AB 2020 Form 10-K

successful operation. Even if the Fund has sufficient capital to make a desired follow-on investment, it may elect not to make a follow-on investment because, among other reasons, it does not want to increase its concentration of risk, it prefers other opportunities, it is subject to BDC requirements that would prevent such follow-on investments, or the follow-on investment would affect its qualification as a RIC. The Fund’s portfolio will lack diversification among portfolio companies, which will subject it to a risk of significant loss if one or more of these companies default on their obligations under any of their debt instruments. The Fund’s portfolio may hold a limited number of portfolio companies. Beyond the asset diversification requirements associated with the Fund’s qualification as a RIC, the Fund will not have fixed guidelines for diversification, and the Fund’s investments may be concentrated in relatively few companies. As the Fund’s portfolio is less diversified than the portfolios of some larger funds, the Fund is more susceptible to failure if a single loan fails. Similarly, the aggregate returns the Fund realizes may be significantly adversely affected if a small number of investments perform poorly or if the Fund needs to write down the value of any one investment. The Fund’s portfolio may be concentrated in a limited number of industries, which will subject the Fund to a risk of significant loss if there is a downturn in a particular industry in which a number of its investments are concentrated. The Fund’s portfolio may be concentrated in a limited number of industries. The Fund expects to invest primarily in companies focused in 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); pharmaceutical; specialized, value-added manufacturing; specialty finance; technology-enabled services; transportation and logistics; consumer non-cyclical; business services; and education. A downturn in any particular industry in which the Fund is invested could significantly impact the aggregate returns it realizes. The Fund securitizes certain of its investments, which may subject the Fund to certain structured financing risks. The Fund securitizes certain of its investments while retaining all or most of the exposure to the performance of these investments. This involves contributing a pool of assets to a special purpose entity, and selling debt interests in that entity on a non-recourse or limited-recourse basis to purchasers. The Fund depends on distributions from its securitization vehicles to make distributions to its stockholders. The ability of a securitization vehicle to make distributions is subject to various limitations, including the terms and covenants of the debt it issues. For example, tests (based on interest coverage or other financial ratios or other criteria) restrict the Fund’s ability, as holder of a securitization vehicle equity interest, to receive cash flow from these investments. The Fund cannot assure you that any such performance tests will be satisfied. Also, a securitization vehicle may take actions that delay distributions to preserve ratings and to keep the cost of present and future financings lower or the financing vehicle may be obligated to retain cash or other assets to satisfy over-collateralization requirements commonly provided for holders of its debt. As a result, there may be a lag, which could be significant, between the repayment or other realization on a loan or other assets in, and the distribution of cash out of, a securitization vehicle, or cash flow may be completely restricted for the life of the securitization vehicle. In addition, a decline in the credit quality of loans in a securitization vehicle due to poor operating results of the relevant borrower, declines in the value of loan collateral or increases in defaults, among other things, may force the sale of certain assets at a loss, reducing their earnings and, in turn, cash potentially available for distribution to the Fund for distribution to its stockholders. To the extent that any losses are incurred by the financing vehicle in respect of any collateral, these losses are borne first by the Fund as owners of its equity interests. Any equity interests that the Fund retains in a securitization vehicle are not secured by its assets and the Fund ranks behind all of its creditors. Nonetheless, the Fund’s securitization vehicles are also consolidated in its consolidated financial statements and consequently affect its asset coverage ratio, which may limit its ability to incur additional leverage. See “ Business — Regulation as a Business Development Company. ” Because the Fund generally will not hold controlling equity interests in its portfolio companies, the Fund may not be in a position to exercise control over its portfolio companies or to prevent decisions by management of its portfolio companies that could decrease the value of its investments. Although the Fund may do so in the future, it does not expect to hold controlling equity positions in its portfolio companies. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that a portfolio company may make business decisions with which the Fund disagrees, and that the management and/or stockholders of a portfolio company may take risks or otherwise act in ways that are adverse to the Fund’s interests. Due to the lack of liquidity of the debt and equity investments that the Fund will typically hold in its portfolio companies, the Fund may not be able to dispose of its investments in the event it disagrees with the actions of a portfolio company and may therefore suffer a decrease in the value of its investments. 54