from year-to-year thereafter if approved annually by a majority of the Board or by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities and, in each case, by a majority of independent directors who are not “interested persons” of us as defined in the 1940 Act.

The Investment Advisory Agreement will automatically terminate in the event of its assignment, as defined in the 1940 Act, by the Adviser. In accordance with the 1940 Act, without payment of any penalty, we may terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement with the Adviser upon 60 days’ written notice and a majority vote of the of directors who are not “interested persons” of us or the shareholders holding a majority (as defined under the 1940 Act) of the outstanding shares of our common stock. The decision to terminate the agreement may be made by a majority of the Board or the shareholders holding a Majority of the Outstanding Shares of our common stock. “Majority of the Outstanding Shares” means the lesser of (1) 67% or more of the outstanding shares of common stock present at a meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding shares of common stock are present or represented by proxy or (2) a majority of outstanding shares of common stock. In addition, without payment of any penalty, the Adviser may terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement upon 120 days’ written notice.

On December 23, 2020, Owl Rock Capital Group, the parent of the Adviser (and a subsidiary of Owl Rock Capital Partners), and Dyal announced they are merging to form Blue Owl.  Blue Owl will enter the public market via its acquisition by Altimar, a special

purpose acquisition company. The Transaction, if consummated, will result in a change in control of the Adviser, which will be deemed an assignment of the Investment Advisory Agreement in accordance with the 1940 Act. As a result, the Board, after considering the Transaction and subsequent change in control, has determined that upon consummation of the Transaction and subject to the approval of the Company’s shareholders at a special meeting expected to be held on March 17, 2021, the Company should enter into a third amended and restated investment advisory agreement with the Adviser on terms that are identical to the Investment Advisory Agreement. See "Business – The Adviser and Administrator – Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC."

Compensation of the Adviser

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement with Owl Rock Capital Advisors, subject to the overall supervision of our Board and in accordance with the 1940 Act, Owl Rock Capital Advisors receives an investment advisory fee from us, consisting of two components — a base management fee and an incentive fee. Prior to February 19, 2020, the base management fee was calculated at an annual rate of 1.75% based on the average value of our gross assets excluding cash and cash-equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters. Beginning February 19, 2020, the annual rate will be reduced to 1.50% of the average value of our gross assets excluding cash and cash-equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters. Although we do not anticipate making significant investments in derivatives and swaps similar to our direct investment in portfolio companies, the fair value of any such derivatives and swaps, which will not necessarily equal the notional value of such derivatives and swaps, will be included in our calculation of gross assets. The base management fee is payable quarterly in arrears. All or any part of the base management fee not taken as to any quarter will be deferred without interest and may be taken in any such quarter prior to the occurrence of a liquidity event. Base management fees for any partial quarter are prorated based on the number of days in the quarter.

The incentive fee consists of two parts: (i) an incentive fee on income and (ii) an incentive fee on capital gains. Each part of the incentive fee is outlined below.

The incentive fee on income will be calculated and payable quarterly in arrears and will be based upon our pre-incentive fee net investment income for the immediately preceding calendar quarter. In the case of a liquidation of the Company or if the Investment Advisory Agreement is terminated, the fee will also become payable as of the effective date of the event.

The incentive fee on income for each calendar quarter will be calculated as follows:

The following is a graphical representation of the calculation of the quarterly incentive fee on income:

Quarterly Incentive Fee on

Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income

(expressed as a percentage of adjusted capital)

Percentage of Pre-Incentive Fee Net Investment Income

Allocated to Quarterly Incentive Fee

The incentive fee on capital gains will be determined and payable in arrears as of the end of each calendar year during which the Investment Advisory Agreement is in effect. In the case of a liquidation, or if the Investment Advisory Agreement is terminated, the fee will also become payable as of the effective date of such event. The annual fee will equal (i) 17.5% (or 20% prior to February 19, 2020) of our realized capital gains on a cumulative basis from inception through the end of such calendar year, computed net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis, less (ii) the aggregate amount of any previously paid incentive fees on capital gains as calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”).

For purposes of computing the incentive fee on capital gains, the calculation methodology will look through derivatives or swaps as if we owned the reference assets directly. Therefore, realized gains and realized losses on the disposition of any reference assets, as well as unrealized depreciation on reference assets retained in the derivative or swap, will be included on a cumulative basis in the calculation of the incentive fee on capital gains.

Because of the structure of the incentive fee on income and the incentive fee on capital gains, it is possible that we may pay such fees in a quarter where we incur a net loss. For example, if we receive pre-incentive fee net investment income in excess of the 1.5% on adjusted capital for a quarter, we will pay the applicable incentive fee even if we incurred a net loss in the quarter due to a realized or unrealized capital loss. Our Adviser will not be under any obligation to reimburse us for any part of the incentive fee they receive that is based on prior period accrued income that we never received as a result of any borrower’s default or a subsequent realized loss of our portfolio.

The fees that are payable under the Investment Advisory Agreement for any partial period will be appropriately prorated. The fees are calculated using detailed policies and procedures approved by our Adviser and our Board, including a majority of the independent directors, and such policies and procedures are consistent with the description of the calculation of the fees set forth above.

Our Adviser may elect to defer or waive all or a portion of the fees that would otherwise be paid to it in its sole discretion. Any portion of a fee not taken as to any month, quarter or year will be deferred without interest and may be taken in any such other month prior to the occurrence of a liquidity event as our Adviser may determine in its sole discretion.

Fee Waivers

On June 8, 2018, the Adviser agreed to waive (A) any portion of the management fee that was in excess of 1.50% of our gross assets, excluding cash and cash-equivalents but including assets purchased with borrowed amounts at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters, calculated in accordance with the Investment Advisory Agreement, (B) any portion of the incentive fee on net investment income that was in excess of 17.5% of our pre-incentive fee net investment income, which was calculated in accordance with the Investment Advisory Agreement but based on a quarterly preferred return of 1.50% per quarter and an upper level breakpoint of 1.818%, and (C) any portion of the incentive fee on capital gains that was in excess of 17.5% of our realized capital gains, if any, on a cumulative basis from inception through the end of such calendar year, net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis, minus the aggregate amount of any previously paid incentive fee on capital gains as calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP (the “Waiver”). Any portion of the management fee, incentive fee on net investment income and incentive fee on capital gains waived is not subject to recoupment.

On February 19, 2020, our Board approved the Investment Advisory Agreement, which reduced the management fee and incentive fee to the amounts specified in the Waiver.

Organization and Offering Costs

Under the terms of the Investment Advisory Agreement, the Adviser is entitled to receive up to 1.5% of gross offering proceeds raised in the continuous public offering until all organization and offering costs paid by the Adviser or its affiliates have been recovered. TheThese expenses include those deemed to be “organization and offering expenses consist of corporate and organizational expenses relating to offerings of shares of common stock, subject to limitations included in Investment Advisory Agreement; the cost of calculating our net asset value, including the cost of any third-party valuation services; the cost of effecting any sales and repurchasesexpenses” of the common stockCompany for purposes of Conduct Rule 2310(a)(12) of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (exclusive of commissions, the dealer manager fee, any discounts and other securities; fees andsimilar expenses payable under any dealer manager agreements, if any; debt service and other costspaid by investors at the time of borrowings or other financing arrangements; costs of hedging; expenses, including travel expense, incurred by the Adviser, or memberssale of the Investment Team, or payable to third parties, performing due diligence on prospective portfolio companies and, if necessary, enforcing our rights; escrow agent, transfer agent and custodial fees and expenses; fees and expenses associated with marketing efforts; federal and state registration fees, any stock exchange listing fees and fees payable to rating agencies; federal, state and local taxes; independent directors’ fees and expenses, including certain travel expenses; costs of preparing financial statements and maintaining books and records and filing reports or other documents with the SEC (or other regulatory bodies) and other reporting and compliance costs, including registration fees, listing fees and licenses, and the compensation of professionals responsible for the preparation of the foregoing; the costs of any reports, proxy statements or other notices to shareholders (including printing and mailing costs); the costs of any shareholder or director meetings and the compensation of personnel responsible for the preparation of the foregoing and related matters; commissions and other compensation payable to brokers or dealers; research and market data; fidelity bond, directors and officers errors and omissions liability insurance and other insurance premiums; direct costs and expenses of administration, including printing, mailing, long distance telephone and staff; fees and expenses associated with independent audits, outside legal and consulting costs; costs of winding up; costs incurred in connection with the formation or maintenance of entities or vehicles to hold our assets for tax or other purposes; extraordinary expenses (such as litigation or indemnification); and costs associated with reporting and compliance obligations under the Advisers Act and applicable federal and state securities laws. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, we shall reimburse the Adviser (or its affiliates) for an allocable portion of the compensation paid by the Adviser (or its affiliates) to our Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer and their respective staffs (based on a percentage of time such individuals devote, on an estimated basis, to the business affairs)Company's stock).Any such reimbursements will not exceed actual expenses incurred by the Adviser and its affiliates. The Adviser is responsible for the payment of our organization and offering expenses to the extent that these expenses exceed 1.5% of the aggregate gross offering proceeds, without recourse against or reimbursement by us.

Indemnification

Limitations of the AdviserLiability and Indemnification

The Adviser (and any of its affiliates, directors, officers, members, employees, agents, or representatives) will not be liable to us for any action taken or omitted to be taken by the Adviser in connection with the performance of any of its duties or obligations under the Investment Advisory Agreement or otherwise as our investment adviser, except to the extent specified in Section 36(b) of the 1940 Act concerning loss resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty (as the same is finally determined by judicial proceedings) with respect to the receipt of compensation for services, and we will indemnify, defend and protect the Adviser (and its affiliates, directors, officers, members, employees, agents, and representatives, each of whom will be deemed a third party beneficiary hereof) (collectively, the "Indemnified Parties") and hold them harmless from and against all damages, liabilities, costs and expenses

(including (including reasonable attorneys' fees and amounts reasonably paid in settlement) incurred by the Indemnified Parties in or by reason of any pending, threatened or completed action, suit, investigation or other proceeding (including an action or suit by or in the right of the Company or our shareholders) arising out of or otherwise based upon the performance of any of the Adviser's duties or obligations under the Investment Advisory Agreement or otherwise as our investment adviser. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, we will not provide for indemnification of an Indemnified Party for any liability or loss suffered by such Indemnified Party, nor will we provide that an Indemnified Party be held harmless for any loss or liability suffered by us, unless: (1) we have determined, in good faith, that the course of conduct that caused the loss or liability was in our best interest; (2) the Indemnified Party was acting on our behalf or performing services for us; (3) such liability or loss was not the result of (i) negligence or misconduct, in the case that the Indemnified Party is the Adviser, an affiliate of the Adviser or one of our officers, or (ii) gross negligence or willful misconduct, in the case that the Indemnified Party is a director who is also not one of our officers or the Adviser or an affiliate of the Adviser; and (4) the indemnification or agreement to hold harmless is recoverable only out of our net assets and not from our shareholders.

Board Approval of the Investment Advisory Agreement

The Board held an in-persona meeting on February 19, 2020January 12, 2021  to consider and approve the continuation of the Investment Advisory Agreement and, subject to the consummation of the Transaction and the approval of the Company’s shareholders at a special meeting expected to be held on March 17, 2021, the third amended and restated investment advisory agreement, as well as related matters. See "Business –The Adviser and Administrator – Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC." The Board was provided information it required to consider the Investment Advisory Agreement, including: (a) the nature, quality and extent of the advisory and other services to be provided to us by the Adviser; (b) the fee structures of comparable externally managed BDCs, which could include employees of the Adviser or its affiliates; (c) our projected operating expenses and expense ratio compared to BDCs with similar investment objectives; (d) information about the services to be performed and the personnel performing such services under the Investment Advisory Agreement; (f) the organizational capability and financial condition of the Adviser and its affiliates; and (g) the possibility of obtaining similar services from other third-party service providers or through an internally managed structure.

Based on the information reviewed and the discussion thereof, the Board, including a majority of the non-interested directors, concluded that the investment advisory fee rates are reasonable in relation to the services to be provided and approved the Investment Advisory Agreement and, subject to the consummation of the Transaction and the approval of the Company’s shareholders at a special meeting expected to be held on March 17, 2021, the third amended and restated investment advisory agreement, as being in the best interests of our shareholders.

Administration Agreement

The description below of the Administration Agreement is only a summary and is not necessarily complete. The description set forth below is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Administration Agreement.

On February 6, 2017, we entered into an Administration Agreement with the Adviser. Under the terms of the Administration Agreement, Owl Rock Capital Advisors performs, or oversees the performance of, administrative services for us, which includes providing office space, equipment and office services, maintaining financial records, preparing reports to shareholders and reports, but is not limited to filed with the SEC, managing the payment of expenses and the performance of administrative and professional services rendered by others, which could include employees of the Adviser or its affiliates. In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Administration Agreement, the Adviser may delegate its obligations under the Administration Agreement to an affiliate or to a third party and we will reimburse the Adviser for any services performed for us by such affiliate or third party.

We will reimburse Owl Rock Capital Advisors for expenses necessary to perform services related to our administration and operations, including Owl Rock Capital Advisors' allocable portion of the compensation and related expenses of our Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Financial Officer and their respective staffs. The amount of this reimbursement will be the lesser of (1) Owl Rock Capital Advisors' actual costs incurred in providing such services and (2) the amount that we estimate we would be required to pay alternative service providers for comparable services in the same geographic location. Owl Rock Capital Advisors will be required to allocate the cost of such services to us based on factors such as assets, revenues, time allocations and/or other reasonable metrics. Our board of directors will review the methodology employed in determining how the expenses are allocated to us and the proposed allocation of administrative expenses among us and certain affiliates of Owl Rock Capital Advisors. Our board of directors will assess the reasonableness of such reimbursements for expenses allocated to us based on the breadth, depth and quality of such services as compared to the estimated cost to us of obtaining similar services from third-party service providers known to be available. In addition, our board of directors will consider whether any single third-party service provider would be capable of providing all such services at comparable cost and quality. Finally, our board of directors will, among other things, compare the total amount paid to Owl Rock Capital Advisors for such services as a percentage of our net assets to the same ratio as reported by other comparable business development companies. We will not reimburse Owl Rock Capital Advisors for any services for which it receives a separate fee, for example rent, depreciation, utilities, capital equipment or other administrative items allocated to a controlling person of Owl Rock Capital Advisors.

The continuation of the Administration Agreement and, subject to the consummation of the Transaction, the amended and restated administration agreement, was approved by the Board on February 19, 2020.January 12, 2021. See "Business – The Adviser and Administrator – Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC." Unless earlier terminated as described below, the Administration Agreement will remain in effect year-to-year thereafter if approved annually by a majority of the Board or by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities and, in each case, a majority of the independent directors.

We may terminate the Administration Agreement, without payment of any penalty, upon 60 days' written notice. The decision to terminate the agreement may be made by a majority of the Board or the shareholders holding a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock. In addition, the Adviser may terminate the Administration Agreement, without payment of any penalty, upon 60 days' written notice. To the extent that Owl Rock Capital Advisors outsources any of its functions we will pay the fees associated with such functions without profit to Owl Rock Capital Advisors.

The Administration Agreement provides that Owl Rock Capital Advisors and its affiliates' respective officers, directors, members, managers, shareholders and employees are entitled to indemnification from us from and against any claims or liabilities, including reasonable legal fees and other expenses reasonably incurred, arising out of or in connection with our business and operations or any action taken or omitted on our behalf pursuant to authority granted by the Administration Agreement, except where attributable to willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of such person's duties or reckless disregard of such person's obligations and duties under the Administration Agreement.

Payment of Our Expenses under the Investment Advisory and Administration Agreements

Except as specifically provided below, we anticipate that all investment professionals and staff of Owl Rock Capital Advisors, when and to the extent engaged in providing investment advisory and management services to us, and the base compensation, bonus

and benefits, and the routine overhead expenses, of such personnel allocable to such services, will be provided and paid for by Owl Rock Capital Advisors. We will bear our allocable portion of the compensation paid by Owl Rock Capital Advisors (or its affiliates) to our chief compliance officerChief Compliance Officer and chief financial officerChief Financial Officer and their respective staffs (based on a percentage of time such individuals devote, on an estimated basis, to our business affairs, and as otherwise set forth in the Administrative Agreement). We also will bear all other costs and expenses of our operations, administration and transactions, including, but not limited to (i) investment advisory fees, including base management fees and incentive fees, to Owl Rock Capital Advisors, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement; (ii) our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by Owl Rock Capital Advisors in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory Agreement and Administration Agreement, and (iii) all other costs and expenses of our operations and transactions including, without limitation, those relating to:

Dealer Manager Agreement

On February 8, 2017, we entered into a Dealer Manager Agreement (the “Original Dealer Manager Agreement”) with Owl Rock Capital Securities LLC (“Owl Rock Securities”), an affiliate of the Adviser. On October 1, 2019, we entered into the Follow-on Dealer Manager Agreement with Owl Rock Securities (together with the Original Dealer Manager Agreement, the “Dealer Manager Agreement”). Under the terms of the Dealer Manager Agreement, Owl Rock Securities serves as the dealer manager for our continuous offering. As dealer manager, Owl Rock Securities will earn a maximum sales load of up to 5.0% of the price per share for combined upfront selling commissions and dealer manager fees, a portion or all of which may be reallowed to selling broker-dealers. In connection with purchases of shares pursuant to our distribution reinvestment plan, the upfront selling commissions and dealer manager fees will not be paid.

Owl Rock Securities is an affiliate of Owl Rock Capital Partners and will not make an independent review of us or our continuous offering. This relationship may create conflicts in connection with the dealer manager’s due diligence obligations under the federal securities laws. Although the dealer manager will examine the information in any prospectus for accuracy and completeness, due to its affiliation with the Adviser, no independent review of us will be made in connection with the distribution of our shares.

Owl Rock Securities is registered as a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

The Dealer Manager Agreement may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any penalty, by vote of a majority of our directors who are not “interested persons”, as defined in the 1940 Act, and who have no direct or indirect financial interest in the operation of our distribution plan or the Dealer Manager Agreement or by vote a majority of the outstanding voting securities, on not more than 60 days’ written notice to Owl Rock Securities and the Adviser. The Dealer Manager Agreement will automatically terminate in the event of its assignment, as defined in the 1940 Act.

Expense Support and Conditional Reimbursement Agreement

On February 6, 2017, we entered into an Expense Support and Conditional Reimbursement Agreement (the “Expense Support Agreement”) with the Adviser, the purpose of which is to ensure that no portion of our distributions to shareholders will represent a return of capital for tax purposes. The Expense Support Agreement became effective as of April 4, 2017, the date that we met the minimum offering requirement.

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

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

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

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

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

No Reimbursement Payment for any quarter will be made if: (1) the “Effective Rate of Distributions Per Share” (as defined below) declared by us at the time of such Reimbursement Payment is less than the Effective Rate of Distributions Per Share at the time the Expense Payment was made to which such Reimbursement Payment relates, or (2) our “Operating Expense Ratio” (as defined below) at the time of such Reimbursement Payment is greater than the Operating Expense Ratio at the time the Expense Payment was made to which such Reimbursement Payment relate. Pursuant to the Expense Support Agreement, “Effective Rate of Distributions Per Share” means the annualized rate (based on a 365 day year) of regular cash distributions per share exclusive of

returns of capital, distribution rate reductions due to distribution and shareholder fees, and declared special dividends or special distributions, if any. The “Operating Expense Ratio” is calculated by dividing Operating Expenses, less organizational and offering expenses, base management and incentive fees owed to Adviser, and interest expense, by our net assets.

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

As of December 31, 2019,2020, the amount of Expense Support Payments provided by the Adviser since inception is $12.6$31.3 million. Management believes that the Reimbursement Payments by us to the Adviser were not probable under the terms of the Expense Support Agreement as of December 31, 2019.2020. The following table reflects the Expense Support Payments that may be subject to reimbursement pursuant to the Expense Support Agreement:

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Affiliated Transactions

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

and is consistent with our investment objective and strategies, and (3) the investment by our affiliates would not disadvantage the us, and our participation would not be on a basis different from or less advantageous than that on which our affiliates are investing. In addition, pursuant to an exemptive order issued by the SEC on April 8, 2020 and applicable to all BDCs, through December 31, 2020, we were permitted, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, complete follow-on investments in our existing portfolio companies with certain private funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates and covered by our exemptive relief, even if such private funds had not previously invested in such existing portfolio company. Without this order, private funds would generally not be able to participate in such follow-on investments with us unless the private funds had previously acquired securities of the portfolio company in a co-investment transaction with us. Although the conditional exemptive order has expired, the SEC’s Division of Investment  Management has indicated that until March 31, 2021, it will not recommend enforcement action, to the extent that any BDC with an existing coinvestment order continues to engage in certain transactions described in the conditional exemptive order, pursuant to the same terms and conditions described therein. The Owl Rock Advisers’ allocation policy incorporates the conditions of the exemptive relief and seeks to ensure equitable allocation of investment opportunities over time between the Company, Owl Rock Capital Corporation and/or other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates.Clients. As a result of the exemptive relief, there could be significant overlap in our investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of other Owl Rock Capital Corporation, Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp.Clients and other portfolio funds established by the Adviser or its affiliatesOwl Rock Advisers that could avail themselves of exemptive relief.

License Agreement

We have entered into a license agreement (the “License Agreement”) with an affiliate of Owl Rock Capital Partners, pursuant to which we were granted us a non-exclusive license to use the name “Owl Rock.” Under the License Agreement, we have a right to use the Owl Rock name for so long as the Adviser or one of its affiliates remains our investment adviser. Other than with respect to this limited license, we will have no legal right to the “Owl Rock” name or logo.

Term

The Board expects to contemplate a liquidity event for our shareholders three to four years after the completion of our continuous public offering. We will consider the offering period to be complete as of the termination date of the most recent public equity offering if we have not conducted a public equity offering in any continuous two year period. A liquidity event could include: (i) a listing of shares on a national securities exchange; (ii) a merger or another transaction approved by the Board in which shareholders will receive cash or shares of a publicly traded company; or (iii) a sale of all or substantially all of its assets either on a complete portfolio basis or individually followed by a liquidation and distribution of cash to its shareholders. A liquidity event may include a sale, merger or rollover transaction with one or more affiliated investment companies managed by the Adviser.  A liquidity event involving a merger or sale of all or substantially all of our assets would require the approval of our shareholders in accordance with our charter. Certain types of liquidity events, such as one involving a listing of shares on a national securities exchange, would allow us to retain our investment portfolio intact. If we determine to list securities on a national securities exchange, we expect to, although are not required to, maintain our external management structure. If we have not consummated a liquidity event by the five-year anniversary of the completion of our continuous public offering, the Board will consider (subject to any necessary Shareholder approvals and applicable requirements of the 1940 Act) liquidating us and distributing cash to our shareholders, and dissolving us in an orderly manner. The Board, as part of its ongoing duties, will review and evaluate any potential liquidity events and options as they become available and their favorability given current market conditions; however, there is no assurance that a liquidity event will be completed at any particular time or at all.

Emerging Growth Company

We qualify as an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As an emerging growth company we may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other burdens that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include an exemption from the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”) for so long as we qualify as an emerging growth company. Specifically, under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies are not required to (1) provide an auditor's attestation report on management's assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (2) comply with new requirements adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, (3) comply with new audit rules adopted by the PCAOB after April 5, 2012 (unless the SEC determines otherwise), (4) provide certain financial statements and disclosures relating to executive compensation generally required for larger public companies or (5) hold shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation.

In addition, Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act and Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, as amended by Section 102(b) of the JOBS Act provide that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. We intend to take advantage of such extended transition periods. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (a) up to five years measured from the date of the first sale of common equity securities pursuant to an effective registration statement, (b) the last day of the first fiscal year in which our

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

Employees

We do not currently have any employees and do not expect to have any employees. Services necessary for our business are provided by individuals who are employees of the Adviser or its affiliates, pursuant to the terms of the Investment Advisory Agreement and the Administration Agreement. Each of our executive officers is employed by the Adviser or its affiliates. Our day-to-day investment operations are managed by the Adviser. The services necessary for the origination and administration of our investment portfolio are provided by investment professionals employed by the Adviser or its affiliates. The Investment Team is focused on origination and transaction development and the ongoing monitoring of our investments. In addition, we reimburse the Adviser for the allocable portion of the compensation paid by the Adviser (or its affiliates) to our chief compliance officerChief Compliance Officer and chief financial officerChief Financial Officer and their respective staffs (based on the percentage of time such individuals devote, on an estimated basis, to our business and affairs and as otherwise set forth in the Administrative Agreement). See “— Investment Advisory Agreement” and “— Administration Agreement.”

Regulation as a Business Development Company

We have elected to be regulated as a BDC under the 1940 Act. The 1940 Act contains prohibitions and restrictions relating to transactions between BDCs and their affiliates (including any investment advisers or sub-advisers), principal underwriters and affiliates of those affiliates or underwriters and requires that a majority of the directors be persons other than "interested persons," as that term is defined in the 1940 Act.

In addition, the 1940 Act provides that we may not change the nature of our business so as to cease to be, or to withdraw our election as, a BDC unless approved by a Majority of the Outstanding Shares of our common stock.

We are not generally able to issue and sell our common stock at a price below net asset value per share. We may, however, issue and sell our common stock, or warrants, options or rights to acquire our common stock, at a price below the then-current net asset value of our common stock if (1) our board of directors determines that such sale is in our best interests and the best interests of our shareholders, and (2) our shareholders have approved our policy and practice of making such sales within the preceding 12 months. In any such case, the price at which our securities are to be issued and sold may not be less than a price which, in the determination of our board of directors, closely approximates the market value of such securities.

As a BDC, the ratio of our total assets (less total liabilities other than indebtedness represented by senior securities) to our total indebtedness represented by senior securities plus preferred stock, if any, must be at least 200%. However, legislation enacted in March 2018 has modified the 1940 Act by allowing a BDC to increase the maximum amount of leverage it may incur from an asset coverage ratio of 200% to an asset coverage ratio of 150%, if certain requirements are met. This means that generally, we can borrow up to $1 for every $1 of investor equity (or, if certain conditions are met, we can borrow up to $2 for every $1 of investor equity). The reduced asset coverage requirement would permit a BDC to double the amount of leverage it could incur. We are permitted to increase our leverage capacity if shareholders representing at least a majority of the votes cast, when quorum is met, approve a proposal to do so. If we receive such shareholder approval, we would be permitted to increase our leverage capacity on the first day after such approval. Alternatively, we may increase the maximum amount of leverage we may incur to an asset coverage ratio of 150% if the "required majority" (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of the independent members of our Board of Directors approve such increase with such approval becoming effective after one year. In either case, we would be required to make certain disclosures on our website and in SEC filings regarding, among other things, the receipt of approval to increase our leverage, our leverage capacity and usage, and risks related to leverage. In addition, before incurring any such additional leverage, we would have to renegotiate or receive a waiver from the contractual leverage limitations under our existing credit facilities and notes.

We may also be prohibited under the 1940 Act from knowingly participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our board of directors who are not interested persons and, in some cases, prior approval by the SEC.

We may invest up to 100% of our assets in securities acquired directly from issuers in privately negotiated transactions. With respect to such securities, we may, for the purpose of public resale, be deemed an “underwriter” as that term is defined in the Securities Act.

Our intention is to not write (sell) or buy put or call options to manage risks associated with the publicly traded securities of our portfolio companies, except that we may enter into hedging transactions to manage the risks associated with interest rate or currency

fluctuations. However, we may purchase or otherwise receive warrants to purchase the common stock of our portfolio companies in connection with acquisition financing or other investments. Similarly, in connection with an acquisition, we may acquire rights to require the issuers of acquired securities or their affiliates to repurchase them under certain circumstances.

We do not intend to acquire securities issued by any investment company that exceed the limits imposed by the 1940 Act. Under these limits,Act and the rules and regulations thereunder. Prior to January 19, 2021, except for registered money market funds, we generally cannot acquirewere prohibited from acquiring more than 3% of the voting stock of any registered investment company, investinvesting more than 5% of the value of our total assets in the securities of one investment company, or investinvesting more than 10% of the value of our total assets in the securities of more than one investment company. With regardcompany without obtaining exemptive relief from the SEC. However, the SEC adopted new rules, which became effective on January 19, 2021, that allow us to that portionacquire the securities of our portfolio investedother investment companies in excess of the 3%, 5%, and 10% limitations without obtaining exemptive relief if we comply with certain conditions. If we invest in securities issued by investment companies, if any, it should be noted that such investments might subject our shareholders to additional expenses as they will be indirectly responsible for the costs and expenses of such companies.

None of our investment policies are fundamental, and thus may be changed without shareholder approval.

Qualifying Assets. Under the 1940 Act, a business development company may not acquire any asset other than assets of the type listed in Section 55(a) of the 1940 Act, which are referred to as qualifying assets, unless, at the time the acquisition is made, qualifying assets represent at least 70% of the company’s total assets. The principal categories of qualifying assets relevant to our business are the following:

(1) Securities purchased in transactions not involving any public offering from the issuer of such securities, which issuer (subject to certain limited exceptions) is an eligible portfolio company, or from any person who is, or has been during the preceding 13 months, an affiliated person of an eligible portfolio company, or from any other person, subject to such rules as may be prescribed by the SEC. An eligible portfolio company is defined in the 1940 Act as any issuer that:

(a) is organized under the laws of, and has its principal place of business in, the United States;

(b) is not an investment company (other than a small business investment company wholly owned by the business development company) or a company that would be an investment company but for certain exclusions under the 1940 Act; and

(c) satisfies any of the following:

(i) does not have any class of securities listed on a national securities exchange;

(ii) has any class of securities listed on a national securities exchange subject to a $250 million market capitalization maximum; or;or

(iii) is controlled by a business development company or a group of companies including a business development company, the business development company actually exercise a controlling influence over the management or policies of the eligible portfolio company, and, as a result the business development company has an affiliated person who is a director of the eligible portfolio company.

(2) Securities of any eligible portfolio company which we control.

(3) Securities purchased in a private transaction from a U.S. issuer that is not an investment company or from an affiliated person of the issuer, or in transactions incident to such private transaction, if the issuer is in bankruptcy and subject to reorganization or if the issuer, immediately prior to the purchase of its securities was unable to meet its obligations as they came due without material assistance other than conventional lending or financing arrangements.

(4) Securities of an eligible portfolio company purchased from any person in a private transaction if there is no ready market for such securities and we already own 60% of the outstanding equity of the eligible portfolio company. 

(5) Securities received in exchange for or distributed on or with respect to securities described above, or pursuant to the exercise of warrants or rights relating to such securities.

(6) Cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities or high-quality debt securities that mature in one year or less from the date of investment.

In addition, a business development company must be operated for the purpose of making investments in the types of securities described in (1), (2) or (3) above.

Control, as defined by the 1940 Act, is presumed to exist where a BDC beneficially owns more than 25% of the outstanding voting securities of the portfolio company, but may exist in other circumstances based on the facts and circumstances.

The regulations defining qualifying assets may change over time. We may adjust our investment focus as needed to comply with and/or take advantage of any regulatory, legislative, administrative or judicial actions.

Managerial Assistance to Portfolio Companies. A business development company must have been organized and have its principal place of business in the United States and must be operated for the purpose of making investments in the types of securities described in (a), (b) or (c) above. However, in order to count portfolio securities as qualifying assets for the purpose of the 70% test, the business development company must either control the issuer of the securities or must offer to make available to the issuer of the securities (other than small and solvent companies described above) significant managerial assistance. Where the business development company purchases such securities in conjunction with one or more other persons acting together, the business development company will satisfy this test if one of the other persons in the group makes available such managerial assistance, although this may not be the sole method by which the business development company satisfies the requirement to make available managerial assistance. Making available significant managerial assistance means, among other things, any arrangement whereby the business development company, through its directors, officers or employees, offers to provide and, if accepted, does so provide, significant guidance and counsel concerning the management, operations or business objectives and policies of a portfolio company.

Temporary Investments. Pending investment in other types of qualifying assets, as described above, our investments may consist of cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities, repurchase agreements and high-quality debt investments that mature in one year or less from the date of investment, which we refer to, collectively, as temporary investments, so that 70% of our assets are be qualifying assets or temporary investments. We may invest in highly rated commercial paper, U.S. Government agency notes, U.S. Treasury bills or in repurchase agreements relating to such securities that are fully collateralized by cash or securities issued by the U.S. government or its agencies. A repurchase agreement involves the purchase by an investor, such as us, of a specified security and the simultaneous agreement by the seller to repurchase it at an agreed-upon future date and at a price that is greater than the purchase price by an amount that reflects an agreed-upon interest rate. Consequently, repurchase agreements are functionally similar to loans. There is no percentage restriction on the proportion of our assets that may be invested in such repurchase agreements. However, the 1940 Act and certain diversification tests in order to qualify as a RIC for federal income tax purposes typically require us to limit the amount we invest with any one counterparty. Accordingly, we do not intend to enter into repurchase agreements with a single counterparty in excess of this limit. Owl Rock Capital Advisors will monitor the creditworthiness of the counterparties with which we may enter into repurchase agreement transactions.

Warrants. Under the 1940 Act, a business development company is subject to restrictions on the amount of warrants, options, restricted stock or rights to purchase shares of capital stock that it may have outstanding at any time. Under the 1940 Act, we may generally only offer warrants provided that (i) the warrants expire by their terms within ten years, (ii) the exercise or conversion price is not less than the current market value at the date of issuance, (iii) shareholders authorize the proposal to issue such warrants, and the Board approves such issuance on the basis that the issuance is in the best interest of us and our shareholders and (iv) if the warrants are accompanied by other securities, the warrants are not separately transferable unless no class of such warrants and the securities accompanying them has been publicly distributed. The 1940 Act also provides that the amount of our voting securities that would result from the exercise of all outstanding warrants, as well as options and rights, at the time of issuance may not exceed 25% of our outstanding voting securities. In particular, the amount of capital stock that would result from the conversion or exercise of all outstanding warrants, options or rights to purchase capital stock cannot exceed 25% of the business development company’s total outstanding shares of capital stock.

Senior Securities; Coverage Ratio. We are generally permitted, under specified conditions, to issue multiple classes of indebtedness and one class of stock senior to our common stock if immediately after such borrowing or issuance, the ratio of our total assets (less total liabilities other than indebtedness represented by senior securities) to our total indebtedness represented by senior securities plus preferred stock, if any, is at least 200%. However, legislation enacted in March 2018 has modified the 1940 Act by allowing a BDC to increase the maximum amount of leverage it may incur from an asset coverage ratio of 200% to an asset coverage ratio of 150%, if certain requirements are met. This means that generally, a BDC can borrow up to $1 for every $1 of investor equity or, if certain requirements are met and it reduces its asset coverage ratio, it can borrow up to $2 for every $1 of investor equity. The reduced asset coverage requirement would permit a BDC to double the amount of leverage it could incur. We are permitted to increase our leverage capacity if shareholders representing at least a majority of the votes cast, when quorum is met, approve a proposal to do so. If we receive such shareholder approval, we would be permitted to increase our leverage capacity on the first day after such approval. Alternatively, we may increase the maximum amount of leverage we may incur to an asset coverage ratio of 150% if the “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of the independent members of our Board of Directors approve such

increase with such approval becoming effective after one year. In either case, we would be required to make certain disclosures on our website and in SEC filings regarding, among other things, the receipt of approval to increase our leverage, our leverage capacity and usage, and risks related to leverage. In addition, before incurring any such additional leverage, we would have to renegotiate or receive a waiver from the contractual leverage limitations under our existing credit facilities.

In addition, while any senior securities remain outstanding, we will be required to make provisions to prohibit any dividend distribution to our shareholders or the repurchase of such securities or shares unless we meet the applicable asset coverage ratios at the time of the dividend distribution or repurchase. We will also be permitted to borrow amounts up to 5% of the value of our total assets for temporary or emergency purposes, which borrowings would not be considered senior securities. For a discussion of the risks associated with leverage, see “ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS — Risks Related to Business Development Companies — Regulations governing our operation as a business development company and RIC affect our ability to raise capital and the way in which we raise additional capital or borrow for investment purposes, which may have a negative effect on our growth. As a business development company, the necessity of raising additional capital may expose us to risks, including risks associated with leverage.”

Codes of Ethics. We and the Adviser have each adopted separate codes of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act that establishes procedures for personal investments and restricts certain personal securities transactions. Personnel subject to each code may invest in securities for their personal investment accounts, including securities that may be purchased or held by us, so long as such investments are made in accordance with the code’s requirements. Our code of ethics is available, free of charge, on our website at www.owlrockcapitalcorporation.com. In addition, the code of ethics is available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.

Affiliated Transactions. We may be prohibited under the 1940 Act from conducting certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our directors who are not interested persons and, in some cases, the prior approval of the SEC. We, the Adviser, and certain affiliates have applied for and been granted exemptive relief by the SEC to co-invest with other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. Pursuant to such exemptive relief, we generally are permitted to co-invest with certain of our affiliates if a “required majority” (as defined in Section 57(o) of the 1940 Act) of our independent directors makes certain conclusions in connection with a co-investment transactions, including that (1) the terms of the transaction, including the consideration to be paid, are reasonable and fair to us and our shareholders and do not involve overreaching of us or our shareholders on the part of any person concerned, (2) the transaction is consistent with the interests of our shareholders and is consistent with our investment objective and strategies, and (3) the investment by our affiliates would not disadvantage us, and our participation would not be on a basis different from or less advantageous than that on which our affiliates are investing. In addition, pursuant to an exemptive order issued by the SEC on April 8, 2020 and applicable to all BDCs, through December 31, 2020, we were permitted, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, to complete follow-on investments in our existing portfolio companies with certain private funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates and covered by our exemptive relief, even if such private funds had not previously invested in such existing portfolio company. Without this order, private funds would generally not be able to participate in such follow-on investments with us unless the private funds had previously acquired securities of the portfolio company in a co-investment transaction with us. The Owl Rock Advisers’ allocation policy incorporates the conditions of the exemptive relief and seeks to ensure equitable allocation of investment opportunities over time between the Company, other Owl Rock Capital Corporation, Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp.Clients and/or other funds managed by the Adviser or its affiliates. As a result of exemptive relief, there could be significant overlap in the Company’s investment portfolio and the investment portfolio of Owl Rock Capital Corporation and other Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. and other funds established by the Adviser or its affiliatesClients that could avail themselves of the exemptive relief.

Cancellation of the Investment Advisory Agreement. Under the 1940 Act, the Investment Advisory Agreement will automatically terminate in the event of its assignment, as defined in the 1940 Act, by the Adviser. See "Investment Advisor Agreement - Term." The Investment Advisory Agreement may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by us upon not less than 60 days’ written notice to the Adviser and may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by the Adviser upon 120 days’ written notice to us. The holders of a Majority of Our Outstanding voting securities may also terminate the Investment Advisory Agreement without penalty upon not less than 60 days’ written notice. Unless terminated earlier as described above, the Investment Advisory Agreement will remain in effect for a period of two years from the date it first become effective and will remain in effect from year-to-year thereafter if approved annually by our Board or by the affirmative vote of the holders of a Majority of our Outstanding voting securities, and, in either case, if also approved by a majority of our directors who are not “interested persons” as defined in the 1940 Act.

Other. We have adopted an investment policy that complies with the requirements applicable to us as a BDC. We expect to be periodically examined by the SEC for compliance with the 1940 Act, and will be subject to the periodic reporting and related requirements of the Exchange Act.

We are also required to provide and maintain a bond issued by a reputable fidelity insurance company to protect against larceny and embezzlement. Furthermore, as a BDC, we are prohibited from protecting any director or officer against any liability to our

shareholders arising from willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of such person’s office.

We are also required to designate a chief compliance officer and to adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violation of the federal securities laws and to review these policies and procedures annually for their adequacy and the effectiveness of their implementation.

We are not permitted to change the nature of our business so as to cease to be, or to withdraw our election as, a BDC unless approved by a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock.

We intend to operate as a non-diversified management investment company; however, we are currently and may, from time to time, in the future, be considered a diversified management investment company pursuant to the definitions set forth in the 1940 Act.

Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations

The following discussion is a general summary of certain U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to us and to an investment in our common stock. This discussion does not purport to be a complete description of the income tax considerations applicable to such an investment. For example, this discussion does not describe tax consequences that we have assumed to be generally known by investors or certain considerations that may be relevant to certain types of holders subject to special treatment under U.S. federal income tax laws, including persons who hold our common stock as part of a straddle or a hedging, integrated or constructive sale transaction, persons subject to the alternative minimum tax, tax-exempt organizations, insurance companies, brokers or dealers in securities, pension plans and trusts, persons whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar, U.S. expatriates, regulated investment companies, real estate investment trusts, personal holding companies, persons who acquire an interest in the Company in connection with the performance of services, and financial institutions. Such persons should consult with their own tax advisers as to the U.S. federal income tax consequences of an investment in our common stock, which may differ substantially from those described herein. This discussion assumes that shareholders hold our common stock as capital assets (within the meaning of the Code).

The discussion is based upon the Code, U.S. Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) regulations, and administrative and judicial interpretations, each as of the date of this report and all of which are subject to change, possibly retroactively, which could affect the continuing validity of this discussion. We have not sought and will not seek any ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) regarding any matter discussed herein. Prospective investors should be aware that, although we intend to adopt positions we believe are in accord with current interpretations of the U.S. federal income tax laws, the IRS may not agree with the tax positions taken by us and that, if challenged by the IRS, our tax positions might not be sustained by the courts. This summary does not discuss any aspects of U.S. estate, alternative minimum, or gift tax or foreign, state or local tax. It also does not discuss the special treatment under U.S. federal income tax laws that could result if we invested in tax-exempt securities or certain other investment assets.

For purposes of this discussion, a “U.S. Shareholder” generally is a beneficial owner of our common stock that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

A “Non-U.S. Shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our common stock that is not a U.S. Shareholder or a partnership for U.S. tax purposes.

If a partnership (including an entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds our common stock, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership will generally depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Any partner of a partnership holding our common stock should consult its tax advisers with respect to the purchase, ownership and disposition of such shares.

Tax matters are very complicated and the tax consequences to an investor of an investment in our common stock will depend on the facts of his, her or its particular situation.

Taxation as a Regulated Investment Company

We have elected to be treated and intend to qualify each year as a RIC. As a RIC, we generally will not have to pay corporate-level U.S. federal income taxes on any ordinary income or capital gains that we distribute to our shareholders as dividends. To maintain our qualification as a RIC, we must, among other things, meet certain source-of-income and asset diversification requirements (as described below). In addition, in order to obtain RIC tax benefits, we must distribute to our shareholders, for each taxable year, at least 90% of our “investment company taxable income,” which is generally our ordinary income plus the excess of realized net short-term capital gains over realized net long-term capital losses (the “Annual Distribution Requirement”).

If we qualify as a RIC, and satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement, then we will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of our income we distribute (or are deemed to distribute) to our shareholders. We will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at the regular corporate rates on any income or capital gains not distributed (or deemed distributed) to our shareholders.

We will be subject to a 4% nondeductible U.S. federal excise tax on certain undistributed income unless we distribute in a timely manner an amount at least equal to the sum of (i) 98% of our net ordinary income for each calendar year, (ii) 98.2% of the amount by which our capital gains exceed our capital losses (adjusted for certain ordinary losses) for the one-year period ending October 31 in that calendar year and (iii) certain undistributed amounts from previous years on which we paid no U.S. federal income tax (the “Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement”). While we intend to distribute any income and capital gains in order to avoid imposition of this 4% U.S. federal excise tax, we may not be successful in avoiding entirely the imposition of this tax. In that case, we will be liable for the tax only on the amount by which we do not meet the foregoing distribution requirement.

In order to qualify as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we must, among other things: