AB 2020 Form 10-K

General The Fund is structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end management investment company. The Fund expects to operate as a “private” BDC and to conduct a private offering to investors in reliance on exemptions from the registration requirements of the Securities Act while the Fund invests the proceeds of the Private Offering. The Fund is an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act. For so long as the Fund remains an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act, the Fund will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. The Fund’s investment objective is to generate current income and prioritize capital preservation through a portfolio that primarily invests in directly-originated, privately-negotiated, secured, middle market loans. The Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in debt instruments. The Fund intends to invest in middle-market businesses based in the United States, which the Fund generally defines as having enterprise values between $75 million and $500 million. However, from time to time, the Fund may invest in larger or smaller companies. The Fund expects that the primary use of proceeds by the companies in which it invests will be for leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, mergers and acquisitions and growth capital. As of December 31, 2020, the Fund’s investment portfolio totaled $533,035,030 and consisted primarily of senior debt. The Fund seeks to build its portfolio in a defensive manner that minimizes cyclical and correlated risks across individual names and sector verticals by targeting companies with strong underlying business models and durable intrinsic value. The Fund expects to continue to make investments primarily through direct originations as well as secondary purchases. The Fund’s credit investments will principally take the form of first lien, stretch senior, unitranche, and second lien loans, although the actual mix of instruments pursued will vary over time depending on the Fund’s views on how best to optimize risk-adjusted returns. The Fund will also consider unsecured mezzanine debt, structured preferred stock, and non-control equity co-investment opportunities, typically alongside a leading middle market financial sponsor and/or in partnership with a strong management group. The Fund expects its loans will generally carry contractual maturities between four and six years. The Fund pursues opportunities across a broad range of sectors, including but not limited to, the following end markets: alarm monitoring; communications and IT infrastructure; energy; enterprise software (including software-as-a-service); equipment finance; financial technology/transaction processing; franchisors, franchisees, and restaurants; healthcare and healthcare IT; non-discretionary consumer (including certain multi-site retailers); specialized, value-added manufacturing; specialty finance; technology-enabled services; transportation and logistics; consumer non-cyclical; business services; and education. The Board of Directors The Fund’s business and affairs are managed under the direction of the board of directors (the “Board”). The Board consists of five members. A majority of the Board will at all times consist of directors who are not “interested persons” of the Fund, of the Adviser or of any of their respective affiliates, as defined in the 1940 Act (“Independent Directors”). The Board is divided into three classes, each serving staggered, three-year terms. The terms of the Fund’s Class II directors will expire in 2021, and if reelected by the Fund’s stockholders, the Fund’s Class II directors will serve new terms to expire at the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders; the term of the Fund’s Class III director will expire at the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders; and the terms of the Fund’s Class I directors will expire at the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders. See “ Part III, Item 10 — Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance .” The Board elects the Fund’s officers, who serve at the discretion of the Board. The responsibilities of the Board include quarterly determinations of fair value of the Fund’s assets, corporate governance activities, oversight of the Fund’s financing arrangements and oversight of the Fund’s investment activities. About the Fund’s Investment Adviser The Fund’s investment activities are managed by its external investment adviser, AB Private Credit Investors LLC. The Fund benefits from the Adviser’s ability to identify attractive investment opportunities, conduct due diligence to determine credit risk, and structure and price investments accordingly, as well as manage a diversified portfolio of investments. The Adviser, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AllianceBernstein L.P. (“AB”), was formed in April 2014. AB is one of the world’s largest investment management firms, with approximately $686 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2020, and a global client base that includes institutions, private clients and retail investors. The Adviser can leverage AB’s dedicated economic, fundamental equity, fixed income, and quantitative research groups, as well as experts focused on multi-asset and alternatives strategies. The Adviser is part of AB’s alternative private credit business which, in addition to the Fund and other private corporate credit strategies managed by the Adviser, consists of investment products and strategies involving commercial real estate debt and residential mortgage credit. AB’s private credit business is also part of AB’s larger Alternatives Division, which includes hedge funds of funds, nontraditional bond strategies, and long/short equity strategies for a range of products and strategies in public mutual fund and private fund vehicles. The Adviser benefits from the resources afforded to it by AB’s robust global infrastructure, namely risk management, 4