As
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 7,
2008
Securities
Act Registration No. 333-_______
UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
_____________________
Registration
Statement under the Securities Act of 1933
£ Pre-Effective Amendment No.
_______
£ Post-Effective Amendment
No. _______
Apollo
Investment Corporation
(Exact
Name of Registrant as Specified in the Charter)
9
West 57th Street
New
York, NY 10019
(Address
of Principal Executive Offices)
Registrant's
Telephone Number, including Area Code: (212) 515-3450
John
J. Suydam
Gordon
E. Swartz
c/o
Apollo Investment Corporation
9
West 57th Street
New
York, NY 10019
(Name and Address of Agent for
Service)
_____________________
Copies
to:
Richard
T. Prins, Esq.
Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Four
Times Square
New
York, New York 10036
_____________________
Approximate
date of proposed public offering:
As
soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration
Statement
_____________________
If
any securities being registered on this form will be offered on a delayed or
continuous basis in reliance on Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, other
than securities offered in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment
plans, check the following box S
It
is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate
box):
S when
declared effective pursuant to section 8(c)
If
appropriate, check the following box:
£ this
________ amendment designates a new effective for a previously filed ________
registration statement.
£ this
form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule
462(b) under the Securities Act and the Securities Act registration statement
number of the earlier effective date is ______________.
CALCULATION
OF REGISTRATION FEE UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
|
|
Amount
Being
Registered
|
Proposed
Maximum
Offering
Price
per Unit
|
Proposed
Maximum
Aggregate
Offering
Price
|
Amount
of
Registration
Fee
|
|
Title
of Securities Being Registered
|
Common
Stock, $0.001 par value(2)
|
|
|
|
|
Preferred
Stock, $0.001 par value(2)
|
|
|
|
|
Warrants(3)
|
|
|
|
|
Debt
Securities(4)
|
|
|
|
|
Total(5)
|
|
|
$1,000,000,000 (1)
|
$39,300
(1)
|
(1)
|
Estimated
pursuant to Rule 457(o) solely for the purpose of determining the
registration fee. The proposed maximum offering price per
security will be determined, from time to time, by the Registrant in
connection with the sale by the Registrant of the securities registered
under this registration statement. $12,084 was previously
paid in relation to $443,976,475 of the
$1,125,000,000 of securities
remaining issuable under the Registrant's registration statement no. 333-145804, filed on
August 30, 2007, which will be included in this registration
statement upon its being declared
effective.
|
(2)
|
Subject
to Note 5 below, there is being registered hereunder an indeterminate
principal amount of common stock or preferred stock as may be sold, from
time to time.
|
(3)
|
Subject
to Note 5 below, there is being registered hereunder an indeterminate
principal amount of warrants as may be sold, from time to time,
representing rights to purchase common stock, preferred stock or debt
securities.
|
(4)
|
Subject
to Note 5 below, there is being registered hereunder an indeterminate
principal amount of debt securities as may be sold, from time to
time. If any debt securities are issued at an original issue
discount, then the offering price shall be in such greater principal
amount as shall result in an aggregate price to investors not to exceed
$1,500,000,000.
|
(5)
|
In
no event will the aggregate offering price of all securities issued from
time to time pursuant to this registration statement exceed $1,500,000,000.
|
The
registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as
may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a
further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement
shall thereafter become effective in accordance with section 8(a) of the
Securities Act of 1933 or until the registration statement shall become
effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting
pursuant to said section 8(a), may determine.
The
information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We
may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is
not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy
these securities in any state where the offer and sale is not
permitted.
The
information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We
may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is
not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy
these securities in any state where the offer and sale is not
permitted.
Preliminary
Base Prospectus dated [____________,] 2008
Subject
to Completion ____________________, 2008
$1,500,000,000
Common
Stock
Preferred
Stock
Warrants
Debt
Securities
___________________
Apollo
Investment Corporation is a closed-end, non-diversified management investment
company that has elected to be treated as a business development company, or
BDC, under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or 1940 Act. Our
investment objective is to generate both current income and capital appreciation
through debt and equity investments. We invest primarily in
middle-market companies in the form of mezzanine and senior secured loans, each
of which may include an equity component, as well as by making direct equity
investments in such companies. We fund a portion of our investment
with borrowed money, a practice commonly known as leverage. We can
offer no assurances that we will continue to achieve our objective.
Apollo
Investment Management, L.P., an affiliate of Apollo Management, L.P., a leading
private equity investor, serves as our investment adviser. Apollo
Investment Administration, LLC provides the administrative services necessary
for us to operate.
We
may offer, from time to time, in one or more offerings or series, together or
separately, up to $1,500,000,000 of our common stock, preferred stock, debt
securities or warrants representing rights to purchase shares of our common
stock, preferred stock or debt securities, which we refer to, collectively, as
the "securities." The securities may be offered at prices and on terms to be
described in one or more supplements to this prospectus.
Our
common stock is quoted on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol
"AINV." The last reported closing price for our common stock on ____________,
2008 was $______ per share.
This
prospectus, and the accompanying prospectus supplement, if any, contains
important information you should know before investing in our
securities. Please read it before you invest and keep it for future
reference. We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy
statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. This information is available free of charge by
contacting us at 9 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 or by calling us collect
at (212) 515-3450 or on our website at www.apolloic.com. The
SEC also maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains
such information free of charge.
___________________
Investing
in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before buying any
securities, you should read the discussion of the material risks of investing in
our securities in "Risk Factors"
beginning on page __ of this prospectus.
___________________
Neither
the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has
approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is
truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a
criminal offense.
___________________
This
prospectus may not be used to consummate sales of securities unless accompanied
by a prospectus supplement.
___________________
You
should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus and the
accompanying prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone to
provide you with additional information, or information different from that
contained in this prospectus and the accompanying prospectus
supplement. If anyone provides you with different or additional
information, you should not rely on it. We are offering to sell, and
seeking offers to buy, securities only in jurisdictions where offers and sales
are permitted. The information contained in or incorporated by
reference in this prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement is
accurate only as of the date of this prospectus or such prospectus
supplement. We will update these documents to reflect material
changes as required by law. Our business, financial condition,
results of operations and prospects may have changed since then.
___________________
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
PROSPECTUS
SUMMARY
|
1
|
FEES
AND EXPENSES
|
5
|
RISK
FACTORS
|
7
|
USE
OF PROCEEDS
|
20
|
DIVIDENDS
|
20
|
SELECTED
FINANCIAL DATA
|
21
|
FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
|
22
|
MANAGEMENT'S
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF
OPERATIONS
|
23
|
BUSINESS
|
32
|
MANAGEMENT
|
42
|
CERTAIN
RELATIONSHIPS
|
54
|
CONTROL
PERSONS AND PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS
|
54
|
PORTFOLIO
COMPANIES
|
55
|
DETERMINATION
OF NET ASSET VALUE
|
56
|
DIVIDEND
REINVESTMENT PLAN
|
57
|
MATERIAL
U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS
|
58
|
DESCRIPTION
OF OUR CAPITAL STOCK
|
63
|
DESCRIPTION
OF OUR PREFERRED STOCK
|
69
|
DESCRIPTION
OF OUR WARRANTS
|
70
|
DESCRIPTION
OF OUR DEBT SECURITIES
|
71
|
REGULATION
|
84
|
BROKERAGE
ALLOCATION AND OTHER PRACTICES
|
89
|
PLAN
OF DISTRIBUTION
|
89
|
LEGAL
MATTERS
|
90
|
INDEPENDENT
REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
|
90
|
AVAILABLE
INFORMATION
|
90
|
INDEX
TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
|
F-1
|
___________________
ABOUT
THIS PROSPECTUS
This
prospectus is part of a registration statement that we have filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, using the "shelf" registration
process. Under the shelf registration process, we may offer, from
time to time, up to $1,500,000,000 of our common
stock, preferred stock, debt securities or warrants representing rights to
purchase shares of our common stock, preferred stock or debt securities on the
terms to be determined at the time of the offering. The securities
may be offered at prices and on terms described in one or more supplements to
this prospectus. This prospectus provides you with a general
description of the securities that we may offer. Each time we use
this prospectus to offer securities, we will provide a prospectus supplement
that will contain specific information about the terms of that
offering. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change
information contained in this prospectus. Please carefully read this
prospectus and any prospectus supplement together with any exhibits and the
additional information described under the headings "Available Information" and
"Risk Factors" before you make an investment decision.
PROSPECTUS
SUMMARY
This
summary highlights some of the information in this prospectus. It is
not complete and may not contain all of the information that you may want to
consider. You should read carefully the more detailed information set
forth under "Risk Factors" and the other information included in this
prospectus. In this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus
supplement, except where the context suggests otherwise, the terms "we", "us",
"our" and "Apollo Investment" refer to Apollo Investment Corporation; "Apollo
Investment Management", "AIM" or "investment adviser" refers to Apollo
Investment Management, L.P.; "Apollo Administration" or "AIA" refers to Apollo
Investment Administration, LLC; and "Apollo" refers to the affiliated companies
of Apollo Investment Management, L.P.
Apollo
Investment
Apollo
Investment Corporation, a Maryland corporation organized on February 2, 2004, is
a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company that has elected to
be treated as a BDC under the 1940 Act. In addition, for tax purposes
we have elected to be treated as a regulated investment company, or RIC, under
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code").
Our
investment objective is to generate both current income and capital appreciation
through debt and equity investments. We invest primarily in
middle-market companies in the form of mezzanine and senior secured loans, as
well as by making equity investments. From time to time, we may also
invest in the securities of public companies as well as public companies whose
securities are thinly traded.
Our
portfolio is comprised primarily of investments in long-term subordinated debt,
referred to as mezzanine debt, and senior secured loans of private middle-market
companies, and from time to time includes equity interests such as common stock,
preferred stock, warrants or options. In this prospectus, we
use the term "middle-market" to refer to companies with annual revenues between
$50 million and $2 billion. While our primary focus is to
generate both current income and capital appreciation through investments in
loans and other debt securities, both senior and subordinated, and private
equity, we may invest a portion of the portfolio in opportunistic investments,
such as foreign securities.
AIM
and its affiliates manage other funds that may have investment mandates that are
similar, in whole or in part, with ours. AIM and its affiliates may
determine that an investment is appropriate both for us and for one or more of
those other funds. In such event, depending on the availability of
such investment and other appropriate factors, AIM may determine that we should
invest on a side-by-side basis with one or more other funds. We may
make all such investments subject to compliance with applicable regulations and
interpretations, and our allocation procedures. In certain
circumstances negotiated co-investments may be made only if we receive an order
from the SEC permitting us to do so. There can be no assurance that
any such order will be obtained.
During
our fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, we invested $1.8 billion across 27 new and
numerous existing portfolio companies. This compares to
investing $1.4 billion in 24 new and several existing portfolio companies for
the previous fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Investments sold or
prepaid during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 totaled $714 million versus
$845 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Total invested capital
since our initial public offering in April 2004 through March 31,
2008 exceeds $5.2 billion. The weighted average yields on our
senior secured loan portfolio, subordinated debt portfolio and total debt
portfolio at our current cost basis were 10.0%, 12.8% and 12.0%, respectively,
at March 31, 2008. At March 31, 2007, the yields were 12.3%, 13.5%,
and 13.1%, respectively.
At
March 31, 2008, our net portfolio consisted of 71 portfolio companies and was
invested 22% in senior secured loans, 57% in subordinated debt, 6% in preferred
equity and 15% in common equity and warrants versus 57 portfolio companies
invested 26% in senior secured loans, 61% in subordinated debt, 4% in preferred
equity and 9% in common equity and warrants at March 31, 2007.
About
Apollo
Founded
in 1990, Apollo is a leading global alternative asset manager with a proven
track record of successful private equity, distressed debt and mezzanine
investing. Apollo raises, invests and manages private equity and
capital markets funds on behalf of some of the world's most prominent pension
and endowment funds as well as other institutional and individual
investors.
Apollo's
investment approach is value-oriented, focusing on industries in which it has
considerable knowledge, and emphasizing downside protection and the preservation
of capital. Apollo has successfully applied its investment philosophy
in flexible and creative ways over its 18-year history, allowing it consistently
to find attractive investment opportunities, deploy capital up and down the
balance sheet of industry leading, or "franchise," businesses and create value
throughout economic cycles.
Apollo's
active private equity investment funds focus on making either control-oriented
equity investments or distressed debt investments, either for control or
non-control positions. In contrast, we seek to capitalize primarily
on the significant investment opportunities emerging in the mezzanine segment of
the lending market primarily for middle-market companies, which we believe
offers the potential for attractive risk-adjusted returns.
About
Apollo Investment Management
AIM,
our investment adviser, is led by a dedicated and growing team of investment
professionals and is further supported by Apollo's team of 175 professionals as
of March 31, 2008. AIM's investment committee currently consists of
John J. Hannan, the Chairman of our board of directors, our Chief
Executive Officer and Chairman of AIM's Investment Committee; James
C. Zelter, our President and Chief Operating Officer and a Vice
President of the general partner of AIM; Patrick J. Dalton, an
Executive Vice President of Apollo Investment and a Vice President of the
general partner of AIM; and José Briones, a Vice President of the general
partner of AIM. The composition of the Investment Committee of AIM
may change from time to time. AIM draws upon Apollo's 18-year history
and benefits from the Apollo investment professionals' significant capital
markets, trading and research expertise developed through investments in many
core sectors in over 150 companies since inception.
About
Apollo Investment Administration
In
addition to furnishing us with office facilities, equipment, and clerical,
bookkeeping and record keeping services, AIA also oversees our financial records
as well as the preparation of our reports to stockholders and reports filed with
the SEC. AIA oversees the determination and publication of our net
asset value, oversees the preparation and filing of our tax returns, and
generally monitors the payment of our expenses and the performance of
administrative and professional services rendered to us by
others. Furthermore, AIA provides on our behalf managerial assistance
to those portfolio companies to which we are required to provide such
assistance.
Operating
and Regulatory Structure
Our
investment activities are managed by AIM and supervised by our board of
directors, a majority of whom are independent of Apollo and its
affiliates. AIM is an investment adviser that is registered under the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940, or the Advisers Act. Under our
investment advisory and management agreement, we pay AIM an annual base
management fee based on our gross assets as well as an incentive fee based on
our performance. See "Management—Investment Advisory and Management
Agreement."
As
a BDC, we are required to comply with certain regulatory
requirements. Also, while we are permitted to finance investments
using debt, our ability to use debt is limited in certain significant
respects. See "Regulation." We have elected to be treated for federal
income tax purposes as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code. For more
information, see "Material U.S. Federal Income Tax
Considerations."
Determination
of Net Asset Value
The
net asset value per share of our outstanding shares of common stock is
determined quarterly by dividing the value of our total assets minus our
liabilities by the total number of our shares outstanding.
In
calculating the value of our total assets, we value investments for which market
quotations are readily available at such market quotations if they are deemed to
represent fair value. Market quotations may be deemed not to
represent fair value in certain circumstances where AIM believes that facts and
circumstances applicable to an issuer, a seller or purchaser or the market for a
particular security causes current market quotes to not reflect the fair value
of the security. Examples of these events could include cases in
which material events are announced after the close of the market on which a
security is primarily traded, when a security trades infrequently causing a
quoted purchase or sale price to become stale or in the event of a "fire sale"
by a distressed seller. Debt and equity securities that are not
publicly traded or whose market price is not readily available or whose market
quotations are not deemed to represent fair value are valued at fair value as
determined in good faith by, or under the direction of, our board of directors
pursuant to a valuation policy and a consistently applied valuation process
utilizing the input of our investment adviser, independent valuation firms, and
the audit committee. Because there is no readily available market
value for a significant portion of the investments in our portfolio, we value
these portfolio investments at fair value.
Due
to the inherent uncertainty of determining the fair value of our investments,
the value of our investments may differ significantly from the values that would
have been used had a readily available market existed for such investments, and
the differences could be material. Determination of fair values
involves subjective judgments and estimates not susceptible to substantiation by
auditing procedures. Accordingly, under current auditing standards,
the notes to our financial statements refer to the uncertainty with respect to
the possible effect of such valuations, and any change in such valuations, on
our financial statements. For more information, see "Determination of
Net Asset Value."
Use
of Proceeds
We
intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of our securities pursuant to this
prospectus for general corporate purposes, which includes investing in portfolio
companies in accordance with our investment objective and strategies and
repaying indebtedness incurred under our senior credit facility.
We
anticipate that substantially all of the net proceeds of an offering of
securities pursuant to this prospectus will be used for the above purposes
within two years, depending on the availability of appropriate investment
opportunities consistent with our investment objective and market
conditions. Our portfolio currently consists primarily of
investments in long-term subordinated debt, referred to as mezzanine debt, and
senior secured loans of private middle-market companies, and from time to time
includes equity interests such as common stock, preferred stock, warrants or
options. Pending such investments, we will use the net proceeds of an
offering to invest in cash equivalents, U.S. government securities and other
high-quality debt investments that mature in one year or less from the date of
investment, to reduce then-outstanding obligations under our credit facility or
for other general corporate purposes. The supplement to this
prospectus relating to an offering will more fully identify the use of the
proceeds from such offering. For more information, see "Use of
Proceeds."
Dividends
on Common Stock
We
intend to continue to distribute quarterly dividends to our common
stockholders. Our quarterly dividends, if any, will be determined by
our board of directors. For more information, see
"Dividends."
Dividends
on Preferred Stock
We
may issue preferred stock from time to time, although we have no immediate
intention to do so. If we issue shares of preferred stock, holders of
such preferred stock will be entitled to receive cash dividends at an annual
rate that will be fixed or will vary for the successive dividend periods for
each series. In general, the dividend periods for fixed rate
preferred stock will be quarterly and for any auction rate preferred stock, or
ARPS, will be weekly subject to extension. With respect to ARPS, the
dividend rate will be variable and will be determined for each dividend
period.
Dividend
Reinvestment Plan
We
have adopted an "opt-out" dividend reinvestment plan that provides for
reinvestment of our dividend distributions on behalf of our stockholders, unless
a stockholder elects to receive cash. As a result, if our board of
directors
authorizes, and we declare, a cash dividend, then our stockholders who have not
"opted out" of our dividend reinvestment plan will have their cash dividends
automatically reinvested in additional shares of our common stock, rather than
receiving the cash dividends. A registered stockholder must notify
our transfer agent in writing in order to "opt-out" of the dividend reinvestment
plan. For more information, see "Dividend Reinvestment
Plan."
Plan
of Distribution
We
may offer, from time to time, up to $1,500,000,000 of our common stock,
preferred stock, debt securities or warrants representing rights to purchase
shares of our common stock, preferred stock or debt securities, on terms to be
determined at the time of the offering.
Securities
may be offered at prices and on terms described in one or more supplements to
this prospectus directly to one or more purchasers, through agents designated
from time to time by us, or to or through underwriters or
dealers. The supplement to this prospectus relating to the offering
will identify any agents or underwriters involved in the sale of our securities,
and will set forth any applicable purchase price, fee and commission or discount
arrangement or the basis upon which such amount may be calculated. In
compliance with the guidelines of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority,
Inc. ("FINRA"), the maximum compensation to the underwriters or
dealers in connection with the sale of our securities pursuant to this
prospectus and the accompanying supplement to this prospectus may not
exceed 8% of the aggregate offering price of the securities as set forth on the
cover page of the supplement to this prospectus.
We
may not sell securities pursuant to this prospectus without delivering a
prospectus supplement describing the method and terms of the offering of such
securities. For more information, see "Plan of
Distribution."
Our
Corporate Information
Our
administrative and principal executive offices are located at 9 West 57th
Street, New York, NY 10019. Our common stock is quoted on The Nasdaq
Global Select Market under the symbol "AINV." Our Internet website address is
www.apolloic.com. Information contained on our website is not
incorporated by reference into this prospectus and you should not consider
information contained on our website to be part of this prospectus.
FEES
AND EXPENSES
The
following table is intended to assist you in understanding the costs and
expenses that an investor in shares of our common stock will bear directly or
indirectly. We caution you that some of the percentages indicated in
the table below are estimates and may vary. Except where the context
suggests otherwise, whenever this prospectus contains a reference to fees or
expenses paid by "you," "us" or "Apollo Investment," or that "we" will pay fees
or expenses, common stockholders will indirectly bear such fees or expenses as
investors in Apollo Investment.
Stockholder
transaction expenses:
|
|
Sales
load (as a percentage of offering price)
|
—
(1)
|
Offering
expenses (as a percentage of offering price)
|
—(2)
|
Total
common stockholder transaction expenses (as a percentage of offering
price)
|
—
(3)
|
Annual
expenses (as percentage of net assets attributable to common stock)(4):
|
|
Management
fees
|
3.15%(5)
|
Incentive
fees payable under investment advisory and management agreement (20% of
pre-incentive fee net investment income in excess of hurdle and 20% of net
realized capital gains net of gross unrealized capital
losses)
|
1.60%(6)
|
Other
expenses
|
0.54%(7)
|
Interest
and other credit facility related expenses on borrowed
funds
|
2.94%(8)
|
Total
annual expenses (9)
|
8.23%(5),(6),(7),(8)
|
Example
The
following example demonstrates the projected dollar amount of total cumulative
expenses that would be incurred over various periods with respect to a
hypothetical investment in our common stock. These dollar amounts are
based upon the assumption that our annual operating expenses (other than
performance-based incentive fees) and leverage would remain at the levels set
forth in the table above.
|
|
|
|
|
You
would pay the following expenses on a $1,000 investment, assuming a 5%
annual return
|
$66
|
$194
|
$318
|
$611
|
While
the example assumes, as required by the SEC, a 5% annual return, our performance
will vary and may result in a return greater or less than
5%. Assuming a 5% annual return, the incentive fee under the
investment advisory and management agreement would not be earned or payable and
is not included in the example. This illustration assumes that we
will not realize any capital gains computed net of all realized capital losses
and gross unrealized capital depreciation in any of the indicated time
periods. If we achieve sufficient returns on our investments,
including through the realization of capital gains, to trigger an incentive fee
of a material amount, our expenses, and returns to our investors, would be
higher. In addition, while the example assumes reinvestment of all
dividends and distributions at net asset value, participants in our dividend
reinvestment plan will receive a number of shares of our common stock,
determined by dividing the total dollar amount of the dividend payable to a
participant by the market price per share of our common stock at the close of
trading on the valuation date for the dividend. See "Dividend
Reinvestment Plan" for additional information regarding our dividend
reinvestment plan.
This
example and the expenses in the table above should not be considered a
representation of our future expenses, and actual expenses may be greater or
less than those shown.
_________________________
(1)
|
In
the event that the securities to which this prospectus relates are sold to
or through underwriters, a corresponding prospectus supplement will
disclose the applicable sales load.
|
(2)
|
The
related prospectus supplement will disclose the estimated amount of
offering expenses, the offering price and the offering expenses borne by
us as a percentage of the offering
price.
|
(3)
|
The
expenses of the dividend reinvestment plan are included in "Other
expenses."
|
(4)
|
"Net
assets attributable to common stock" equals net assets as of March 31,
2008.
|
(5)
|
The
contractual management fee is calculated at an annual rate of 2.00% of our
average gross total assets. Annual expenses are based on
current fiscal year estimates. For more detailed information
about our computation of average total assets, please see Notes 3 and 9 of
our financial statements dated March 31, 2008 included in this
prospectus.
|
(6)
|
Assumes
that annual incentive fees earned by our investment adviser, AIM, remain
consistent with the incentive fees earned by AIM for the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2008. AIM earns incentive fees consisting of two
parts. The first part, which is payable quarterly in arrears,
is based on our pre-incentive fee net investment income for the
immediately preceding calendar quarter. Pre-incentive fee net
investment income, expressed as a rate of return on the value of our net
assets at the end of the immediately preceding calendar quarter, is
compared to the hurdle rate of 1.75% quarterly (7%
annualized). Our net investment income used to calculate this
part of the incentive fee is also included in the amount of our gross
assets used to calculate the 2% base management fee (see footnote 5
above). Accordingly, we pay AIM an incentive fee as follows:
(1) no incentive fee in any calendar quarter in which our pre-incentive
fee net investment income does not exceed the hurdle rate; (2) 100% of our
pre-incentive fee net investment income with respect to that portion of
such pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that exceeds the
hurdle rate but is less than 2.1875% in any calendar quarter; and (3) 20%
of the amount of our pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that
exceeds 2.1875% in any calendar quarter. These calculations are
appropriately pro rated for any period of less than three months and
adjusted for any share issuances or repurchases during the relevant
quarter. You should be aware that a rise in the general level
of interest rates can be expected to lead to higher interest rates
applicable to our debt investments. Accordingly, an increase in
interest rates would make it easier for us to meet or exceed the incentive
fee hurdle rate and may result in a substantial increase of the amount of
incentive fees payable to our investment adviser with respect to
pre-incentive fee net investment income. The second part of the
incentive fee will equal 20% of our realized capital gains for the
calendar year, if any, computed net of all realized capital losses and
unrealized capital depreciation (and incorporating unrealized depreciation
on a gross investment-by-investment basis) and is payable in arrears at
the end of each calendar year. For a more detailed discussion
of the calculation of this fee, see "Management—Investment Advisory and
Management Agreement."
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"Other
expenses" are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year and
include our estimated overhead expenses, including payments under the
administration agreement based on our estimated allocable portion of
overhead and other expenses incurred by AIA in performing its obligations
under the administration agreement. See
"Management—Administration Agreement" in this base
prospectus.
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Our
interest and other credit facility expenses are based on current fiscal
year estimates. As of March 31, 2008, we had $61 million
available and $1.639 billion in
borrowings outstanding under our $1.7 billion credit
facility. For more information, see "Risk Factors—Risks
relating to our business and structure—We fund a portion of our
investments with borrowed money, which magnifies the potential for gain or
loss on amounts invested and may increase the risk of investing in us" and
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources" in this base
prospectus.
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"Total
annual expenses" as a percentage of net assets attributable to common
stock are higher than the total annual expenses percentage would be for a
company that is not leveraged. We borrow money to leverage our
net assets and increase our total assets. The SEC requires that
the "Total annual expenses" percentage be calculated as a percentage of
net assets (defined as total assets less indebtedness), rather than the
total assets, including assets that have been funded with borrowed
monies. If the "Total annual expenses" percentage were
calculated instead as a percentage of total assets, our "Total annual
expenses" would be 4.59% of total assets. For a presentation
and calculation of total annual expenses based on total assets, see page
24 of this base
prospectus.
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RISK
FACTORS
Before
you invest in our shares, you should be aware of various risks, including those
described below. You should carefully consider these risk factors,
together with all of the other information included in this prospectus, before
you decide whether to make an investment in our securities. The risks
set out below are not the only risks we face. If any of the following
events occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could
be materially adversely affected. In such case, our net asset value
and the trading price of our common stock could decline or the value of our
preferred stock, debt securities or warrants may decline, and you may lose all
or part of your investment.
RISKS
RELATING TO OUR BUSINESS AND STRUCTURE
We
can offer no assurance that we will be able to replicate our own success or the
success of Apollo's private funds and our investment returns could be
substantially lower than the returns achieved by those private
funds.
Even
though AIM is led by senior investment professionals of Apollo who apply the
value-oriented philosophy and techniques used by the Apollo investment
professionals in their private fund investing, our investment strategies and
objective differ from those of other private funds that are or have been managed
by the Apollo investment professionals. Further, investors in Apollo
Investment are not acquiring an interest in other Apollo
funds. Further, while Apollo Investment may consider potential
co-investment participation in portfolio investments with other Apollo funds,
any such investment activity is subject to a number of limitations, including
applicable allocation policies and regulatory limitations on certain types of
co-investment activity. Certain types of negotiated co-investments
may be made only if we receive an order from the SEC permitting us to do
so. There can be no assurance that any such order will be
obtained. Accordingly, we can offer no assurance that Apollo
Investment will replicate Apollo's historical success, and we caution you that
our investment returns could be substantially lower than the returns achieved by
those private funds. Finally, we can offer no assurance that AIM will
be able to continue to implement our investment objective with the same degree
of success as it has in the past or that shares of our common stock will
continue to trade at the current level.
We
are dependent upon Apollo Investment Management's key personnel for our future
success and upon their access to Apollo's investment professionals and
partners.
We
depend on the diligence, skill and network of business contacts of the senior
management of AIM. Members of our senior management may depart at any
time. For a description of the senior management team, see
"Management." We also depend, to a significant extent, on AIM's access to the
investment professionals and partners of Apollo and the information and deal
flow generated by the Apollo investment professionals in the course of their
investment and portfolio management activities. The senior management
of AIM evaluates, negotiates, structures, closes and monitors our
investments. Our future success depends on the continued service of
the senior management team of AIM. The departure of any directors or
any senior managers of AIM, or of a significant number of the investment
professionals or partners of Apollo, could have a material adverse effect on our
ability to achieve our investment objective. In addition, we can
offer no assurance that AIM will remain our investment adviser or that we will
continue to have access to Apollo's partners and investment professionals or its
information and deal flow.
Our
financial condition and results of operation depend on our ability to manage
future growth effectively.
Our
ability to achieve our investment objective depends, in part, on our ability to
grow, which depends, in turn, on AIM's ability to identify, invest in and
monitor companies that meet our investment criteria. Accomplishing
this result on a cost-effective basis is largely a function of AIM's structuring
of the investment process, its ability to provide competent, attentive and
efficient services to us and our access to financing on acceptable
terms. The senior management team of AIM has substantial
responsibilities under the investment advisory and management agreement, as well
as in connection with their roles as officers of other Apollo
funds.
They
may also be called upon to provide managerial assistance to our portfolio
companies as principals of our administrator. These demands on their
time may distract them or slow the rate of investment. In order to
grow, we
and
AIM need to hire, train, supervise and manage new employees. Any
failure to manage our future growth effectively could have a material adverse
effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
We
operate in a highly competitive market for investment
opportunities.
A
number of entities compete with us to make the types of investments that we
make. We compete with public and private funds, commercial and
investment banks, commercial financing companies, and, to the extent they
provide an alternative form of financing, private equity
funds. Additionally, because competition for investment opportunities
generally has increased among alternative investment vehicles, such as hedge
funds, those entities have begun to invest in areas they have not traditionally
invested in. As a result of these new entrants, competition for
investment opportunities has intensified and we expect that trend to
continue. Some of our existing and potential competitors are
substantially larger and have considerably greater financial, technical and
marketing resources than we do. For example, some competitors may
have a lower cost of funds and access to funding sources that are not available
to us. 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. Furthermore, many of our competitors are not subject to the
regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act imposes on us as a BDC. We
cannot assure you that the competitive pressures we face will not have a
material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations. Also, as a result of this existing and increasing
competition, we may not be able to take advantage of attractive investment
opportunities from time to time, and we can offer no assurance that we will be
able to identify and make investments that are consistent with our investment
objective.
We
do not seek to compete primarily based on the interest rates we offer, and we
believe that some of our competitors make loans with interest rates that are
comparable to or lower than the rates we offer.
We
may lose investment opportunities if we do not match our competitors' pricing,
terms and structure. If we match our competitors' pricing, terms and
structure, we may experience decreased net interest income and increased risk of
credit loss.
Any
failure on our part to maintain our status as a BDC would reduce our operating
flexibility.
If
we do not remain a BDC, we might be regulated as a closed-end investment company
under the 1940 Act, which would subject us to substantially more regulatory
restrictions under the 1940 Act and correspondingly decrease our operating
flexibility.
We
will be subject to corporate-level income tax if we are unable to qualify as a
RIC.
To
qualify as a RIC under the Code, we must meet certain source-of-income, asset
diversification and annual distribution requirements. The annual
distribution requirement for a RIC is satisfied if we distribute at least 90% of
our ordinary income and realized net short-term capital gains in excess of
realized net long-term capital losses, if any, to our stockholders on an annual
basis. To the extent we use debt financing, we are subject to certain
asset coverage ratio requirements under the 1940 Act and financial covenants
under loan and credit agreements that could, under certain circumstances,
restrict us from making distributions necessary to qualify as a
RIC. If we are unable to obtain cash from other sources, we may fail
to qualify as a RIC and, thus, may be subject to corporate-level income
tax. To qualify as a RIC, we must also meet certain asset
diversification requirements at the end of each calendar
quarter. Failure to meet these tests may result in our having to
dispose of certain investments quickly in order to prevent the loss of RIC
status. Because most of our investments are in private companies, any
such dispositions could be made at disadvantageous prices and may result in
substantial losses. If we fail to qualify as a RIC for any reason and
become subject to corporate-level income tax, the resulting corporate-level
taxes could substantially reduce our net assets, the amount of income available
for distribution and the amount of our distributions. Such a failure
would have a material adverse effect on us and our stockholders.
We
may have difficulty paying our required distributions if we recognize income
before or without receiving cash representing such income.
For
federal income tax purposes, we include in income certain amounts that we have
not yet received in cash, such as original issue discount, which may arise if we
receive warrants in connection with the making of a loan
or
possibly in other circumstances, or payment-in-kind interest, which represents
contractual interest added to the loan balance and due at the end of the loan
term. Such original issue discount, which could be significant
relative to Apollo Investment's overall investment activities, or increases in
loan balances as a result of payment-in-kind arrangements are included in income
before we receive any corresponding cash payments. We also may be
required to include in income certain other amounts that we do not receive in
cash.
That
part of the incentive fee payable by us that relates to our net investment
income is computed and paid on income that may include interest that has been
accrued but not yet received in cash. If a portfolio company defaults
on a loan that is structured to provide accrued interest, it is possible that
accrued interest previously used in the calculation of the incentive fee will
become uncollectible.
Since
in certain cases we may recognize income before or without receiving cash
representing such income, we may have difficulty meeting the tax requirement to
distribute at least 90% of our ordinary income and realized net short-term
capital gains in excess of realized net long-term capital losses, if any, to
maintain our status as a RIC. Accordingly, we may have to sell some
of our investments at times we would not consider advantageous, raise additional
debt or equity capital or reduce new investment originations to meet these
distribution requirements. See "Material U.S. Federal
Income Tax Considerations—Taxation as a RIC."
Regulations
governing our operation as a BDC affect our ability to, and the way in which we
raise, additional capital.
We
may issue debt securities or preferred stock and/or borrow money from banks or
other financial institutions, which we refer to collectively as "senior
securities," up to the maximum amount permitted by the 1940
Act. Under the provisions of the 1940 Act, we are permitted, as a
BDC, to issue senior securities only in amounts such that our asset coverage, as
defined in the 1940 Act, equals at least 200% after each issuance of senior
securities. If the value of our assets declines, we may be unable to
satisfy this test. If that happens, the contractual arrangements
governing these securities may require us to sell a portion of our investments
and, depending on the nature of our leverage, repay a portion of our
indebtedness at a time when such sales may be disadvantageous.
BDCs
may issue and sell common stock at a price below net asset value per share only
in limited circumstances, one of which is during the one-year period after
stockholder approval. Our stockholders recently approved a plan so
that we may, in one or more public or private offerings of our common stock,
sell or otherwise issue shares of our common stock at a price below the then
current net asset value per share, subject to certain conditions discussed
below. This plan will be effective for a 12-month period beginning August
2008.
We
will sell shares of our common stock at a price below net asset value per share,
exclusive of sales compensation, only if the following conditions are
met:
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the
price per share received for such shares must be equal to or greater than
the net asset value less a maximum of (a) 5% of net asset value and (b)
any underwriting commission or discount on such sale (which net asset
value will be determined in accordance with the 1940 Act as of a time
within 48 hours, excluding Sundays and holidays, next preceding the time
of such determination);
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a
majority of our independent directors who have no financial interest in
the sale have approved the sale;
and
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a
majority of our independent directors, in consultation with the
underwriter or underwriters of the offering if it is to be underwritten,
have determined in good faith, and as of a time immediately prior to the
first solicitation by or on behalf of us of firm commitments to purchase
such securities or immediately prior to the issuance of such securities,
that the price at which such securities are to be sold is not less than a
price that closely approximates the market value of those securities, less
any underwriting commission or
discount.
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In
addition to issuing securities to raise capital as described above, we may in
the future seek to securitize our loans to generate cash for funding new
investments. To securitize loans, we may create a wholly owned
subsidiary and contribute a pool of loans to the subsidiary and have the
subsidiary issue primarily investment grade debt securities to purchasers who we
would expect to be willing to accept a substantially lower interest
rate
than
the loans earn. We would retain all or a portion of the equity in the
securitized pool of loans. Our retained equity would be exposed to
any losses on the portfolio of loans before any of the debt securities would be
exposed to such losses. Accordingly, if the pool of loans experienced
a low level of losses due to defaults, we would earn an incremental amount of
income on our retained equity but we would be exposed, up to the amount of
equity we retained, to that proportion of any losses we would have experienced
if we had continued to hold the loans in our portfolio. We would not
treat the debt issued by such a subsidiary as senior securities. An
inability to successfully securitize our loan portfolio could limit
our ability to grow our business and fully execute our business strategy, and
could decrease our earnings, if any. Moreover, the successful
securitization of our loan portfolio might expose us to losses because the
residual loans in which we do not sell interests may tend to be those that are
riskier and more apt to generate losses.
We
currently use borrowed funds to make investments and are exposed to the typical
risks associated with leverage.
We
are exposed to increased risk of loss due to our use of debt to make
investments. A decrease in the value of our investments will have a
greater negative impact on the value of our common stock than if we did not use
debt. Our ability to pay dividends will be restricted if our asset
coverage ratio falls below at least 200% and any amounts that we use to service
our indebtedness are not available for dividends to our common
stockholders.
Our
current and future debt securities are and may be governed by an indenture or
other instrument containing covenants restricting our operating
flexibility. We, and indirectly our stockholders, bear the cost of
issuing and servicing such securities. Any convertible or
exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have rights, preferences
and privileges more favorable than those of our common stock.
We
fund a portion of our investments with borrowed money, which magnifies the
potential for gain or loss on amounts invested and may increase the risk of
investing in us.
Borrowings,
also known as leverage, magnify the potential for gain or loss on amounts
invested and, therefore, increase the risks associated with investing in our
securities. Our lenders have fixed dollar claims on our assets that
are superior to the claims of our common stockholders or any preferred
stockholders. If the value of our assets increases, then leveraging
would cause the net asset value to increase more sharply than it would have had
we not leveraged. Conversely, if the value of our assets decreases,
leveraging would cause net asset value to decline more sharply than it otherwise
would have had we not leveraged. Similarly, any increase in our
income in excess of consolidated interest payable on the borrowed funds would
cause our net income to increase more than it would without the leverage, while
any decrease in our income would cause net income to decline more sharply than
it would have had we not borrowed. Such a decline could negatively
affect our ability to make common stock dividend payments. Leverage
is generally considered a speculative investment technique.
We
may in the future determine to fund a portion of our investments with preferred
stock, which would magnify the potential for gain or loss and the risks of
investing in us in the same way as our borrowings.
Preferred
stock, which is another form of leverage, has the same risks to our common
stockholders as borrowings because the dividends on any preferred stock we issue
must be cumulative. Payment of such dividends and repayment of the
liquidation preference of such preferred stock must take preference over any
dividends or other payments to our common stockholders, and preferred
stockholders are not subject to any of our expenses or losses and are not
entitled to participate in any income or appreciation in excess of their stated
preference.
Changes
in interest rates may affect our cost of capital and net investment
income.
Because
we borrow money, and may issue preferred stock to finance investments, our net
investment income will depend, in part, upon the difference between the rate at
which we borrow funds or pay dividends on preferred stock and the rate at which
we invest these funds. As a result, we can offer no assurance that a
significant change in market interest rates will not have a material adverse
effect on our net investment income. In periods of rising interest
rates, our cost of funds would increase except to the extent we issue fixed rate
debt or preferred stock, which could reduce our net investment
income. Our long-term fixed-rate investments are financed primarily
with equity and long-term debt. We may use interest rate risk
management techniques in an effort to limit our exposure to interest rate
fluctuations. Such techniques may include various interest rate
hedging activities to the extent permitted by
the
1940 Act. We have analyzed the potential impact of changes in
interest rates on interest income net of interest expense. Assuming
that the balance sheet were to remain constant and no actions were taken to
alter the existing interest rate sensitivity, a hypothetical immediate 1% change
in interest rates would have adversely affected our net income over a one-year
horizon. Although management believes that this is indicative of our
sensitivity to interest rate changes, it does not adjust for potential changes
in credit quality, size and composition of the assets on the balance sheet and
other business developments that could affect net increase in net assets
resulting from operations, or net income. Accordingly, no assurances
can be given that actual results would not differ materially from the potential
outcome simulated by this estimate.
You
should also be aware that a rise in the general level of interest rates can be
expected to lead to higher interest rates we receive on many of our debt
investments. Accordingly, an increase in interest rates would make it
easier for us to meet or exceed the incentive fee hurdle rate and may result in
a substantial increase in the amount of incentive fees payable to our investment
adviser with respect to pre-incentive fee net investment income.
We
need to raise additional capital to grow because we must distribute most of our
income.
We
may need additional capital to fund growth in our investments. We
have issued equity securities and have borrowed from financial
institutions. A reduction in the availability of new capital could
limit our ability to grow. We must distribute at least 90% of our
ordinary income and realized net short-term capital gains in excess of realized
net long-term capital losses, if any, to our stockholders to maintain our
regulated investment company status. As a result, such earnings are
not available to fund investment originations. We expect to continue
to borrow from financial institutions and issue additional debt and equity
securities. If we fail to obtain funds from such sources or from
other sources to fund our investments, it could limit our ability to grow, which
may have an adverse effect on the value of our securities. In
addition, as a BDC, we are generally required to maintain a ratio of at least
200% of total assets to total borrowings and preferred stock, which may restrict
our ability to borrow or issue additional preferred stock in certain
circumstances.
Many
of our portfolio investments are recorded at fair value as determined in good
faith by or under the direction of our board of directors and, as a result,
there is uncertainty as to the value of our portfolio investments.
A
large percentage of our portfolio investments are not publicly
traded. The fair value of these investments may not be readily
determinable. We value these investments quarterly at fair value as
determined in good faith by or under the direction of our board of directors
pursuant to a valuation policy and a consistently applied valuation process
utilizing the input of our investment adviser, independent valuation firms and
the audit committee. Our board of directors utilizes the services of
several independent valuation firms to aid it in determining the fair value of
these investments. The types of factors that may be considered in
fair value pricing of these investments include the nature and realizable value
of any collateral, the portfolio company's ability to make payments and its
earnings, the markets in which the portfolio company does business, comparison
to publicly traded companies, discounted cash flow and other relevant
factors. Because such valuations, and particularly valuations of
private securities and private companies, are inherently uncertain, may
fluctuate over short periods of time and may be based on estimates, our
determinations of fair value may differ materially from the values that would
have been used if a readily available market for these investments existed and
may differ materially from the amounts we realize on any disposition of such
investments. Our net asset value could be adversely affected if our
determinations regarding the fair value of these investments were materially
higher than the values that we ultimately realize upon the disposal of such
investments.
The
lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our
business.
We
generally make investments in private companies. Substantially all of
these securities are subject to legal and other restrictions on resale or are
otherwise less liquid than publicly traded securities. The
illiquidity of our investments may make it difficult for us to sell such
investments if the need arises. In addition, if we are required to
liquidate all or a portion of our portfolio quickly, we may realize
significantly less than the value at which we have previously recorded our
investments. In addition, we may face other restrictions on our
ability to liquidate an investment in a portfolio company to the extent that we
or an affiliated manager of Apollo has material non-public information regarding
such portfolio company.
We
may experience fluctuations in our periodic results.
We
could experience fluctuations in our periodic operating results due to a number
of factors, including the interest rates payable on the debt securities we
acquire, the default rate on such securities, the level of our expenses
(including the interest rates payable on our borrowings, the dividends rates on
preferred stock we issue, variations in and the timing of the recognition of
realized and unrealized gains or losses, the degree to which we encounter
competition in our markets and general economic conditions. As a
result of these factors, results for any period should not be relied upon as
being indicative of performance in future periods.
There
are significant potential conflicts of interest which could adversely affect our
investment returns.
Our
executive officers and directors, and the partners of our investment adviser,
AIM, serve or may serve as officers, directors or principals of entities that
operate in the same or a related line of business as we do or of investment
funds managed by our affiliates. Accordingly, they may have
obligations to investors in those entities, the fulfillment of which might not
be in the best interests of us or our stockholders. Moreover, we note
that, notwithstanding the difference in principal investment objectives between
us and other Apollo funds, such other Apollo sponsored funds, including new
affiliated potential pooled investment vehicles or managed accounts not yet
established, have and may from time to time have overlapping investment
objectives with us and, accordingly, invest in, whether principally or
secondarily, asset classes similar to those targeted by us. To the
extent such other investment vehicles have overlapping investment objectives,
the scope of opportunities otherwise available to us may be adversely affected
and/or reduced. As a result, the partners of AIM may face conflicts
in their time management and commitments as well as in the allocation of
investment opportunities to other Apollo funds. In addition, in the
event such investment opportunities are allocated among ourselves and other
investment vehicles affiliated with AIM, our desired investment portfolio may be
adversely affected. Although AIM endeavors to allocate investment
opportunities in a fair and equitable manner, it is possible that we may not be
given the opportunity to participate in certain investments made by investment
funds managed by investment managers affiliated with AIM.
There
are no information barriers amongst Apollo and certain of its
affiliates. If AIM were to receive material non-public information
about a particular company, or have an interest in investing in a particular
company, Apollo or certain of its affiliates may be prevented from investing in
such company. Conversely, if Apollo or certain of its affiliates were
to receive material non-public information about a particular company, or have
an interest in investing in a particular company, we may be prevented in
investing in such company.
AIM
and its affiliates and investment managers may determine that an investment is
appropriate both for us and for one or more other funds. In such
event, depending on the availability of such investment and other appropriate
factors, AIM may determine that we should invest on a side-by-side basis with
one or more other funds. We may make all such investments subject to
compliance with applicable regulations and interpretations, and our allocation
procedures. In certain circumstances negotiated co-investments may be
made only if we receive an order from the SEC permitting us to do
so. There can be no assurance that any such order will be
obtained.
In
the course of our investing activities, we pay management and incentive fees to
AIM, and reimburse AIM for certain expenses it incurs. As a result,
investors in our common stock invest on a "gross" basis and receive
distributions on a "net" basis after expenses, resulting in, among other things,
a lower rate of return than one might achieve through direct
investments. As a result of this arrangement, there may be times when
the management team of AIM has interests that differ from those of our common
stockholders, giving rise to a conflict.
AIM
receives a quarterly incentive fee based, in part, on our pre-incentive fee
income, if any, for the immediately preceding calendar quarter. This
incentive fee is subject to a quarterly hurdle rate before providing an
incentive fee return to the investment adviser. To the extent we or
AIM are able to exert influence over our portfolio companies, the quarterly
pre-incentive fee may provide AIM with an incentive to induce our portfolio
companies to accelerate or defer interest or other obligations owed to us from
one calendar quarter to another.
We
have entered into a royalty-free license agreement with Apollo, pursuant to
which Apollo has agreed to grant us a non-exclusive license to use the name
"Apollo." Under the license agreement, we have the right to use the "Apollo"
name for so long as AIM or one of its affiliates remains our investment
adviser. In addition, we rent office space from AIA, an affiliate of
AIM, and pay Apollo Administration our allocable portion of overhead and other
expenses
incurred by AIA in performing its obligations under the administration
agreement, including our allocable portion of the cost of our Chief Financial
Officer and Chief Compliance Officer and their respective staffs, which can
create conflicts of interest that our board of directors must
monitor.
In
the past following periods of volatility in the market price of a company's
securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against
that company.
If
our stock price fluctuates significantly, we may be the target of securities
litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial
costs and divert management's attention and resources from our
business.
Changes
in laws or regulations governing our operations may adversely affect our
business.
We
and our portfolio companies are subject to regulation by laws at the local,
state and federal levels. These laws and regulations, as well as
their interpretation, may be changed from time to time. Accordingly,
any change in these laws or regulations could have a material adverse affect on
our business.
Provisions
of the Maryland General Corporation Law and of our charter and bylaws could
deter takeover attempts and have an adverse impact on the price of our common
stock.
The
Maryland General Corporation Law, our charter and our bylaws contain provisions
that may discourage, delay or make more difficult a change in control of Apollo
Investment or the removal of our directors. We are subject to the
Maryland Business Combination Act, subject to any applicable requirements of the
1940 Act. Our board of directors has adopted a resolution exempting
from the Business Combination Act any business combination between us and any
other person, subject to prior approval of such business combination by our
board of directors, including approval by a majority of our disinterested
directors. If the resolution exempting business combinations is
repealed or our board of directors does not approve a business combination, the
Business Combination Act may discourage third parties from trying to acquire
control of us and increase the difficulty of consummating such an
offer. Our bylaws exempt from the Maryland Control Share Acquisition
Act acquisitions of our common stock by any person. If we amend our
bylaws to repeal the exemption from the Control Share Acquisition Act, the
Control Share Acquisition Act also may make it more difficult for a third party
to obtain control of us and increase the difficulty of consummating such an
offer.
We
have also adopted other measures that may make it difficult for a third party to
obtain control of us, including provisions of our charter classifying our board
of directors in three classes serving staggered three-year terms, and provisions
of our charter authorizing our board of directors to classify or reclassify
shares of our stock in one or more classes or series, to cause the issuance of
additional shares of our stock, and to amend our charter, without stockholder
approval, to increase or decrease the number of shares of stock that we have
authority to issue. These provisions, as well as other provisions of
our charter and bylaws, may delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change in
control that might otherwise be in the best interests of our
stockholders.
RISKS
RELATED TO OUR INVESTMENTS
We
may not realize gains from our equity investments.
When
we invest in mezzanine or senior secured loans, we have and may continue to
acquire warrants or other equity securities as well. In addition, we
may invest directly in the equity securities of portfolio
companies. Our goal is ultimately to dispose of such equity interests
and realize gains upon our disposition of such interests. However,
the equity interests we receive may not appreciate in value and, in fact, may
decline in value. Accordingly, we may not be able to realize gains
from our equity interests, and any gains that we do realize on the disposition
of any equity interests may not be sufficient to offset any other losses we
experience.
Our
ability to invest in public companies may be limited in certain
circumstances.
As
a BDC, we must not acquire any assets other than "qualifying assets" specified
in the 1940 Act unless, at the time the acquisition is made, at least 70% of our
total assets are qualifying assets (with certain limited
exceptions) Subject to certain exceptions for follow-on investments
and distressed companies, an investment in an
issuer
that has outstanding securities listed on a national securities exchange, may be
treated as qualifying assets only if such issuer has a market capitalization
that is less than $250 million at the time of such investment.
Our
portfolio is concentrated in a limited number of portfolio companies, which
subject us to a risk of significant loss if any of these companies defaults on
its obligations under any of its debt securities.
A
consequence of the limited number of investments in our portfolio is that the
aggregate returns we realize may be significantly adversely affected if a small
number of investments perform poorly or if we need to write down the value of
any one investment. Beyond our income tax diversification
requirements, we do not have fixed guidelines for diversification, and our
investments could be concentrated in relatively few portfolio
companies.
Our
investments in prospective portfolio companies may be risky, and you could lose
all or part of your investment.
Investment
in middle-market companies involves a number of significant
risks. Middle-market companies may have limited financial resources
and may be unable to meet their obligations under their debt securities that we
hold, which may be accompanied by a deterioration in the value of any collateral
and a reduction in the likelihood of us realizing any guarantees we may have
obtained in connection with our investment. In addition, they
typically have shorter operating histories, narrower product lines and smaller
market shares than larger businesses, which tend to render them more vulnerable
to competitors' actions and market conditions, as well as general economic
downturns. Middle-market companies are more likely to depend on the
management talents and efforts of a small group of persons; therefore, the
death, disability, resignation or termination of one or more of these persons
could have a material adverse impact on our portfolio company and, in turn, on
us. Middle-market companies also generally have less predictable
operating results, may from time to time be parties to litigation, may be
engaged in rapidly changing businesses with products subject to a substantial
risk of obsolescence, and may require substantial additional capital to support
their operations, finance expansion or maintain their competitive
position. In addition, our executive officers, directors and our
investment adviser may, in the ordinary course of business, be named as
defendants in litigation arising from our investments in the portfolio
companies.
Economic
recessions or downturns could impair our portfolio companies and harm our
operating results.
Many
of our portfolio companies may be susceptible to economic slowdowns or
recessions and may be unable to repay our loans during these
periods. Therefore, our non-performing assets are likely to increase
and the value of our portfolio is likely to decrease during these
periods. Adverse economic conditions also may decrease the value of
collateral securing some of our loans and the value of our equity
investments. Economic slowdowns or recessions could lead to financial
losses in our portfolio and a decrease in revenues, net income and
assets. Unfavorable economic conditions also could increase our
funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision
by lenders not to extend credit to us. These events could prevent us
from increasing investments and harm our operating results.
A
portfolio company's failure to satisfy financial or operating covenants imposed
by us or other lenders could lead to defaults and, potentially, termination of
its loans and foreclosure on its secured assets, which could trigger
cross-defaults under other agreements and jeopardize our portfolio company's
ability to meet its obligations under the debt securities that we
hold. We may incur expenses to the extent necessary to seek recovery
upon default or to negotiate new terms with a defaulting portfolio
company. In addition, if one of our portfolio companies were to go
bankrupt, even though we or one of our affiliates may have structured our
interest as senior debt, depending on the facts and circumstances, including the
extent to which we actually provided managerial assistance to that portfolio
company, a bankruptcy court might re-characterize our debt holding and
subordinate all or a portion of our claim to that of other
creditors.
Our
failure to make follow-on investments in our portfolio companies could impair
the value of our portfolio.
Following
an initial investment in a portfolio company, we may make additional investments
in that portfolio company as "follow-on" investments, in order to: (1) increase
or maintain in whole or in part our equity ownership percentage; (2) exercise
warrants, options or convertible securities that were acquired in the original
or subsequent financing or (3) attempt to preserve or enhance the value of our
investment.
We
may elect not to make follow-on investments or otherwise lack sufficient funds
to make those investments. We have the discretion to make any
follow-on investments, subject to the availability of capital
resources. The failure to make follow-on investments may, in some
circumstances, jeopardize the continued viability of a portfolio company and our
initial investment, or may result in a missed opportunity for us to increase our
participation in a successful operation. Even if we have sufficient
capital to make a desired follow-on investment, we may elect not to make a
follow-on investment because we may not want to increase our concentration of
risk, because we prefer other opportunities, or because we are inhibited by
compliance with BDC requirements or the desire to maintain our tax
status.
When
we do not hold controlling equity interests in our portfolio companies, we may
not be in a position to exercise control over our portfolio companies or to
prevent decisions by management of our portfolio companies that could decrease
the value of our investments.
We
do not generally take controlling equity positions in our portfolio
companies. To the extent that we do not hold a controlling equity
interest in a portfolio company, we are subject to the risk that a portfolio
company may make business decisions with which we disagree, and the stockholders
and management of a portfolio company may take risks or otherwise act in ways
that are adverse to our interests. Due to the lack of liquidity for
the debt and equity investments that we typically hold in our portfolio
companies, we may not be able to dispose of our investments in the event we
disagree with the actions of a portfolio company, and may therefore suffer a
decrease in the value of our investments.
An
investment strategy focused primarily on privately-held companies presents
certain challenges, including the lack of available information about these
companies, a dependence on the talents and efforts of only a few key portfolio
company personnel and a greater vulnerability to economic
downturns.
We
have invested and will continue to invest primarily in privately-held
companies. Generally, little public information exists about these
companies, and we are required to rely on the ability of AIM's investment
professionals to obtain adequate information to evaluate the potential returns
from investing in these companies.
If
we are unable to uncover all material information about these companies, we may
not make a fully informed investment decision, and we may lose money on our
investments. Also, privately-held companies frequently have less
diverse product lines and smaller market presence than public company
competitors, which often are larger. These factors could affect our
investment returns.
Our
portfolio companies may incur debt that ranks equally with, or senior to, our
investments in such companies.
We
have invested and intend to invest primarily in mezzanine and senior debt
securities issued by our portfolio companies. The portfolio companies
usually have, or may be permitted to incur, other debt that ranks equally with,
or senior to, the debt securities in which we invest. By their terms,
such debt instruments may provide that the holders are entitled to receive
payment of interest or principal on or before the dates on which we are entitled
to receive payments in respect of the debt securities in which we
invest. Also, in the event of insolvency, liquidation, dissolution,
reorganization or bankruptcy of a portfolio company, holders of debt instruments
ranking senior to our investment in that portfolio company would typically be
entitled to receive payment in full before we receive any distribution in
respect of our investment. After repaying such senior creditors, such
portfolio company may not have any remaining assets to use for repaying its
obligation to us. In the case of debt ranking equally with debt
securities in which we invest, we would have to share on an equal basis any
distributions with other creditors holding such debt in the event of an
insolvency, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization or bankruptcy of the
relevant portfolio company. In addition, we may not be in a position
to control any portfolio company by investing in its debt
securities. As a result, we are subject to the risk that a portfolio
company in which we invest may make business decisions with which we disagree
and the management of such company, as representatives of the holders of their
common equity, may take risks or otherwise act in ways that do not serve our
interests as debt investors.
Our
incentive fee may induce AIM to make certain investments, including speculative
investments.
The
incentive fee payable by us to AIM may create an incentive for AIM to make
investments on our behalf that are risky or more speculative than would be the
case in the absence of such compensation arrangement.
The
way in which the incentive fee payable to AIM is determined, which is calculated
as a percentage of the return on invested capital, may encourage our investment
adviser to use leverage to increase the return on our
investments. Under certain circumstances, the use of leverage may
increase the likelihood of default, which would disfavor the holders of our
common stock, including investors in offerings of common stock, securities
convertible into our common stock or warrants representing rights to purchase
our common stock or securities convertible into our common stock pursuant to
this prospectus. In addition, AIM receives the incentive fee based,
in part, upon net capital gains realized on our investments. Unlike
the portion of the incentive fee based on income, there is no hurdle rate
applicable to the portion of the incentive fee based on net capital
gains. As a result, AIM may have a tendency to invest more in
investments that are likely to result in capital gains as compared to income
producing securities. Such a practice could result in our investing
in more speculative securities than would otherwise be the case, which could
result in higher investment losses, particularly during economic
downturns.
The
incentive fee payable by us to AIM also may create an incentive for AIM to
invest on our behalf in instruments that have a deferred interest
feature. Under these investments, we would accrue the interest over
the life of the investment but would not receive the cash income from the
investment until the end of the term. Our net investment income used
to calculate the income portion of our investment fee, however, includes accrued
interest. Thus, a portion of this incentive fee would be based on
income that we have not yet received in cash.
We
may invest, to the extent permitted by law, in the securities and instruments of
other investment companies, including private funds, and, to the extent we so
invest, will bear our ratable share of any such investment company's expenses,
including management and performance fees. We will also remain
obligated to pay management and incentive fees to AIM with respect to the assets
invested in the securities and instruments of other investment
companies. With respect to each of these investments, each of our
common stockholders will bear his or her share of the management and incentive
fee of AIM as well as indirectly bearing the management and performance fees and
other expenses of any investment companies in which we invest.
Our
investments in foreign securities may involve significant risks in addition to
the risks inherent in U.S. investments.
Our
investment strategy contemplates that a portion of our investments may be in
securities of foreign companies. Investing in foreign companies may
expose us to additional risks not typically associated with investing in
U.S. companies. These risks include changes in exchange
control regulations, political and social instability, expropriation, imposition
of foreign taxes, less liquid markets and less available information than is
generally the case in the United States, higher transaction costs, less
government supervision of exchanges, brokers and issuers, less developed
bankruptcy laws, difficulty in enforcing contractual obligations, lack of
uniform accounting and auditing standards and greater price
volatility.
Although
most of our investments are denominated in U.S. dollars, our
investments that are denominated in a foreign currency are subject to the risk
that the value of a particular currency may change in relation to one or more
other currencies. Among the factors that may affect currency values
are trade balances, the level of short-term interest rates, differences in
relative values of similar assets in different currencies, long-term
opportunities for investment and capital appreciation, and political
developments. We may employ hedging techniques to minimize these
risks, but we can offer no assurance that we will, in fact, hedge currency risk
or, that if we do, such strategies will be effective.
If
we engage in hedging transactions, we may expose ourselves to risks associated
with such transactions. We may utilize instruments such as forward
contracts, currency options and interest rate swaps, caps, collars and floors to
seek to hedge against fluctuations in the relative values of our portfolio
positions from changes in currency exchange rates and market interest
rates. Hedging against a decline in the values of our portfolio
positions does not eliminate the possibility of fluctuations in the values of
such positions or prevent losses if the values of such positions
decline. However, such hedging can establish other positions designed
to gain from those same developments, thereby offsetting the decline in the
value of such portfolio positions. Such hedging transaction may also
limit the opportunity for gain if the values of the underlying portfolio
positions should increase. Moreover, it may not be possible to hedge
against an exchange rate or interest rate fluctuation that is so generally
anticipated that we are not able to enter into a hedging transaction at an
acceptable price.
While
we may enter into transactions to seek to reduce currency exchange rate and
interest rate risks, unanticipated changes in currency exchange rates or
interest rates may result in poorer overall investment performance than if we
had not engaged in any such hedging transactions. In addition, the
degree of correlation between price movements of the instruments used in a
hedging strategy and price movements in the portfolio positions being hedged may
vary. Moreover, for a variety of reasons, we may not seek to
establish a perfect correlation between such hedging instruments and the
portfolio holdings being hedged. Any such imperfect correlation may
prevent us from achieving the intended hedge and expose us to risk of
loss. In addition, it may not be possible to hedge fully or perfectly
against currency fluctuations affecting the value of securities denominated in
non-U.S. currencies because the value of those securities is likely
to fluctuate as a result of factors not related to currency
fluctuations.
RISKS
RELATED TO ISSUANCE OF OUR PREFERRED STOCK
An
investment in our preferred stock should not constitute a complete investment
program.
If
we issue preferred stock, the net asset value and market value of our common
stock may become more volatile.
We
cannot assure that the issuance of preferred stock would result in a higher
yield or return to the holders of the common stock. The issuance of
preferred stock would likely cause the net asset value and market value of the
common stock to become more volatile. If the dividend rate on the
preferred stock were to approach the net rate of return on our investment
portfolio, the benefit of leverage to the holders of the common stock would be
reduced. If the dividend rate on the preferred stock were to exceed
the net rate of return on our portfolio, the leverage would result in a lower
rate of return to the holders of common stock than if we had not issued
preferred stock. Any decline in the net asset value of our
investments would be borne entirely by the holders of common
stock. Therefore, if the market value of our portfolio were to
decline, the leverage would result in a greater decrease in net asset value to
the holders of common stock than if we were not leveraged through the issuance
of preferred stock. This greater net asset value decrease would also
tend to cause a greater decline in the market price for the common
stock. We might be in danger of failing to maintain the required
asset coverage of the preferred stock or of losing our ratings on the preferred
stock or, in an extreme case, our current investment income might not be
sufficient to meet the dividend requirements on the preferred
stock. In order to counteract such an event, we might need to
liquidate investments in order to fund a redemption of some or all of the
preferred stock. In addition, we would pay (and the holders of common
stock would bear) all costs and expenses relating to the issuance and ongoing
maintenance of the preferred stock, including higher advisory fees if our total
return exceeds the dividend rate on the preferred stock. Holders of
preferred stock may have different interests than holders of common stock and
may at times have disproportionate influence over our affairs.
Holders
of any preferred stock we might issue would have the right to elect members of
the board of directors and class voting rights on certain matters.
Holders
of any preferred stock we might issue, voting separately as a single class,
would have the right to elect two members of the board of directors at all times
and in the event dividends become two full years in arrears would have the right
to elect a majority of the directors until such arrearage is completely
eliminated. In addition, preferred stockholders have class voting
rights on certain matters, including changes in fundamental investment
restrictions and conversion to open-end status, and accordingly can veto any
such changes. Restrictions imposed on the declarations and payment of
dividends or other distributions to the holders of our common stock and
preferred stock, both by the 1940 Act and by requirements imposed by rating
agencies or the terms of our credit facilities, might impair our ability to
maintain our qualification as a RIC for federal income tax
purposes. While we would intend to redeem our preferred stock to the
extent necessary to enable us to distribute our income as required to maintain
our qualification as a RIC, there can be no assurance that such actions could be
effected in time to meet the tax requirements.
RISKS
RELATING TO AN INVESTMENT IN OUR COMMON STOCK
Investing
in our securities may involve an above average degree of risk.
The
investments we make in accordance with our investment objective may result in a
higher amount of risk than alternative investment options and volatility or loss
of principal. Our investments in portfolio companies may be highly
speculative and aggressive, therefore, an investment in our securities may not
be suitable for someone with a low risk tolerance.
There
is a risk that investors in our equity securities may not receive dividends or
that our dividends may not grow over time and that investors in our debt
securities may not receive all of the interest income to which they are
entitled.
We
intend to make distributions on a quarterly basis to our stockholders out of
assets legally available for distribution. We cannot assure you that
we will achieve investment results that will allow us to make a specified level
of cash distributions or year-to-year increases in cash
distributions. In addition, we may be limited in our ability to make
distributions. Finally, if more stockholders opt to receive cash
dividends rather than participate in our dividend reinvestment plan, we may be
forced to liquidate some of our investments and raise cash in order to make
dividend payments.
Our
shares may trade at discounts from net asset value or at premiums that are
unsustainable over the long term.
Shares
of business development companies may trade at a market price that is less than
the net asset value that is attributable to those shares. The
possibility that our shares of common stock will trade at a discount from net
asset value or at a premium that is unsustainable over the long term are
separate and distinct from the risk that our net asset value will
decrease. It is not possible to predict whether the shares offered
hereby will trade at, above, or below net asset value.
The
market price of our securities may fluctuate significantly.
The
market price and liquidity of the market for our securities may be significantly
affected by numerous factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not
be directly related to our operating performance. These factors
include:
|
·
|
volatility
in the market price and trading volume of securities of business
development companies or other companies in our sector, which are not
necessarily related to the operating performance of these
companies;
|
|
·
|
changes
in regulatory policies or tax guidelines, particularly with respect to
RICs or business development
companies;
|
|
·
|
changes
in earnings or variations in operating
results;
|
|
·
|
changes
in the value of our portfolio of
investments;
|
|
·
|
any
shortfall in revenue or net income or any increase in losses from levels
expected by investors or securities
analysts;
|
|
·
|
departure
of AIM's key personnel;
|
|
·
|
operating
performance of companies comparable to
us;
|
|
·
|
general
economic trends and other external factors;
and
|
|
·
|
loss
of a major funding source.
|
We
may allocate the net proceeds from this offering in ways with which you may not
agree.
We
have significant flexibility in investing the net proceeds of this offering and
may use the net proceeds from this offering in ways with which you may not agree
or for purposes other than those contemplated at the time of the
offering.
We
may be unable to invest the net proceeds raised from offerings on acceptable
terms, which would harm our financial condition and operating
results.
Until
we identify new investment opportunities, we intend to either invest the net
proceeds of future offerings in interest-bearing deposits or other short-term
instruments or use the net proceeds from such offerings to reduce
then-outstanding obligations under our credit facility. We cannot
assure you that we will be able to find enough appropriate investments that meet
our investment criteria or that any investment we complete using the proceeds
from an offering will produce a sufficient return.
Sales
of substantial amounts of our securities may have an adverse effect on the
market price of our securities.
Sales
of substantial amounts of our securities, or the availability of such securities
for sale, could adversely affect the prevailing market prices for our
securities. If this occurs and continues, it could impair our ability
to raise additional capital through the sale of securities should we desire to
do so.
USE
OF PROCEEDS
We
intend to use the net proceeds from selling securities pursuant to this
prospectus for general corporate purposes, which include investing in portfolio
companies in accordance with our investment objective and
strategies. We anticipate that substantially all of the net proceeds
of an offering of securities pursuant to this prospectus will be used within two
years, depending on the availability of appropriate investment opportunities
consistent with our investment objective and market conditions. Our
portfolio currently consists primarily of senior loans, mezzanine loans and
equity securities. Pending our investments in new debt investments,
we plan to invest a portion of the net proceeds from an offering in cash
equivalents, U.S. government securities and other high-quality debt
investments that mature in one year or less from the date of investment, to
reduce then-outstanding obligations under our credit facility, or for other
general corporate purposes. The management fee payable by us will not
be reduced while our assets are invested in such securities. See
"Regulation—Temporary investments" for additional information about temporary
investments we may make while waiting to make longer-term investments in pursuit
of our investment objective. The supplement to this prospectus
relating to an offering will more fully identify the use of the proceeds from
such offering.
DIVIDENDS
We
intend to continue to distribute quarterly dividends to our
stockholders. Our quarterly dividends, if any, will be determined by
our board of directors.
We
have elected to be taxed as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code. To
maintain our RIC status, we must distribute at least 90% of our ordinary income
and realized net short-term capital gains in excess of realized net long-term
capital losses, if any, out of the assets legally available for
distribution. In order to avoid certain excise taxes we must
distribute during each calendar year an amount at least equal to the sum of (1)
98% of our ordinary income for the calendar year, (2) 98% of our capital gains
in excess of capital losses for the one-year period ending on October 31st and
(3) any ordinary income and net capital gains for preceding years that were not
distributed during such years. In addition, although we currently
intend to distribute realized net capital gains (i.e., realized net long-term
capital gains in excess of realized net short-term capital losses), if any, at
least annually, out of the assets legally available for such distributions, we
may in the future decide to retain such capital gains for
investment. In such event, the consequences of our retention of net
capital gains are as described under "Material U.S. Federal Income Tax
Considerations."
We
maintain an "opt out" dividend reinvestment plan for our common
stockholders. As a result, if we declare a dividend, then
stockholders' cash dividends will be automatically reinvested in additional
shares of our common stock, unless they specifically "opt out" of the dividend
reinvestment plan so as to receive cash dividends. See "Dividend
Reinvestment Plan."
We
may not be able to achieve operating results that will allow us to make
dividends and distributions at a specific level or to increase the amount of
these dividends and distributions from time to time. In addition, we
may be limited in our ability to make dividends and distributions due to the
asset coverage test for borrowings when applicable to us as a BDC under the 1940
Act and due to provisions in future credit facilities. If we do not
distribute a certain percentage of our income annually, we will suffer adverse
tax consequences, including possible loss of our RIC status. We
cannot assure stockholders that they will receive any dividends and
distributions or dividends and distributions at a particular level.
With
respect to the dividends paid to stockholders, income from origination,
structuring, closing, commitment and other upfront fees associated with
investments in portfolio companies is treated as taxable income and accordingly,
distributed to shareholders.
The
following table lists the quarterly dividends per share since shares of our
common stock began being regularly quoted on The Nasdaq Global Select
Market.
|
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2008
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.520
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.520
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.520
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.510
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2007
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.510
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.500
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.470
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.450
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2006
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.450
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.440
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.430
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.310
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2005
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.260
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.180
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
$ 0.045
|
First
Fiscal Quarter (period from April 8, 2004* to June 30,
2004)
|
—
|
* Commencement
of operations
|
|
SELECTED
FINANCIAL DATA
The
Statement of Operations, Per Share and Balance Sheet data for the fiscal years
ended March 31, 2008, 2007, 2006 and the period ended March 31, 2005 are derived
from our financial statements, which have been audited by
[
], our independent registered public accounting firm. This selected
financial data should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and
related notes thereto and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations" included elsewhere in this
prospectus.
|
|
For
the Year Ended March 31,
(dollar
amounts in thousands,
except
per share data)
|
|
|
For
the Period
April
8, 2004*
through
|
|
Statement
of Operations Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
Investment Income
|
|
$ |
357,878 |
|
|
$ |
266,101 |
|
|
$ |
152,827 |
|
|
$ |
47,833 |
|
Net
Expenses (including taxes)
|
|
$ |
156,272 |
|
|
$ |
140,783 |
|
|
$ |
63,684 |
|
|
$ |
22,380 |
|
Net
Investment Income
|
|
$ |
201,606 |
|
|
$ |
125,318 |
|
|
$ |
89,143 |
|
|
$ |
25,453 |
|
Net
Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses)
|
|
$ |
(235,044 |
) |
|
$ |
186,848 |
|
|
$ |
31,244 |
|
|
$ |
18,692 |
|
Net
Increase (Decrease) in Net Assets Resulting from
Operations
|
|
$ |
(33,438 |
) |
|
$ |
312,166 |
|
|
$ |
120,387 |
|
|
$ |
44,145 |
|
Per
Share Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
Asset Value
|
|
$ |
15.83 |
|
|
$ |
17.87 |
|
|
$ |
15.15 |
|
|
$ |
14.27 |
|
Net
Increase (Decrease) in Net Assets Resulting from
Operations
|
|
$ |
(0.30 |
) |
|
$ |
3.64 |
|
|
$ |
1.90 |
|
|
$ |
0.71 |
|
Distributions
Declared
|
|
$ |
2.070 |
|
|
$ |
1.930 |
|
|
$ |
1.630 |
|
|
$ |
0.485 |
|
Balance
Sheet Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
Assets
|
|
$ |
3,724,324 |
|
|
$ |
3,523,218 |
|
|
$ |
2,511,074 |
|
|
$ |
1,733,384 |
|
Borrowings
Outstanding
|
|
$ |
1,639,122 |
|
|
$ |
492,312 |
|
|
$ |
323,852 |
|
|
$ |
0 |
|
Total
Net Assets
|
|
$ |
1,897,908 |
|
|
$ |
1,849,748 |
|
|
$ |
1,229,855 |
|
|
$ |
892,886 |
|
Other
Data:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
Return(1)
|
|
|
(17.5 |
)% |
|
|
31.7 |
% |
|
|
12.9 |
% |
|
|
15.3 |
% |
Number
of Portfolio Companies at Period End
|
|
|
71 |
|
|
|
57 |
|
|
|
46 |
|
|
|
35 |
|
Total
Portfolio Investments for the Period
|
|
$ |
1,755,913 |
|
|
$ |
1,446,730 |
|
|
$ |
1,110,371 |
|
|
$ |
894,335 |
|
Investment
Sales and Prepayments for the Period
|
|
$ |
714,225 |
|
|
$ |
845,485 |
|
|
$ |
452,325 |
|
|
$ |
71,730 |
|
Weighted
Average Yield on Debt Portfolio at Period End
|
|
|
12.0 |
% |
|
|
13.1 |
% |
|
|
13.1 |
% |
|
|
10.5 |
% |
*
|
Commencement
of operations
|
(1)
|
Total
return is based on the change in market price per share and takes into
account dividends and distributions, if any, reinvested in accordance with
Apollo Investment's dividend reinvestment plan. Total return is
not annualized.
|
FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
Some
of the statements in this prospectus constitute forward-looking statements,
which relate to future events or our future performance or financial
condition. The forward-looking statements contained in this
prospectus involve risks and uncertainties, including statements as
to:
|
·
|
our
future operating results;
|
|
·
|
our
business prospects and the prospects of our portfolio
companies;
|
|
·
|
the
impact of investments that we expect to
make;
|
|
·
|
our
contractual arrangements and relationships with third
parties;
|
|
·
|
the
dependence of our future success on the general economy and its impact on
the industries in which we invest;
|
|
·
|
the
ability of our portfolio companies to achieve their
objectives;
|
|
·
|
our
expected financings and
investments;
|
|
·
|
the
adequacy of our cash resources and working capital;
and
|
|
·
|
the
timing of cash flows, if any, from the operations of our portfolio
companies.
|
We
generally use words such as "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "intends" and
similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Our
actual results could differ materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements for any reason, including the factors set forth in
"Risk Factors" and elsewhere in this prospectus.
We
have based the forward-looking statements included in this prospectus on
information available to us on the date of this prospectus, and we assume no
obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Although we
undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, you are
advised to consult any additional disclosures that we may make directly to you
or through reports that we in the future may file with the SEC, including annual
reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form
8-K.
MANAGEMENT'S
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The
following discussion should be read in conjunction with our financial statements
and related notes and other financial information appearing elsewhere in this
prospectus. In addition to historical information, the
following discussion and other parts of this prospectus contain forward-looking
information that involves risks and uncertainties. Our actual
results could differ materially from those anticipated by such forward-looking
information due to the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" and
"Forward-Looking Statements" appearing elsewhere in this
prospectus.
OVERVIEW
We
were incorporated under the Maryland General Corporation Law in February
2004. We have elected to be treated as a BDC under the 1940
Act. As such, we are required to comply with certain regulatory
requirements. For instance, we generally have to invest at least 70%
of our total assets in "qualifying assets," including securities of private or
thinly traded public U.S. companies, cash equivalents,
U.S. government securities and high-quality debt investments that
mature in one year or less. In addition, for federal income tax
purposes we have elected to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the
Code. Pursuant to this election and assuming we qualify as a RIC, we
generally do not have to pay corporate-level federal income taxes on any income
we distribute to our stockholders. We commenced operations on April
8, 2004 upon completion of our initial public offering that raised $870 million
in net proceeds selling 62 million shares of our common stock at a price of
$15.00 per share. Since then, and through March 31, 2008, we have
raised an additional $1 billion in net proceeds from additional offerings of
common stock.
Investments
Our
level of investment activity can and does vary substantially from period to
period depending on many factors, including the amount of debt and equity
capital available to middle market companies, the level of merger and
acquisition activity for such companies, the general economic environment and
the competitive environment for the types of investments we make.
As
a BDC, we must not acquire any assets other than "qualifying assets" specified
in the 1940 Act unless, at the time the acquisition is made, at least 70% of our
total assets are qualifying assets (with certain limited
exceptions). Qualifying assets include investments in "eligible
portfolio companies." Pursuant to rules adopted over the past few years, the SEC
expanded the definition of "eligible portfolio company" to include certain
public companies that do not have any securities listed on a national securities
exchange and companies that have securities listed on a national securities
exchange but whose market capitalization is less than $250 million at the time
of investment.
Revenue
We
generate revenue primarily in the form of interest and dividend income from the
debt and preferred securities we hold and capital gains, if any, on investment
securities that we may acquire in portfolio companies. Our debt
investments, whether in the form of mezzanine or senior secured loans, generally
have a stated term of five to ten years and bear interest at a fixed rate or a
floating rate usually determined on the basis of a benchmark: LIBOR, EURIBOR,
GBP LIBOR, or the prime rate. While U.S. subordinated debt
and corporate notes typically accrue interest at fixed rates, some of these
investments may include zero coupon, payment-in-kind ("PIK") and/or step-up
bonds that accrue income on a constant yield to call or maturity
basis. Interest on debt securities is generally payable quarterly or
semiannually. In some cases, some of our investments provide for
deferred interest payments or PIK. The principal amount of the debt
securities and any accrued but unpaid interest generally becomes due at the
maturity date. In addition, we may generate revenue in the form of
dividends paid to us on common equity investments as well as revenue in the form
of commitment, origination, structuring fees, fees for providing managerial
assistance and, if applicable, consulting fees, etc.
Expenses
All
investment professionals of the investment adviser and their staff, when and to
the extent engaged in providing investment advisory and management services to
us, and the compensation and routine overhead expenses of that personnel which
is allocable to those services are provided and paid for by AIM. We
bear all other costs and expenses of our operations and transactions, including
those relating to:
|
·
|
investment
advisory and management fees;
|
|
·
|
expenses
incurred by AIM payable to third parties, including agents, consultants or
other advisors, in monitoring our financial and legal affairs and in
monitoring our investments and performing due diligence on our prospective
portfolio companies;
|
|
·
|
calculation
of our net asset value (including the cost and expenses of any independent
valuation firm);
|
|
·
|
direct
costs and expenses of administration, including auditor and legal
costs;
|
|
·
|
costs
of preparing and filing reports or other documents with the
SEC;
|
|
·
|
interest
payable on debt, if any, incurred to finance our
investments;
|
|
·
|
offerings
of our common stock and other
securities;
|
|
·
|
registration
and listing fees;
|
|
·
|
fees
payable to third parties, including agents, consultants or other advisors,
relating to, or associated with, evaluating and making
investments;
|
|
·
|
transfer
agent and custodial fees;
|
|
·
|
independent
directors' fees and expenses;
|
|
·
|
marketing
and distribution-related expenses;
|
|
·
|
the
costs of any reports, proxy statements or other notices to stockholders,
including printing and postage
costs;
|
|
·
|
our
allocable portion of the fidelity bond, directors and officers/errors and
omissions liability insurance, and any other insurance
premiums;
|
|
·
|
organization
and offering; and
|
|
·
|
all
other expenses incurred by us or AIA in connection with administering our
business, such as our allocable portion of overhead under the
administration agreement, including rent and our allocable portion of the
cost of our chief financial officer and chief compliance officer and their
respective staffs.
|
We
expect our general and administrative operating expenses related to our ongoing
operations to increase moderately in dollar terms, but decline slightly as a
percentage of our total assets in future periods if our assets
grow. Incentive fees, interest expense and costs relating to future
offerings of securities, among others, would be additive.
The
SEC requires that "Total annual expenses" be calculated as a percentage of net
assets in the chart on page 5 rather than as a percentage of total assets. Total
assets includes net assets as of March 31, 2008, anticipated net proceeds from
this offering and assets that have been funded with borrowed monies (leverage).
For reference, the below chart illustrates our "Total annual expenses" as a
percentage of total assets:
Estimated
annual expenses (as percentage of total assets):
|
|
Management
fees
|
2.00
%(1)
|
Incentive
fees payable under investment advisory and management agreement (20% of
pre-incentive feenet investment
income in excess of hurdle and 20% of net realized capital
gains, net of grossunrealized capital losses)
|
0.82
%(2)
|
Other
expenses
|
0.27
%(3)
|
Interest
and other credit facility related expenses on borrowed
funds
|
1.50 %(4)
|
Total
annual expenses as a percentage of total assets
|
4.59%(1) (2) (3)
(4)
|
______________
(1)
|
The
contractual management fee is calculated at an annual rate of 2.00% of our
average gross total assets. Annual expenses are based on
current fiscal year estimates. For more detailed information
about our computation of average total assets, please see Notes 3 and 9 of
our financial statements dated March 31, 2008 included in this base
prospectus.
|
(2)
|
Assumes
that annual incentive fees earned by our investment adviser, AIM, remain
consistent with the incentive fees earned by AIM for the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2008. AIM earns incentive fees consisting of two
parts. The first part, which is payable quarterly in arrears,
is based on our pre-incentive fee net investment income for the
immediately preceding calendar quarter. Pre-incentive fee net
investment income, expressed as a rate of return on the value of our net
assets at the end of the immediately preceding calendar quarter, is
compared to the hurdle rate of 1.75% quarterly (7%
annualized). Our net investment income used to calculate this
part of the incentive fee is also included in the amount of our gross
assets used to calculate the 2% base management fee (see footnote 1
above). Accordingly, we pay AIM an incentive fee as follows:
(1) no incentive fee in any calendar quarter in which our pre-incentive
fee net investment income does not exceed the hurdle rate; (2) 100% of our
pre-incentive fee net investment income with respect to that portion of
such pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that exceeds the
hurdle rate but is less than 2.1875% in any calendar quarter; and (3) 20%
of the amount of our pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that
exceeds 2.1875% in any calendar quarter. These calculations are
appropriately pro rated for any period of less than three months and
adjusted for any share issuances or repurchases during the relevant
quarter. You should be aware that a rise in the general level
of interest rates can be expected to lead to higher interest rates
applicable to our debt investments. Accordingly, an increase in
interest rates would make it easier for us to meet or exceed the incentive
fee hurdle rate and may result in a substantial increase of the amount of
incentive fees payable to our investment adviser with respect to
pre-incentive fee net investment income. The second part of the
incentive fee will equal 20% of our realized capital gains for the
calendar year, if any, computed net of all realized capital losses and
unrealized capital depreciation (and incorporating unrealized depreciation
on a gross investment-by-investment basis) and is payable in arrears at
the end of each calendar year. For a more detailed discussion
of the calculation of this fee, see "Management—Investment Advisory and
Management Agreement" in this base
prospectus.
|
(3)
|
"Other
expenses" are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year and
include our estimated overhead expenses, including payments under the
administration agreement based on our estimated allocable portion of
overhead and other expenses incurred by AIA in performing its obligations
under the administration agreement. See
"Management—Administration Agreement" in this base
prospectus.
|
(4)
|
Our
interest and other credit facility expenses are based on current fiscal
year estimates. As of March 31, 2008, we had $61 million
available and $1.639 billion in borrowings outstanding under our $1.7
billion credit facility. For more information, see "Risk
Factors—Risks relating to our business and structure—We fund a portion of
our investments with borrowed money, which magnifies the potential for
gain or loss on amounts invested and may increase the risk of investing in
us" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources" in this base
prospectus.
|
Portfolio
and Investment Activity
During
our fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, we invested $1.8 billion, across 27 new
and numerous existing portfolio companies. This compares to investing
$1.4 billion in 24 new and several existing portfolio companies for the previous
fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Investments sold or prepaid during
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 totaled $714 million versus $845 million
for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.
At
March 31, 2008, our net portfolio consisted of 71 portfolio companies and was
invested 22% in senior secured loans, 57% in subordinated debt, 6% in preferred
equity and 15% in common equity and warrants versus 57 portfolio companies
invested 26% in senior secured loans, 61% in subordinated debt, 4% in preferred
equity and 9% in common equity and warrants at March 31, 2007.
The
weighted average yields on our senior secured loan portfolio, subordinated debt
portfolio and total debt portfolio at our current cost basis were 10.0%, 12.8%
and 12.0%, respectively, at March 31, 2008. At March 31, 2007, the
yields were 12.3%, 13.5%, and 13.1%, respectively.
Since
the initial public offering of Apollo Investment Corporation in April 2004 and
through March 31, 2008, total invested capital exceeds $5.2 billion
in 112 portfolio companies. Over the same period, Apollo
Investment has also completed transactions with 80 different financial
sponsors.
Senior
secured loans and European mezzanine loans typically accrue interest at variable
rates determined on the basis of a benchmark: LIBOR, EURIBOR, GBP LIBOR, or the
prime rate, with stated maturities at origination that typically range from 5 to
10 years. While subordinated debt issued within the United States
will typically accrue interest at fixed rates, some of these investments may
include zero-coupon, PIK and/or step bonds that accrue income on a constant
yield to call or maturity basis. At March 31, 2008, 62% or $1.6
billion of our interest-bearing investment portfolio is fixed rate debt and 38%
or $1.0 billion is floating rate debt. At March 31, 2007, 64% or $1.4
billion of our interest-bearing investment portfolio was fixed rate debt and 36%
or $0.8 billion was floating rate debt.
CRITICAL
ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Our
discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are
based upon our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or
GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires
management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of
assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Changes in the economic
environment, financial markets and any other parameters used in determining such
estimates could cause actual results to differ materially. In
addition to the discussion below, our critical accounting policies are further
described in the notes to the financial statements.
Valuation
of Portfolio Investments
As
a BDC, we generally invest in illiquid or thinly traded securities including
debt and equity securities of middle market companies. Under
procedures established by our Board of Directors, we value investments,
including certain subordinated debt, senior secured debt and other debt
securities with maturities greater than 60 days, for which market quotations are
readily available, at such market quotations unless they are deemed not to
represent fair value. We obtain market quotations from independent
pricing services or use the mean between the bid and ask prices obtained from at
least two brokers or dealers (if available, otherwise by a principal market
maker or a primary market dealer). From time to time, we may also
utilize independent third party valuation firms to determine fair value if and
when such market quotations are deemed not to represent fair
value. Debt and equity securities that are not publicly traded or
whose market prices are not readily available are valued at fair value as
determined in good faith by or under the direction of our Board of
Directors. Such determination of fair values may involve subjective
judgments and estimates. Investments purchased within 60 days of
maturity are valued at cost plus accreted discount, or minus amortized premium,
which approximates value. With respect to unquoted securities, our
board of directors, together with our independent valuation advisers value each
investment considering, among other measures, discounted cash flow models,
comparisons of financial ratios of peer companies that are public and other
factors. When an external event such as a purchase transaction,
public offering or subsequent equity sale occurs, our board, together with our
independent valuation advisers consider the pricing indicated by the external
event to corroborate and/or assist us in our valuation. Because we
expect that there will not be a readily available market for many of the
investments in our portfolio, we expect to value many of our portfolio
investments at fair value as determined in good faith by or under the direction
of our Board of Directors pursuant to a valuation policy and a consistently
applied valuation process utilizing the input of the investment adviser,
independent valuation firms and the audit committee. Due to the
inherent uncertainty of determining the fair value of investments that do not
have a readily available fair market value, the value of our investments may
differ
significantly
from the values that would have been used had a readily available market value
existed for such investments, and the differences could be
material.
With
respect to investments for which market quotations are not readily available or
when such market quotations are deemed not to represent fair value, our board of
directors has approved a multi-step valuation process each quarter, as described
below:
(1) our
quarterly valuation process begins with each portfolio company or investment
being initially valued by the investment professionals of our investment adviser
responsible for the portfolio investment;
(2) preliminary
valuation conclusions are then documented and discussed with senior management
of our investment adviser;
(3) independent
valuation firms engaged by our board of directors conduct independent appraisals
and review our investment adviser’s preliminary valuations and make their own
independent assessment;
(4) the
audit committee of the board of directors reviews the preliminary valuation of
our investment adviser and that of the independent valuation firm and responds
to the valuation recommendation of the independent valuation firm to reflect any
comments; and
(5) the
board of directors discusses valuations and determines the fair value of each
investment in our portfolio in good faith based on the input of our investment
adviser, the respective independent valuation firm and the audit
committee.
In
September, 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued Statement of
Financial Accounting Standards ("SFAS") 157, Fair Value Measurements. This
statement defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value
in GAAP, and expands disclosures about fair value measurements. This statement
is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after
November 15, 2007, and interim periods within those years. We have adopted this
statement on a prospective basis beginning in the quarter ended June 30,
2008. Adoption of this statement did not have a material effect
on our financial statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.
SFAS
No. 157 classifies the inputs used to measure these fair values into the
following hierarchy:
Level 1: Quoted
prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities, accessible by us
at the measurement date.
Level 2: Quoted
prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, or quoted prices for
identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, or
other observable inputs other than quoted prices.
Level 3: Unobservable
inputs for the asset or liability.
In
all cases, the level in the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value
measurement in its entirety falls has been determined based on the lowest level
of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Our assessment of
the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its
entirety requires judgment and considers factors specific to each
investment.
Revenue
Recognition
We
record interest and dividend income on an accrual basis to the extent that we
expect to collect such amounts. For loans and securities with
contractual PIK interest or dividends, which represents contractual interest or
dividends accrued and added to the loan balance that generally becomes due at
maturity, we may not accrue PIK income if the portfolio company valuation
indicates that the PIK income is not collectible. We do not accrue as
a receivable interest or dividends on loans and securities if we have reason to
doubt our ability to collect such income. Loan origination fees,
original issue discount, and market discount are capitalized and then we
amortize such amounts as interest income. Upon the prepayment of a
loan or security, any unamortized loan origination fees are recorded as interest
income. We record prepayment premiums on loans and securities as
interest income when we receive such amounts.
Net
Realized Gains or Losses and Net Change in Unrealized Appreciation or
Depreciation
We
measure realized gains or losses by the difference between the net proceeds from
the repayment or sale and the amortized cost basis of the investment, without
regard to unrealized appreciation or depreciation previously recognized, but
considering unamortized upfront fees and prepayment penalties. Net
change in unrealized appreciation or depreciation reflects the change in
portfolio investment values during the reporting period, including the reversal
of previously recorded unrealized appreciation or depreciation, when gains or
losses are realized.
Within
the context of these critical accounting policies, we are not currently aware of
any reasonably likely events or circumstances that would result in materially
different amounts being reported.
RESULTS
OF OPERATIONS
Results
comparisons are for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, March 31, 2007 and
March 31, 2006.
Investment
Income
For
the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, March 31, 2007 and March 31, 2006, gross
investment income totaled $357.9 million, $266.1 million and $152.8 million,
respectively. The continued increase in gross investment income for
fiscal years 2007 and 2008 was primarily due to the growth of our investment
portfolio as compared to previous fiscal periods. Origination,
closing and/or commitment fees associated with investments in portfolio
companies are accreted into interest income over the respective terms of the
applicable loans.
Expenses
Net
expenses totaled $154.4 million, $139.7 million and $63.7 million, respectively,
for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, March 31, 2007 and March 31, 2006, of
which $30.4 million, $57.9 million and $22.3 million, respectively, were
performance-based incentive fees and $55.8 million, $34.4 million and $13.0
million, respectively, were interest and other credit facility
expenses. Net expenses exclusive of performance-based incentive fees
and interest and other credit facility expenses for the years ended March 31,
2008, March 31, 2007 and March 31, 2006 were $68.2 million, $47.4 million and
$28.4 million, respectively. Of these expenses, general and
administrative expenses totaled $8.3 million, $6.8 million and $5.0 million,
respectively, for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, 2007 and
2006. In addition, excise tax expense totaled $1.9 million, $1.1
million, and $0 for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, 2007 and
2006. Expenses consist of base investment advisory and management
fees, insurance expenses, administrative services fees, professional fees,
directors' fees, audit and tax services expenses, and other general and
administrative expenses. The increases in net expenses from fiscal
2006 to 2007 and fiscal 2007 to 2008 were primarily related to increases in base
management fees and other general and administrative expenses related to the
growth of our investment portfolio as compared to the previous
periods.
Net
Investment Income
Our
net investment income totaled $201.6 million, $125.3 million and $89.1 million,
respectively, for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, 2007 and
2006.
Net
Realized Gains
We
had investment sales and prepayments totaling $714 million, $845 million and
$452 million, respectively, for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, 2007 and
2006. Net realized gains for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008,
2007 and 2006 were $54.3 million, $132.9 million and $11.2 million,
respectively. The significant increase in net realized gains from
fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2007 was primarily due to a gain of $107.6
million realized from GS Prysmian Co-Invest LP (pursuant to a sale and purchase
agreement dated as of January 24, 2007, along with the GS Funds, GS Prysmian
Co-Invest LP agreed to sell its remaining equity securities it owned in Prysmian
(Lux) Sarl to a newly created entity for cash and equity securities
consideration totaling € 85.6 million).
Net
Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) on Investments, Cash Equivalents and
Foreign Currencies
For
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 net unrealized appreciation on our
investments, cash equivalents, foreign currencies and other assets and
liabilities decreased $289.3 million. For the fiscal years
ended
March
31, 2007 and 2006, net unrealized appreciation on our investments, cash
equivalents, foreign currencies and other assets and liabilities increased $54.0
million and $20.1 million, respectively. At March 31, 2008, net
unrealized depreciation totaled $197.1 million versus net unrealized
appreciation of $92.2 million at March 31, 2007.
Net
Increase (Decrease) in Net Assets From Operations
For
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, we had a net decrease in net assets
resulting from operations of $33.4 million. For the fiscal years
ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, we had a net increase in net assets
resulting from operations of $312.2 million and $120.4 million,
respectively. The net decrease in net assets from operations per
share was $0.30 for the year ended March 31, 2008. For the years
ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, the net increase in net assets from operations
per share was $3.64 and $1.90, respectively.
LIQUIDITY
AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
On
September 18, 2007, we closed on a public offering of 14.95 million shares
of common stock at $20.00 per share raising approximately $285.5 million in net
proceeds. Our liquidity and capital resources are also generated and
available through its senior secured, multi-currency $1.7 billion, five-year,
revolving credit facility maturing in April 2011 as well as from cash flows from
operations, investment sales and prepayments of senior and subordinated loans
and income earned from investments and cash equivalents. At March 31,
2008, we have $1.6 billion in borrowings outstanding and $0.1 billion
remaining unused. In addition, we held cash and cash equivalents
on its balance sheet totaling $415.0 million. In the future, we
may raise additional equity or debt capital off its shelf registration or may
securitize a portion of its investments among other
considerations. The primary use of funds will be investments in
portfolio companies, cash distributions to our stockholders and for other
general corporate purposes. In addition, on May 16, 2008, we
closed on a public offering of 22.3 million shares of common stock at $17.11 per
share raising approximately $369.6 million in net proceeds.
|
|
Payments
due by Period (dollars in millions)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior
Secured Revolving Credit Facility(1)
|
|
$ |
1,639 |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
1,639 |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
_________________
(1)
|
At
March 31, 2008, $61 million remained unused under our senior secured
revolving credit facility.
|
Contractual
Obligations
We
have entered into two contracts under which we have future commitments: the
investment advisory and management agreement, pursuant to which Apollo
Investment Management has agreed to serve as our investment adviser, and the
administration agreement, pursuant to which Apollo Administration has agreed to
furnish us with the facilities and administrative services necessary to conduct
our day-to-day operations and provide on our behalf managerial assistance to
those portfolio companies to which we are required to provide such
assistance. Payments under the investment advisory and management
agreement are equal to (1) a percentage of the value of our gross assets and (2)
a two-part incentive fee. Payments under the administration agreement
are equal to an amount based upon our allocable portion of Apollo
Administration's overhead in performing its obligations under the administration
agreement, including rent, technology systems, insurance and our allocable
portion of the costs of our chief financial officer and chief compliance officer
and their respective staffs. Either party may terminate each of the
investment advisory and management agreement and administration agreement
without penalty upon not more than 60 days' written notice to the
other. Please see Note 3 within our financial statements for more
information.
Off-Balance
Sheet Arrangements
On
February 28, 2007, we entered into Senior Secured Term Loan agreements with
Gray Wireline Service Inc., resulting in investments of $40 million in a First
Out Term Loan and $70 million in a Second Out Term Loan. In
connection with the transaction, we also committed to $27.5 million of
additional delay draw commitments under the term loans subject to various
contingencies and draw down tests. As of March 31, 2008,
we
had $20.0 million of delay draw commitments remaining. Effective
April 9, 2008, the remaining commitments were terminated by Gray Wireline
Service Inc.
We
have the ability to issue standby letters of credit through its revolving credit
facility. As of March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2007, we had issued
through JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. standby letters of credit totaling
$14,435 and $0, respectively.
At
March 31, 2008, we did not have any additional off-balance sheet liabilities or
other contractual obligations that are reasonably likely to have a current or
future material effect on our financial condition, other than the investment
advisory and management agreement and the administration agreement described
above.
Dividends
Dividends
paid to stockholders for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006
totaled $230.9 million or $2.07 per share, $168.4 million or $1.93 per share,
and $102.7 million or $1.63 per share, respectively. The following
table summarizes our quarterly dividends paid to stockholders for the fiscal
years ended March 31, 2008, 2007, and 2005, respectively:
|
|
|
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2008
|
|
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.52 |
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.52 |
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.52 |
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.51 |
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2007
|
|
|
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.51 |
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.50 |
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.47 |
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.45 |
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2006
|
|
|
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.45 |
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.44 |
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.43 |
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
0.31 |
|
Tax
characteristics of all dividends will be reported to stockholders on Form 1099
after the end of the calendar year.
We
intend to continue to distribute quarterly dividends to our
stockholders. Our quarterly dividends, if any, will be determined by
our board of directors.
We
have elected to be taxed as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code. To
maintain our RIC status, we must distribute at least 90% of our ordinary income
and realized net short-term capital gains in excess of realized net long-term
capital losses, if any, out of the assets legally available for
distribution. In addition, although we currently intend to distribute
realized net capital gains (i.e., net long-term capital gains in excess of
short-term capital losses), if any, at least annually, out of the assets legally
available for such distributions, we may in the future decide to retain such
capital gains for investment.
We
maintain an "opt out" dividend reinvestment plan for our common
stockholders. As a result, if we declare a dividend, then
stockholders' cash dividends will be automatically reinvested in additional
shares of our common stock, unless they specifically "opt out" of the dividend
reinvestment plan so as to receive cash dividends.
We
may not be able to achieve operating results that will allow us to make
dividends and distributions at a specific level or to increase the amount of
these dividends and distributions from time to time. In addition, we
may be limited in our ability to make dividends and distributions due to the
asset coverage test for borrowings when applicable to us as a BDC under the
1940 Act and due to provisions in future credit facilities. If we do
not distribute a certain percentage of our income annually, we will suffer
adverse tax
consequences,
including possible loss of our RIC status. We cannot assure
stockholders that they will receive any dividends and distributions or dividends
and distributions at a particular level.
With
respect to the dividends paid to stockholders, income from origination,
structuring, closing, commitment and other upfront fees associated with
investments in portfolio companies is treated as taxable income and accordingly,
distributed to stockholders. For the fiscal years ended March 31,
2008, 2007 and 2006 upfront fees totaling $0.1 million, $8.3 million and $5.8
million, respectively, are being amortized into income over the lives of their
respective loans to the extent such loans remain outstanding.
Quantitative
and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk
We
are subject to financial market risks, including changes in interest
rates. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, many of the loans
in our portfolio had floating interest rates. These loans are usually
based on a floating LIBO rate and typically have durations of one to six months
after which they reset to current market interest rates. As the
percentage of our mezzanine and other subordinated loans increase as a
percentage of our total investments, we expect that more of the loans in our
portfolio will have fixed rates. Accordingly, we may hedge against
interest rate fluctuations by using standard hedging instruments such as
futures, options, swaps and forward contracts subject to the requirements of the
1940 Act. While hedging activities may insulate us against adverse
changes in interest rates, they may also limit our ability to participate in the
benefits of lower interest rates with respect to our portfolio of
investments. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, we did not
engage in interest rate hedging activities.
PRICE
RANGE OF COMMON STOCK
Our
common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol
"AINV." The following table lists the high and low closing sale price for our
common stock, the closing sale price as a percentage of net asset value, or NAV,
and quarterly dividends per share since shares of our common stock began being
regularly quoted on NASDAQ.
|
Closing Sales
Price
|
Premium
or
Discount of
High
Sales
Price
to
|
Premium
or
Discount
of
Low
Sales
Price
to
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2008
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
15.83 |
|
|
$ |
16.70 |
|
|
$ |
14.21 |
|
|
|
105 |
% |
|
|
90 |
% |
|
$ |
0.520 |
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
17.71 |
|
|
$ |
21.81 |
|
|
$ |
16.32 |
|
|
|
123 |
% |
|
|
92 |
% |
|
$ |
0.520 |
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
18.44 |
|
|
$ |
22.90 |
|
|
$ |
19.50 |
|
|
|
124 |
% |
|
|
106 |
% |
|
$ |
0.520 |
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
19.09 |
|
|
$ |
24.13 |
|
|
$ |
21.37 |
|
|
|
126 |
% |
|
|
112 |
% |
|
$ |
0.510 |
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2007
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
17.87 |
|
|
$ |
24.12 |
|
|
$ |
20.30 |
|
|
|
135 |
% |
|
|
114 |
% |
|
$ |
0.510 |
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
16.36 |
|
|
$ |
23.27 |
|
|
$ |
20.56 |
|
|
|
142 |
% |
|
|
126 |
% |
|
$ |
0.500 |
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
16.14 |
|
|
$ |
20.81 |
|
|
$ |
17.96 |
|
|
|
129 |
% |
|
|
111 |
% |
|
$ |
0.470 |
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
15.59 |
|
|
$ |
19.39 |
|
|
$ |
17.74 |
|
|
|
124 |
% |
|
|
114 |
% |
|
$ |
0.450 |
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2006
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
15.15 |
|
|
$ |
19.51 |
|
|
$ |
17.81 |
|
|
|
129 |
% |
|
|
118 |
% |
|
$ |
0.450 |
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
14.41 |
|
|
$ |
19.97 |
|
|
$ |
17.92 |
|
|
|
139 |
% |
|
|
124 |
% |
|
$ |
0.440 |
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
14.29 |
|
|
$ |
20.40 |
|
|
$ |
17.63 |
|
|
|
143 |
% |
|
|
123 |
% |
|
$ |
0.430 |
|
First
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
14.19 |
|
|
$ |
18.75 |
|
|
$ |
15.66 |
|
|
|
132 |
% |
|
|
110 |
% |
|
$ |
0.310 |
|
Fiscal
Year Ended March 31, 2005
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fourth
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
14.27 |
|
|
$ |
17.62 |
|
|
$ |
14.93 |
|
|
|
123 |
% |
|
|
105 |
% |
|
$ |
0.260 |
|
Third
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
14.32 |
|
|
$ |
15.13 |
|
|
$ |
13.43 |
|
|
|
106 |
% |
|
|
94 |
% |
|
$ |
0.180 |
|
Second
Fiscal Quarter
|
|
$ |
14.10 |
|
|
$ |
14.57 |
|
|
$ |
13.06 |
|
|
|
103 |
% |
|
|
93 |
% |
|
$ |
0.045 |
|
First
Fiscal Quarter (period from April 8, 2004* to June 30,
2004)
|
|
$ |
14.05 |
|
|
$ |
15.25 |
|
|
$ |
12.83 |
|
|
|
109 |
% |
|
|
91 |
% |
|
|
— |
|
_____________
(1)
|
NAV
per share is determined as of the last day in the relevant quarter and
therefore may not reflect the NAV per share on the date of the high and
low sales prices. The NAVs shown are based on outstanding
shares at the end of each period.
|
(2)
|
Calculated
as of the respective high or low closing sales price divided by the
quarter end NAV.
|
*
|
Commencement
of operations
|
While
our common stock currently trades in excess of our net asset value, there can be
no assurance, however, that our shares will continue to trade at such a premium
(to net asset value). The last reported closing market price of our
common stock on _____________, 2008 was $______ per share. As
of September 19, 2008, we had 103 stockholders of
record.
BUSINESS
Apollo
Investment
Apollo
Investment Corporation, a Maryland corporation organized on February 2, 2004, is
a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company that has filed an
election to be treated as a BDC under the 1940 Act. In addition, for
tax purposes we have elected to be treated as a RIC.
Our
investment objective is to generate both current income and capital appreciation
through debt and equity investments. We invest primarily in
middle-market companies in the form of mezzanine and senior secured loans, as
well as by making equity investments in companies. From time to time,
we may also invest in the securities of public companies as well as public
companies whose securities are thinly traded.
We
believe that our investment adviser is able to leverage the overall Apollo
Global Management investment platform, resources and existing relationships with
financial sponsors, financial institutions and other investment firms to provide
us with attractive investments. In addition to deal flow, the
Apollo investment platform assists our investment adviser in analyzing,
structuring and monitoring investments. Apollo's senior
partners have worked together for over 18 years and have substantial experience
investing in senior loans, high yield bonds, mezzanine debt and private
equity. We have access to the Apollo staff of approximately 175
professionals employed by Apollo who provide assistance in accounting, legal,
compliance, technology and investor relations.
During
our fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, we invested $1.8 billion across 27 new and
several existing portfolio companies. This compares to
investing $1.4 billion in 24 new and several existing portfolio companies for
the previous fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Investments sold or
prepaid during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 totaled $714 million versus
$845 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Total invested capital
since our initial public offering in April 2004 through March 31,
2008 exceeds $5.2 billion. The weighted average yields on our
senior secured loan portfolio, subordinated debt portfolio and total debt
portfolio at our current cost basis were 10.0%, 12.8% and 12.0%, respectively,
at March 31, 2008. At March 31, 2007, the yields were 12.3%, 13.5%,
and 13.1%, respectively.
Our
targeted investment size typically ranges between $20 million and $250 million,
although this investment size may vary proportionately as the size of our
capital base changes. At March 31, 2008, our net portfolio consisted
of 71 portfolio companies and was invested 22% in senior secured loans, 57% in
subordinated debt, 6% in preferred equity and 15% in common equity and warrants
versus 57 portfolio companies invested 26% in senior secured loans, 61% in
subordinated debt, 4% in preferred equity and 9% in common equity and warrants
at March 31, 2007.
Since
the initial public offering of Apollo Investment in April 2004 and through March
31, 2008, total invested capital exceeds $5.2 billion
in 112 portfolio companies. Over the same period, Apollo Investment
has also completed transactions with 80 different financial
sponsors.
At
March 31, 2008, 62% or $1.6 billion of our interest-bearing investment portfolio
is fixed rate debt and 38% or $1.0 billion is floating rate debt. At
March 31, 2007, 64% or $1.4 billion of our interest-bearing investment portfolio
was fixed rate debt and 36% or $0.8 billion was floating rate debt.
About
Apollo
Founded
in 1990, Apollo is a leading global alternative asset manager with a proven
track record of successful private equity, distressed debt and mezzanine
investing. Apollo raises, invests and manages private equity and
capital markets funds on behalf of some of the world's most prominent pension
and endowment funds as well as other institutional and individual
investors.
Apollo's
investment approach is value-oriented, focusing on industries in which it has
considerable knowledge, and emphasizing downside protection and the preservation
of capital. Apollo has successfully applied its investment philosophy
in flexible and creative ways over its 18-year history, allowing it consistently
to find attractive investment opportunities, deploy capital up and down the
balance sheet of industry leading, or "franchise," businesses and create value
throughout economic cycles.
Apollo's
active private equity investment funds focus on making either control-oriented
equity investments or distressed debt investments, either for control or
non-control positions. In contrast, we seek to capitalize primarily
on the significant investment opportunities emerging in the mezzanine segment of
the lending market primarily for middle-market companies, which we believe
offers the potential for attractive risk-adjusted returns.
About
Apollo Investment Management
AIM,
our investment adviser, is led by a dedicated and growing team of investment
professionals and is further supported by Apollo's team of more than 175
professionals as of March 31, 2008. AIM's investment committee
currently consists of John J. Hannan, the Chairman of our board of directors,
our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of AIM's investment committee; James C.
Zelter, our President and Chief Operating Officer and a Vice President of the
general partner of AIM; Patrick J. Dalton, our Executive Vice President and a
Vice President of the general partner of AIM; and José Briones, a Vice President
of the general partner of AIM. The composition of the Investment
Committee of AIM may change from time to time. AIM draws upon
Apollo's 18-year history and benefits from the Apollo investment professionals'
significant capital markets, trading and research expertise developed through
investments in many core industry sectors in over 150 companies since
inception.
About
Apollo Investment Administration
In
addition to furnishing us with office facilities, equipment, and clerical,
bookkeeping and record keeping services, AIA also oversees our financial records
as well as the preparation of our reports to stockholders and reports filed with
the SEC. AIA oversees the determination and publication of our net
asset value, oversees the preparation and filing of our tax returns, and
generally monitors the payment of our expenses and the performance of
administrative and professional services rendered to us by
others. Furthermore, AIA would provide on our behalf managerial
assistance to those portfolio companies to which we are required to provide such
assistance.
Operating
and Regulatory Structure
Our
investment activities are managed by AIM and supervised by our board of
directors, a majority of whom are independent of Apollo and its
affiliates. AIM is an investment adviser that is registered under the
Advisers Act. Under our investment advisory and management agreement,
we pay AIM an annual base management fee based on our gross assets as well as an
incentive fee based on our performance.
As
a BDC, we are required to comply with certain regulatory
requirements. Also, while we are permitted to finance investments
using debt, our ability to use debt is limited in certain significant
respects. We have elected to be treated for federal income tax
purposes as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code.
Investments
Apollo
Investment seeks to create a portfolio that includes primarily debt investments
in mezzanine, senior secured loans and, to a lesser extent, private equity by
generally investing approximately $20 million to $250 million of capital, on
average, in the securities of middle-market companies. The average
investment size will vary as the size of our capital base varies. Our
target portfolio will generally be more heavily weighted toward mezzanine
loans. Structurally, mezzanine loans usually rank subordinate in
priority of payment to senior debt, such as senior bank debt, and are often
unsecured. As such, other creditors may rank senior to us in the
event of an insolvency. However, mezzanine loans rank senior to
common and preferred equity in a borrowers' capital
structure. Mezzanine loans may have a fixed or floating
interest rate. Additional upside can be generated from upfront fees,
call protection including call premiums, equity co-investments or
warrants. We believe that mezzanine loans offer an attractive
investment opportunity based upon their historic returns and resilience during
economic downturns.
Additionally,
we may acquire investments in the secondary market if we believe the
risk-adjusted returns are attractive.
Our
principal focus is to provide capital to middle-market companies in a variety of
industries. We generally seek to target companies that generate
positive free cash flows. We also generally seek to invest in
companies from the broad variety of industries in which Apollo's investment
professionals have direct expertise.
The
following is a representative list of the industries in which Apollo has
invested:
|
·
|
Lodging/Leisure/Resorts
|
|
·
|
Manufacturing/Basic
industry
|
|
·
|
Printing
and publishing
|
We
may also invest in other industries if we are presented with attractive
opportunities.
In
an effort to increase our returns and the number of loans that we can make, we
may in the future seek to securitize our loans. To securitize loans,
we may create a wholly–owned subsidiary and
contribute a pool of loans to the subsidiary. We may sell interests
in the subsidiary on a non-recourse basis to purchasers whom we would expect to
be willing to accept a lower interest rate to invest in investment-grade loan
pools. We may use the proceeds of such sales to pay down bank debt or
to fund additional investment.
We
may invest, to the extent permitted by law, in the securities and instruments of
other investment companies, including private funds. We may also
co-invest on a concurrent basis with affiliates of ours, subject to compliance
with applicable regulations and our allocation procedures. Certain
types of negotiated co-investments may be made only if we receive an order from
the SEC permitting us to do so. There can be no assurance that any
such order will be obtained.
At
March 31, 2008, our net portfolio consisted of 71 portfolio companies and was
invested 57% in subordinated debt, 6% in preferred equity, 15% in common equity
and warrants and 22% in senior secured loans. We expect that
our portfolio will continue to include primarily mezzanine loans, and to a
lesser extent, senior secured loans, and equity-related securities.
While
our primary focus is to generate both current income and capital appreciation
through investments in loans and debt securities both senior and subordinated,
and private equity, we may invest a portion of the portfolio in opportunistic
investments, such as foreign securities.
Listed
below are our top ten portfolio companies and industries represented as a
percentage of total assets as of March 31, 2008 and 2007:
TOP
TEN PORTFOLIO COMPANIES AND INDUSTRIES AS OF MARCH 31, 2008
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grand
Prix holdings, LLC
(Innkeepers
USA)
|
|
|
6.6%
|
|
Hotels,
Motels, Inns
and
Gaming
|
|
|
6.6%
|
|
First
Data Corporation
|
|
|
4.9%
|
|
Financial
Services
|
|
|
6.1%
|
|
Asurion
Corporation
|
|
|
3.1%
|
|
Oil
& Gas
|
|
|
5.5%
|
|
TL
Acquisitions, Inc. (Thomson
Learning)
|
|
|
2.5%
|
|
Education
|
|
|
4.9%
|
|
GS
Prysmian Co-Invest L.P.
(Prysmian
Cables and Systems)
|
|
|
2.5%
|
|
Business
Services
|
|
|
4.3%
|
|
Gray
Wireline Service, Inc.
|
|
|
2.2%
|
|
Industrial
|
|
|
4.0%
|
|
Associated
Materials, Inc.
|
|
|
2.1%
|
|
Retail
|
|
|
3.8%
|
|
Fleetpride
Corporation
|
|
|
2.1%
|
|
Insurance
|
|
|
3.5%
|
|
Quality
Home Brands Holdings
|
|
|
2.0%
|
|
Diversified
Service
|
|
|
3.4%
|
|
Ranpak
Corporation
|
|
|
2.0%
|
|
Environmental
|
|
|
3.3%
|
|
TOP
TEN PORTFOLIO COMPANIES AND INDUSTRIES AS OF MARCH 31, 2007
|
|
|
|
|
Gray
Wireline Service, Inc.
|
3.2%
|
|
Oil
& Gas
|
8.5%
|
Sorenson
Communications, Inc.
|
2.8%
|
|
Business
Services
|
5.4%
|
Varel
Holdings, Inc.
|
2.5%
|
|
Consumer
Services
|
4.8%
|
ALM
Media Holdings, Inc.
|
2.4%
|
|
Publishing
|
4.7%
|
Associated
Materials, Inc.
|
2.3%
|
|
Direct
Marketing
|
4.2%
|
Quality
Home Brands Holdings
|
2.2%
|
|
Manufacturing
|
3.4%
|
Fleetpride
Corporation
|
2.2%
|
|
Consumer
Products
|
3.4%
|
N.E.W.
Customer Service Cos.
|
2.0%
|
|
Leisure
Equipment
|
2.9%
|
SigmaKalon
Holdco B.V.
|
2.0%
|
|
Building
Products
|
2.7%
|
GS
Prysmian Co-Invest L.P.
|
1.9%
|
|
Chemicals
|
2.6%
|
(Prysmian
Cables and Systems)
|
|
|
|
|
Investment
Selection
We
are committed to the same value oriented philosophy used by the investment
professionals of Apollo in Apollo's private investment funds and will commit
resources to managing downside exposure.
Prospective
portfolio company characteristics
We
have identified several criteria that we believe are important in identifying
and investing in prospective portfolio companies. These criteria
provide general guidelines for our investment decisions; however, we caution you
that not all of these criteria will be met by each prospective portfolio company
in which we choose to invest. Generally, we seek to utilize our
access to information generated by our investment professionals to identify
investment candidates and to structure investments quickly and
effectively.
Value
orientation/positive cash flow
Our
investment philosophy places a premium on fundamental analysis from an
investor's perspective and has a distinct value orientation. We focus
on companies in which we can invest at relatively low multiples of operating
cash flow and that are profitable at the time of investment on an operating cash
flow basis. Typically, we do not expect to invest in start-up
companies or companies having speculative business plans.
Experienced
management
We
generally require that our portfolio companies have an experienced management
team. We also require the portfolio companies to have in place proper
incentives to induce management to succeed and to act in concert with our
interests as investors, including having significant equity
interests.
Strong
competitive position in industry
We
seek to invest in target companies that have developed leading market positions
within their respective markets and are well positioned to capitalize on growth
opportunities. We seek companies that demonstrate significant
competitive advantages versus their competitors, which should help to protect
their market position and profitability.
Exit
strategy
We
seek to invest in companies that we believe will provide a steady stream of cash
flow to repay our loans. We expect that such internally generated
cash flow, leading to the payment of interest on, and the repayment of the
principal of, our investments in portfolio companies to be a key means by which
we exit from our investments over time. In addition, we seek to
invest in companies whose business models and expected future cash flows offer
attractive exit possibilities. These companies include candidates for
strategic acquisition by other industry participants and companies that may
repay our investments through an initial public offering of common stock or
another capital market transaction.
Liquidation
value of assets
The
prospective liquidation value of the assets, if any, collateralizing loans in
which we invest is an important factor in our credit analysis. We
emphasize both tangible assets, such as accounts receivable, inventory,
equipment and real estate, and intangible assets, such as intellectual property,
customer lists, networks and databases.
Due
diligence
Our
investment adviser conducts diligence on prospective portfolio companies
consistent with the approach adopted by the investment professionals of
Apollo. We believe that Apollo's investment professionals have a
reputation for conducting extensive due diligence investigations in their
investment activities. In conducting their due diligence, Apollo's
investment professionals use publicly available information as well as
information from their extensive relationships with former and current
management teams, consultants, competitors and investment bankers and the direct
experience of the senior partners of Apollo.
Our
due diligence will typically include:
|
·
|
review
of historical and prospective financial
information;
|
|
·
|
interviews
with management, employees, customers and vendors of the potential
portfolio company;
|
|
·
|
review
of senior loan documents;
|
|
·
|
research
relating to the company's management, industry, markets, products and
services, and competitors.
|
Additional
due diligence with respect to any investment may be conducted on our behalf by
attorneys and independent accountants prior to the closing of the investment, as
well as other outside advisors, as appropriate.
Upon
the completion of due diligence and a decision to proceed with an investment in
a company, the professionals leading the investment present the investment
opportunity to our investment adviser's investment committee, which determines
whether to pursue the potential investment.
The
investment committee
All
new investments by us must be approved by the investment committee of
AIM. The members of the investment committee receive no compensation
from us. Such members are employees or partners of AIM and receive
compensation or profit distributions from AIM, and in certain instances, from
other Apollo affiliates. The members of the investment committee are
listed below.
John J. Hannan
Chairman of the board of
directors, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Apollo Investment and a Vice
President of AIM. Mr. Hannan became a director of
Apollo Investment in March 2004 and was elected our Chief Executive Officer in
February 2006 and Chairman of the board of directors in August
2006. Mr. Hannan has served on AIM's investment committee
since February 2006. Mr. Hannan, a senior partner of
Apollo, co-founded Apollo Management, L.P. in 1990 and Apollo Real
Estate Advisers, L.P. (an investment manager affiliated with Apollo's real
estate investment funds) in 1993. Mr. Hannan also is a
partner of a number of other Apollo affiliates that advise the Apollo investment
entities referenced below under the caption "Management—Investment Advisory and
Management Agreement—Payment of our expenses."
Patrick J. Dalton Vice President of AIM and Executive
Vice President of Apollo Investment. Mr. Dalton joined AIM in
June 2004 as a partner and as a member of AIM's investment
committee. Mr. Dalton is also the Chief Investment Officer of AIM and
a member of the investment committee of Apollo Investment
Europe. Before joining Apollo, Mr. Dalton was a Vice President with
Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s Principal Investment Area with a focus on mezzanine
investing since 2000. From 1990 to 2000, Mr. Dalton was a Vice
President with the Chase Manhattan Bank where he worked most recently in the
Acquisition Finance Department.
Jose A. Briones
Vice President of
AIM. Mr. Briones joined Apollo in 2006 as a partner
and as a member of AIM's investment committee. Before joining Apollo,
Mr. Briones was a Managing Director with UBS Securities LLC in the Financial
Sponsors and Leveraged Finance Group. Prior to joining UBS, from 1999
to 2001, Mr. Briones was a Vice President with JP Morgan where he worked in the
Global Leveraged Finance Group. Prior to joining JP Morgan, from 1992
to 1999, Mr. Briones was a Vice President at BT Securities and BT
Alex Brown Incorporated in the Corporate Finance Department.
James Zelter Managing Partner of Apollo's Capital
Markets Business (which includes AIM) and President and Chief Operating Officer
of Apollo Investment. Mr. Zelter joined Apollo in
2006 and has served on AIM's investment committee since such
time. Previously, Mr. Zelter had been with Citigroup and
its predecessor companies since 1994, where he was responsible for the global
expansion and strong financial performance of the Special Situations Investment
Group, a proprietary investment group that he founded within Citigroup's Fixed
Income Division. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Zelter was Chief
Investment Officer of Citigroup Alternative Investments and prior to that he was
responsible for the firm's global high yield franchise and leveraged finance
business. Mr. Zelter is also a partner of a number of
"other Apollo affiliates that advise the Apollo investment entities referenced
below under the caption "Management—Investment Advisory and
Management Agreement—Management services."
Investment
structure
Once
we have determined that a prospective portfolio company is suitable for
investment, we work with the management of that company and its other capital
providers, including senior, junior and equity capital providers, to structure
an investment.
We
seek to structure our mezzanine investments primarily as unsecured, subordinated
loans that provide for relatively high interest rates that provide us with
significant current interest income. These loans typically have
interest-only payments in the early years, with amortization of principal
deferred to the later years of the mezzanine loans. In some cases, we
may enter into loans that, by their terms, convert into equity or additional
debt securities or defer payments of interest after our
investment. Also, in some cases our mezzanine loans may be
collateralized by a
subordinated
lien on some or all of the assets of the borrower. Typically, our
mezzanine loans have maturities of five to ten years.
We
also seek to invest in portfolio companies in the form of senior secured
loans. We expect these senior secured loans to have terms of three to
ten years and may provide for deferred interest payments over the term of the
loan. We generally seek to obtain security interests in the assets of
our portfolio companies that serve as collateral in support of the repayment of
these loans. This collateral may take the form of first or second
priority liens on the assets of a portfolio company. We expect that
the interest rate on our senior secured loans generally will range between 2%
and 10% over the London Interbank Offer Rate, or LIBOR.
In
the case of our mezzanine and senior secured loan investments, we seek to tailor
the terms of the investment to the facts and circumstances of the transaction
and the prospective portfolio company, negotiating a structure that protects our
rights and manages our risk while creating incentives for the portfolio company
to achieve its business plan and improve its profitability. For
example, in addition to seeking a senior position in the capital structure of
our portfolio companies, we seek to limit the downside potential of our
investments by:
|
·
|
requiring
an expected total return on our investments (including both interest and
potential equity appreciation) that compensates us for credit
risk;
|
|
·
|
generally
incorporating call protection into the investment structure;
and
|
|
·
|
negotiating
covenants and information rights in connection with our investments that
afford our portfolio companies as much flexibility in managing their
businesses as possible, consistent with our goal of preserving our
capital. Such restrictions may include affirmative and negative
covenants, default penalties, lien protection, change of control
provisions and board rights, including either observation or participation
rights.
|
Our
investments may include equity features, such as warrants or options to buy a
minority interest in the portfolio company. Any warrants we receive
with our debt securities generally require only a nominal cost to exercise, and
thus, as a portfolio company appreciates in value, we may achieve additional
investment return from this equity interest. We may structure the
warrants to provide provisions protecting our rights as a minority- interest
holder, as well as puts, or rights to sell such securities back to the company,
upon the occurrence of specified events. In many cases, we may also
seek to obtain registration rights in connection with these equity interests,
which may include demand and "piggyback" registration rights.
We
expect to hold most of our investments to maturity or repayment, but we may sell
certain of our investments earlier, including, if a liquidity event takes place
such as the sale or recapitalization or worsening of credit quality of a
portfolio company.
Managerial
assistance
As
a BDC, we offer, and must provide upon request, managerial assistance to our
portfolio companies. This assistance could involve, among other
things, monitoring the operations of our portfolio companies, participating in
board and management meetings, consulting with and advising officers of
portfolio companies and providing other organizational and financial
guidance. We may receive fees for these services. AIA provides such managerial
assistance on our behalf to portfolio companies that request this
assistance.
Ongoing
relationships with portfolio companies
Monitoring
AIM
monitors our portfolio companies on an ongoing basis. AIM monitors
the financial trends of each portfolio company to determine if each is meeting
its respective business plans and to assess the appropriate course of action for
each company.
AIM
has several methods of evaluating and monitoring the performance and fair value
of our investments, which can include, but are not limited to, the
following:
|
·
|
Assessment
of success in adhering to portfolio company's business plan and compliance
with covenants;
|
|
·
|
Periodic
and regular contact with portfolio company management and, if appropriate,
the financial or strategic sponsor, to discuss financial position,
requirements and accomplishments;
|
|
·
|
Comparisons
to other portfolio companies in the
industry;
|
|
·
|
Attendance
at and participation in board meetings;
and
|
|
·
|
Review
of monthly and quarterly financial statements and financial projections
for portfolio companies.
|
In
addition to various risk management and monitoring tools, AIM also uses an
investment rating system to characterize and monitor our expected level of
returns on each investment in our portfolio.
We
use an investment rating scale of 1 to 5. The following is a
description of the conditions associated with each investment
rating:
Investment
Rating
|
|
Summary
Description
|
|
1
|
|
Capital
gain expected
|
2
|
|
Full
return of principal and interest or dividend expected, with the portfolio
company performing in accordance with our analysis of its
business
|
3
|
|
Full
return of principal and interest or dividend expected, but the portfolio
company requires closer monitoring
|
4
|
|
Some
loss of interest, dividend or capital appreciation expected, but still
expecting an overall positive internal rate of return on the
investment
|
5
|
|
Loss
of interest or dividend and some loss of principal investment expected,
which would result in an overall negative internal rate of return on the
investment
|
AIM
monitors and, when appropriate, changes the investment ratings assigned to each
investment in our portfolio. In connection with our valuation
process, AIM reviews these investment ratings on a quarterly basis, and our
board of directors affirms such ratings.
Valuation
Process
The
following is a description of the steps we take each quarter to determine the
value of our portfolio. Many of our portfolio investments are
recorded at fair value as determined in good faith by or under the direction of
our board of directors pursuant to a valuation policy and a consistently applied
valuation process utilizing the input of our investment adviser, independent
valuation firms and the audit committee. As a result, there is
uncertainty as to the value of our portfolio investments. Investments
for which market quotations are readily available are recorded in our financial
statements at such market quotations if they are deemed to represent fair
value. Market quotations may be deemed not to represent fair value in
certain circumstances where AIM believes that facts and circumstances applicable
to an issuer, a seller or purchaser or the market for a particular security
causes current market quotes to not reflect the fair value of the
security. Examples of these events could include cases in which
material events are announced after the close of the market on which a security
is primarily traded, when a security trades infrequently causing a quoted
purchase or sale price to become stale or in the event of a "fire sale" by a
distressed seller.
With
respect to investments for which market quotations are not readily available or
when such market quotations are deemed not to represent fair value, our board of
directors has approved a multi-step valuation process each quarter, as described
below:
(1) our
quarterly valuation process begins with each portfolio company or investment
being initially valued by the investment professionals of our investment adviser
responsible for the portfolio investment;
(2) preliminary
valuation conclusions are then documented and discussed with senior management
of our investment adviser;
(3) independent
valuation firms engaged by our board of directors conduct independent appraisals
and review our investment adviser’s preliminary valuations and make their own
independent assessment;
(4) the
audit committee of the board of directors reviews the preliminary valuation of
our investment adviser and that of the independent valuation firm and responds
to the valuation recommendation of the independent valuation firm to reflect any
comments; and
(5) the
board of directors discusses valuations and determines the fair value of each
investment in our portfolio in good faith based on the input of our investment
adviser, the respective independent valuation firm and the audit
committee.
When
we make investments that involve deferrals of interest payable to us, any
increase in the value of the investment due to the accrual or receipt of payment
of interest is allocated to the increase in the cost basis of the investment,
rather than to capital appreciation or gain.
Competition
Our
primary competitors in providing financing to middle-market companies include
public and private funds, commercial and investment banks, commercial financing
companies, and, to the extent they provide an alternative form of financing,
private equity funds. Additionally, because competition for
investment opportunities generally has increased among alternative investment
vehicles, such as hedge funds, those entities have begun to invest in areas they
have not traditionally invested in, including investments in middle-market
companies. As a result of these new entrants, competition for
investment opportunities at middle-market companies has
intensified. Some of our existing and potential competitors are
substantially larger and have considerably greater financial, technical and
marketing resources than we do. For example, some competitors may
have a lower cost of funds and access to funding sources that are not available
to us. 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
we. Furthermore, many of our competitors are not subject to the
regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act imposes on us as a BDC. We
expect to use the industry information of Apollo's investment professionals to
which we have access to assess investment risks and determine appropriate
pricing for our investments in portfolio companies. In addition, we
believe that the relationships of the senior managers of AIM and of the senior
partners of Apollo, enable us to learn about, and compete effectively for,
financing opportunities with attractive middle-market companies in the
industries in which we seek to invest.
Staffing
We
have a chief financial officer and a chief compliance officer and, to the extent
necessary, they have hired and will continue to hire additional
personnel. These individuals are employees of Apollo Administration
and perform their respective functions under the terms of the administration
agreement. Certain of our other executive officers are managing
partners of our investment adviser. Our day-to-day investment
operations are managed by our investment adviser. AIM has hired and
will continue to hire additional investment professionals in the
future. In addition, we reimburse AIA for our allocable portion of
expenses incurred by it in performing its obligations under the administration
agreement, including rent and our allocable portion of the cost of our chief
financial officer and chief compliance officer and their respective
staffs.
Properties
We
do not own any real estate or other physical properties materially important to
our operations. Our administrative and principal executive offices
are located at 9 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. We believe
that our office facilities are suitable and adequate for our business as it is
contemplated to be conducted.
Legal
Proceedings
We
and AIM are not currently subject to any material legal
proceedings.
Sarbanes-Oxley
Act of 2002
The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 imposes a wide variety of regulatory requirements on
publicly-held companies and their insiders. Many of these
requirements affect us. For example:
|
·
|
Pursuant
to Rule 13a-14 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange
Act"), our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer must
certify the accuracy of the financial statements contained in our periodic
reports;
|
|
·
|
Pursuant
to Item 307 of Regulation S-K, our periodic reports must disclose our
conclusions about the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and
procedures;
|
|
·
|
Pursuant
to Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act, our management must prepare a
report regarding its assessment of our internal control over financial
reporting, which must be audited by our independent registered public
accounting firm; and
|
|
·
|
Pursuant
to Item 308 of Regulation S-K and Rule 13a-15 under the Exchange Act, our
periodic reports must disclose whether there were significant changes in
our internal controls or in other factors that could significantly affect
these controls subsequent to the date of their evaluation, including any
corrective actions with regard to significant deficiencies and material
weaknesses.
|
The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires us to review our current policies and procedures to
determine whether we comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the regulations
promulgated thereunder. We will continue to monitor our compliance
with all regulations that are adopted under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and will take
actions necessary to ensure that we are in compliance therewith.
MANAGEMENT
Our
business and affairs are managed under the direction of our board of
directors. The board of directors currently consists of seven
members, six of whom are not "interested persons" of Apollo Investment as
defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act. We refer to these
individuals as our independent directors. Our board of directors
elects our officers, who serve at the discretion of the board of
directors.
BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
Under
our charter, our directors are divided into three classes. Each class
of directors holds office for a three year term. At each annual
meeting of our stockholders, the successors to the class of directors whose
terms expire at such meeting will be elected to hold office for a term expiring
at the annual meeting of stockholders held in the third year following the year
of their election. Each director holds office for the term to which
he or she is elected and until his or her successor is duly elected and
qualifies.
Directors
Information
regarding the board of directors is as follows:
Interested
Director
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
John
J. Hannan
|
55
|
Chairman
of the Board and Chief Executive Officer since 2006
|
2004
|
2009
|
Independent
Directors
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Claudine
B. Malone
|
72
|
Director
|
2007
|
2011
|
Frank
C. Puleo
|
62
|
Director
|
2008
|
2011
|
Carl
Spielvogel
|
79
|
Director
|
2004
|
2011
|
Elliot
Stein, Jr
|
59
|
Director
|
2004
|
2010
|
Bradley
J. Wechsler
|
57
|
Director
|
2004
|
2010
|
|
The
address for each director is c/o Apollo Investment Corporation, 9 West
57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
|
Executive
officers who are not directors
Information
regarding our executive officers who are not directors is as
follows:
|
|
|
James
C. Zelter
|
46
|
President
and Chief Operating Officer
|
Patrick
J. Dalton
|
40
|
Executive
Vice President
|
Richard
L. Peteka
|
47
|
Chief
Financial Officer and Treasurer
|
John
J. Suydam
|
48
|
Vice
President and Chief Legal Officer
|
Gordon
E. Swartz
|
61
|
Chief
Compliance Officer and Secretary
|
The
address for each executive officer is c/o Apollo Investment Corporation, 9 West
57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
Biographical
information
Directors
Our
directors have been divided into two groups—interested directors and independent
directors. Interested directors are interested persons as defined in
the 1940 Act.
Independent
directors
Claudine B. Malone
(72)
Director. Ms. Malone became a director of Apollo
Investment on April 17, 2007. Ms. Malone is the President
and Chief Executive Officer of Financial & Management Consulting Inc. of
McLean, Virginia. She also currently serves as a director of Novell,
Inc. and Aviva Life Insurance Company (USA). Previously, Ms. Malone
was Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond from 1996 to
1999. She served as a visiting professor at the Colgate-Darden
Business School of the University of Virginia from 1984 to 1987, an adjunct
professor of the School of Business Administration at Georgetown University from
1982 to 1984 and an assistant and associate professor at the Harvard Graduate
School of Business Administration from 1972 to 1981.
Frank C. Puleo
(62)
Director. Mr. Puleo became a director of Apollo Investment on
February 4, 2008. Mr. Puleo currently serves as a Director
of Commercial Industrial Finance Corp. and SLM Corp. Previously Mr.
Puleo was a partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP where he advised
clients on structured finance transactions, bank and bank holding company
regulatory and securities law matters. Mr. Puleo became a partner of
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP in 1978 and Co-Chair of the firm's
Global Finance Group in 1995 until retiring at the end of 2006. He
was a member of the firm's Executive Committee from 1982 to 1991 and from 1996
to 2002. Mr. Puleo served as a Lecturer at Columbia University School
of Law from 1997 to 2001.
Carl Spielvogel (79)
Director. Ambassador Spielvogel became a director of Apollo
Investment in March 2004. Amb. Spielvogel has been Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Carl Spielvogel Associates, Inc., an international
management and counseling company, from 1997 to 2000, and from 2001 to
present. In 2000-2001, Amb. Spielvogel served as U.S.
Ambassador to the Slovak Republic, based in Bratislava,
Slovakia. From 1994 to 1997, Amb. Spielvogel was Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of the United Auto Group, Inc., one of the first
publicly-owned auto dealership groups. Earlier, Amb. Spielvogel was
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Backer
Spielvogel Bates Worldwide, a global marketing communications company, from 1985
to 1994. Amb. Spielvogel currently is a director of the Interactive
Data Corporation, Inc. He is also a trustee to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art; a member of the board of Trustees and Chairman of the Business
Council of the Asia Society; a member of the board of trustees of Lincoln Center
for the Performing Arts; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a
member of the board of trustees of the Institute for the Study of Europe, at
Columbia University, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of
American Ambassadors.
Elliot Stein,
Jr. (59) Director. Mr.
Stein became a director of Apollo Investment in March 2004. Mr. Stein
has served as chairman of Caribbean International News Corporation since 1985
and Transformation Capital Corporation since 2008. He is also a
managing director of Commonwealth Capital Partners as well as various private
companies, including Cloud Solutions LLC and Cohere
Communications. Mr. Stein is a trustee of Claremont Graduate
University and the New School University. He is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations.
Bradley J. Wechsler (57) Director. Mr.
Wechsler became a director of Apollo Investment in April 2004. Mr.
Wechsler has been the Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of IMAX
Corporation since May 1996. Previously Mr. Wechsler has
had several executive positions in the entertainment industry and was a partner
in the entertainment and media practice for a New York-based investment
bank. Mr. Wechsler is a Vice-Chairman of the board of the
NYU Hospital and Medical Center, a member of the Executive Committee and chairs
its Finance Committee. In addition, he sits on the boards of The
American Museum of the Moving Image, the Ethical Culture Fieldston Schools and
Math for America.
Interested
director
John J. Hannan (55) Chairman of the Board,
Chief Executive Officer and Director of Apollo
Investment. Mr. Hannan became a director of Apollo in
March 2004 and was elected our Chief Executive Officer in February 2006 and
Chairman of the board of directors in August
2006. Mr. Hannan has served on AIM's investment committee
since February 2006. Mr. Hannan, a senior partner of
Apollo, co-founded Apollo Management, L.P. in 1990 and Apollo Real Estate
Advisors, L.P. (an investment manager affiliated with Apollo's real estate
investment funds) in 1993.
Executive
officers who are not directors
James C. Zelter
(46) President and
Chief Operating Officer of Apollo Investment. Mr. Zelter
joined Apollo in 2006. Prior to joining the firm, he was with
Citigroup and its predecessor companies since 1994, and was responsible for the
global expansion and strong financial performance of the Special Situations
Investment Group, a proprietary investment group that he founded within
Citigroup's Fixed Income Division. From 2003 to 2005,
Mr. Zelter was Chief Investment Officer of Citigroup Alternative
Investments, and prior to that he was responsible for the firm's global high
yield franchise and leveraged finance business.
Patrick J. Dalton
(40) Executive Vice
President of Apollo Investment. Mr. Dalton joined AIM in
June 2004 as a partner and as a member of AIM's investment
committee. Mr. Dalton is also the Chief Investment Officer of
AIM and a member of the Investment Committee of Apollo Investment
Europe. Before joining Apollo, Mr. Dalton was a Vice President with
Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s Principal Investment Area with a focus on mezzanine
investing since 2000. From 1990 to 2000, Mr. Dalton was a Vice President with
the Chase Manhattan Bank where he worked most recently in the Acquisition
Finance Department.
Richard L. Peteka (47) Chief Financial Officer
and Treasurer of Apollo Investment. Mr. Peteka joined Apollo Investment in June
2004 as its Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Prior to joining the firm, he
was Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of various closed-end and open-end
registered investment companies for Citigroup Asset Management. He joined
Citigroup Asset Management as a Director in July 1999.
John J. Suydam (48) Vice President and Chief
Legal Officer of Apollo Investment. Mr. Suydam joined Apollo in 2006. From 2002
to 2006, Mr. Suydam was a partner at O'Melveny & Myers, where he served as
head of Mergers & Acquisitions and co-head of the Corporate Department.
Prior to that, Mr. Suydam served as Chairman of the law firm O'Sullivan, LLP,
which specialized in representing private equity investors. Mr. Suydam serves on
the
board
of directors of the Big Apple Circus and Quality Distribution. Mr.
Suydam received his J.D. from New York University and graduated magna cum laude
with a B.A. in history from the State University of New York at
Albany.
Gordon E. Swartz (61) Chief Compliance
Officer and Secretary of Apollo Investment. Mr. Swartz became the Chief
Compliance Officer of Apollo Investment in October 2004 and Secretary in June
2006. Prior to joining Apollo Investment, Mr. Swartz was an Associate
General Counsel of Citigroup Asset Management.
COMMITTEES
OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Audit
committee
The
Audit Committee operates pursuant to an Audit Committee Charter approved by the
board of directors. The charter sets forth the responsibilities of the Audit
Committee, which include selecting or retaining each year an independent
registered public accounting firm (the "auditors") to audit our accounts and
records; reviewing and discussing with management and the auditors our annual
audited financial statements, including disclosures made in management's
discussion and analysis, and recommending to the board of directors whether the
audited financial statements should be included in our annual report on Form
10-K; reviewing and discussing with management and the auditors our quarterly
financial statements prior to the filings of our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q;
pre-approving the auditors' engagement to render audit and permissible non-audit
services; and evaluating the qualifications, performance and independence of the
auditors. The Audit Committee is presently composed of five persons: Ms. Malone
(Chair) and Messrs. Puleo, Spielvogel, and Stein, all of whom are independent
directors and are otherwise considered independent under the listing standards
of NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4200 (a)(15) (the "NASDAQ Listing
Standards"). Our board of directors has determined that Ms. Malone is
an "audit committee financial expert" as that term is defined under Item
407(d)(5) of Regulation S-K under the Exchange Act. The Audit
Committee Charter is available on our website (http://www.apolloic.com).
During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, the audit committee met five
times.
Nominating
and corporate governance committee
The
members of the nominating and corporate governance committee are Ms. Malone and
Messrs. Puleo, Spielvogel, Stein (Chairman), and Wechsler, each of whom is
independent for purposes of the 1940 Act and the NASDAQ Listing
Standards. Mr. Stein serves as chairman of the nominating and
corporate governance committee. The nominating and corporate governance
committee is responsible for selecting, researching and nominating directors for
election by our stockholders, selecting nominees to fill vacancies on the board
of directors or a committee of the board of directors, developing and
recommending to the board of directors a set of corporate governance principles
and overseeing the evaluation of the board of directors and our management. The
nominating and corporate governance committee considers nominees recommended by
our stockholders when such recommendations are submitted in accordance with our
bylaws, our nominating and corporate governance committee charter and any
applicable law, rule or regulation regarding director
nominations. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, the
nominating and corporate governance committee met ___ times.
Compensation
committee
We
do not have a compensation committee. Decisions regarding executive compensation
are made by our entire board of directors.
COMPENSATION
OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS
The
following table shows information regarding the compensation received by the
independent directors and executive officers for the fiscal year ended March 31,
2008. No compensation is paid to directors who are "interested
persons."
|
Aggregate
compensation
from
Apollo
Investment
|
Pension
or
retirement
benefits
accrued as
part of
our expenses (1)
|
Total
compensation
from
Apollo
Investment
paid
to
director/officer
|
Independent
directors
|
|
|
|
|
Claudine
B. Malone
|
$130,913
|
None
|
$130,913
|
|
Frank
C. Puleo*
|
$17,527
|
None
|
|
|
Carl
Spielvogel
|
$132,630
|
None
|
$132,630
|
|
Elliot
Stein, Jr.
|
$136,500
|
None
|
|
|
Gerald
Tsai, Jr.**
|
$133,000
|
None
|
$133,000
|
|
Bradley
J. Wechsler
|
$117,500
|
None
|
$117,500
|
|
Interested
directors
|
|
|
|
|
John
J. Hannan
|
None
|
None
|
None
|
|
Executive
Officers
|
|
|
|
|
Patrick
J. Dalton
|
None
|
None
|
None
|
|
Richard
L. Peteka(2)
|
None
|
None
|
|
|
John
J. Suydam
|
None
|
None
|
None
|
|
Gordon
E. Swartz(2)
|
None
|
None
|
None
|
|
Edward
S. Tam***
|
None
|
None
|
None
|
|
James
C. Zelter
|
None
|
None |
|
|
________________
(1)
|
We
do not have a profit sharing or retirement plan, and directors do not
receive any pension or retirement
benefits.
|
(2)
|
Messrs.
Peteka and Swartz are employees of
AIA.
|
*
|
Effective
as of February 4, 2008, Mr. Puleo became a
Director.
|
**
|
Mr.
Tsai died on July 9, 2008.
|
***
|
Effective
as of April 18, 2008, Mr. Tam
resigned.
|
The
annual fee for each independent directors' is $100,000. Each
independent director also receives $2,500 plus reimbursement of reasonable
out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending each board meeting
and receives $1,000 plus reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses
incurred in connection with attending each committee meeting. In addition, the
Chairman of the Audit Committee receives an annual fee of $7,500 and each
chairman of any other committee receives an annual fee of $2,500 for their
additional services in these capacities. In addition, we purchase directors' and
officers' liability insurance on behalf of our directors and officers.
Independent directors have the option to receive their directors' fees paid in
shares of our common stock issued at a price per share equal to the greater of
net asset value or the market price at the time of payment.
INVESTMENT
ADVISORY AND MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
Management
services
AIM
serves as our investment adviser and is controlled by Apollo. AIM is registered
as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act. Subject to the overall
supervision of our board of directors, the investment adviser manages the
day-to-day operations of, and provides investment advisory and management
services to, Apollo Investment. Under the terms of an investment advisory and
management agreement, AIM:
|
·
|
determines
the composition of our portfolio, the nature and timing of the changes to
our portfolio and the manner of implementing such
changes;
|
|
·
|
identifies,
evaluates and negotiates the structure of the investments we make
(including performing due diligence on our prospective portfolio
companies); and
|
|
·
|
closes
and monitors the investments we
make.
|
AIM's
services under the investment advisory and management 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.
Management
fee
Pursuant
to the investment advisory and management agreement, we pay AIM a fee for
investment advisory and management services consisting of two components—a base
management fee and an incentive fee. For the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008,
2007 and 2006, AIM received $59.9 million, $40.6 million and $23.4 million,
respectively, in base investment advisory and management fees and $46.4 million,
$36.6 million and $22.3 million, respectively, in performance-based net
investment income incentive fees from us. At March 31, 2008, we had
also accrued $0 for a net realized capital gains based incentive fee. The amount
actually payable by us will be determined as of the end of the calendar
year. For the calendar years 2007, 2006 and 2005, we have paid
$5,304, $0 and $0, respectively, in net realized capital gain based incentive
fees to AIM.
The
base management fee is calculated at an annual rate of 2.00% of our average
gross assets. The base management fee is payable quarterly in
arrears. The base management fee is calculated based on the average value of our
gross assets at the end of the two most recently completed calendar quarters,
and appropriately adjusted for any share issuances or repurchases during the
current calendar quarter. Base management fees for any partial month or quarter
are appropriately pro rated.
The
incentive fee has two parts, as follows: one part is calculated and payable
quarterly in arrears based on our pre-incentive fee net investment income for
the immediately preceding calendar quarter. For this purpose, pre-incentive fee
net investment income means interest income, dividend income and any other
income (including any other fees (other than fees for providing managerial
assistance), such as commitment, origination, structuring, diligence and
consulting fees or other fees that we receive from portfolio companies) accrued
during the calendar quarter, minus our operating expenses for the quarter
(including the base management fee, any expenses payable under the
Administration Agreement, and any interest expense and dividends paid on any
issued and outstanding preferred stock, but excluding the incentive fee).
Pre-incentive fee net investment income does not include any realized capital
gains computed net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital
depreciation. Pre-incentive fee net investment income, expressed as a rate of
return on the value of our net assets at the end of the immediately preceding
calendar quarter, is compared to the hurdle rate of 1.75% per quarter (7%
annualized). Our net investment income used to calculate this part of the
incentive fee is also included in the amount of our gross assets used to
calculate the 2% base management fee. We pay AIM an incentive fee with respect
to our pre-incentive fee net investment income in each calendar quarter as
follows:
|
·
|
no
incentive fee in any calendar quarter in which our pre-incentive fee net
investment income does not exceed the hurdle
rate;
|
|
·
|
100%
of our pre-incentive fee net investment income with respect to that
portion of such pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that
exceeds the hurdle rate but is less than 2.1875% in any calendar quarter
(8.75% annualized). We refer to this portion of our pre-incentive fee net
investment income (which exceeds the hurdle rate but is less than 2.1875%)
as the "catch-up." The "catch-up" provision is intended to provide our
investment adviser with an incentive fee of 20% on all of our
pre-incentive fee net investment income as if a hurdle rate did not apply
when our net investment income exceeds 2.1875% in any calendar quarter;
and
|
|
·
|
20%
of the amount of our pre-incentive fee net investment income, if any, that
exceeds 2.1875% in any calendar quarter (8.75%
annualized).
|
The
following is a graphical representation of the calculation of the income-related
portion of the incentive fee:
Quarterly
Incentive Fee Based on Net Investment Income
Pre-incentive
fee net investment income
(expressed
as a percentage of the value of net assets)
Percentage
of pre-incentive fee net investment income
allocated
to income-related portion of incentive fee
These
calculations are appropriately pro rated for any period of less than three
months and adjusted for any share issuances or repurchases during the relevant
quarter. You should be aware that a rise in the general level of interest rates
can be expected to lead to higher interest rates applicable to our debt
investments. Accordingly, an increase in interest rates would make it easier for
us to meet or exceed the incentive fee hurdle rate and may result in a
substantial increase of the amount of incentive fees payable to our investment
adviser with respect to pre-incentive fee net investment income.
The
second part of the incentive fee is determined and payable in arrears as of the
end of each calendar year (or upon termination of the Investment Advisory and
Management Agreement, as of the termination date) and will equal 20.0% of our
realized capital gains for each calendar year computed net of all realized
capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation and incorporating unrealized
depreciation on a gross investment-by-investment basis at the end of such year.
Capital gains with respect to any investment will equal the difference between
the proceeds from the sale of such investment and the accreted or amortized cost
basis of such investment.
Examples
of Quarterly Incentive Fee Calculation
Example
1: Income Related Portion of Incentive Fee (*):
Alternative
1
Assumptions
Investment
income (including interest, dividends, fees, etc.) = 1.25%
Hurdle
rate(1) = 1.75%
Management
fee(2) = 0.50%
Other
expenses (legal, accounting, custodian, transfer agent, etc.)(3) =
0.20%
Pre-incentive
fee net investment income
(investment
income—(management fee + other expenses)) = 0.55%
Pre-incentive
net investment income does not exceed hurdle rate, therefore there is no
incentive fee.
Alternative
2
Assumptions
Investment
income (including interest, dividends, fees, etc.) = 2.70%
Hurdle
rate(1) = 1.75%
Management
fee(2) = 0.50%
Other
expenses (legal, accounting, custodian, transfer agent, etc.)(3) =
0.20%
Pre-incentive
fee net investment income
(investment
income—(management fee + other expenses)) = 2.00%
Incentive
fee = 100% × pre-incentive fee net investment income, subject to the
"catch-up"(4)
=
100% × (2.00% – 1.75%)
=
0.25%
Alternative
3
Assumptions
Investment
income (including interest, dividends, fees, etc.) = 3.00%
Hurdle
rate(1) = 1.75%
Management
fee(2) = 0.50%
Other
expenses (legal, accounting, custodian, transfer agent, etc.)(3) =
0.20%
Pre-incentive
fee net investment income
(investment
income—(management fee + other expenses)) = 2.30%
Incentive
fee = 20% × pre-incentive fee net investment income, subject to
"catch-up"(4)
Incentive
fee = 100% × "catch-up" + (20% × (pre-incentive fee net investment income –
2.1875%))
Catch-up
= 2.1875% – 1.75%
=
0.4375%
Incentive
fee = (100% × 0.4375%) + (20% × (2.3% – 2.1875%))
=
0.4375% + (20% × 0.1125%)
=
0.4375% + 0.0225%
=
0.46%
__________
(*) The
hypothetical amount of pre-incentive fee net investment income shown is based on
a percentage of total net assets.
(1) Represents
7.0% annualized hurdle rate.
(2) Represents
2.0% annualized management fee.
(3) Excludes
organizational and offering expenses.
(4) The
"catch-up" provision is intended to provide our investment adviser with an
incentive fee of 20% on all of our pre-incentive fee net investment income as if
a hurdle rate did not apply when our net investment income exceeds 2.1875% in
any calendar quarter.
Example
2: Capital Gains Portion of Incentive Fee:
Alternative
1:
Assumptions
|
·
|
Year
1: $20 million investment made in Company A ("Investment A"), and $30
million investment made in Company B ("Investment
B")
|
|
·
|
Year
2: Investment A sold for $50 million and fair market value ("FMV") of
Investment B determined to be $32
million
|
|
·
|
Year
3: FMV of Investment B determined to be $25
million
|
|
·
|
Year
4: Investment B sold for $31
million
|
The
capital gains portion of the incentive fee would be:
|
·
|
Year
2: Capital gains incentive fee of $6 million ($30 million realized capital
gains on sale of Investment A multiplied by
20%)
|
$5
million (20% multiplied by ($30 million cumulative capital gains less $5 million
cumulative capital depreciation)) less $6 million (previous capital gains fee
paid in Year 2)
|
·
|
Year
4: Capital gains incentive fee of
$200,000
|
$6.2
million ($31 million cumulative realized capital gains multiplied by 20%) less
$6 million (capital gains fee taken in Year 2)
Alternative
2
Assumptions
|
·
|
Year
1: $20 million investment made in Company A ("Investment A"), $30 million
investment made in Company B ("Investment B") and $25 million investment
made in Company C ("Investment C")
|
|
·
|
Year
2: Investment A sold for $50 million, FMV of Investment B determined to be
$25 million and FMV of Investment C determined to be $25
million
|
|
·
|
Year
3: FMV of Investment B determined to be $27 million and Investment C sold
for $30 million
|
|
·
|
Year
4: FMV of Investment B determined to be $35
million
|
|
·
|
Year
5: Investment B sold for $20
million
|
The
capital gains incentive fee, if any, would be:
|
·
|
Year
2: $5 million capital gains incentive
fee
|
|
·
|
20%
multiplied by $25 million ($30 million realized capital gains on
Investment A less unrealized capital depreciation on Investment
B)
|
|
·
|
Year
3: $1.4 million capital gains incentive
fee(1)
|
|
·
|
$6.4
million (20% multiplied by $32 million ($35 million cumulative realized
capital gains less $3 million unrealized capital depreciation)) less $5
million capital gains fee received in Year
2
|
$5
million (20% multiplied by $25 million (cumulative realized capital gains of $35
million less realized capital losses of $10 million)) less $6.4 million
cumulative capital gains fee paid in Year 2 and Year 3"
____________
|
(1) As
illustrated in Year 3 of Alternative 1 above, if Apollo Investment were to
be wound up on a date other than December 31st of any year, Apollo
Investment may have paid aggregate capital gain incentive fees that are
more than the amount of such fees that would be payable if Apollo
Investment had been wound up on December 31st of such
year.
|
Payment
of our expenses
All
investment professionals of the investment adviser and their respective staffs
when and to the extent engaged in providing investment advisory and management
services, and the compensation and routine overhead expenses of such personnel
allocable to such services, are provided and paid for by AIM. We bear all other
costs and expenses of our operations and transactions, including those relating
to: calculation of our net asset value (including the cost and
expenses of any independent valuation firm); expenses incurred by AIM payable to
third parties, including agents, consultants or other advisors, in monitoring
our financial and legal affairs and in monitoring our investments and performing
due diligence on our prospective portfolio companies; interest payable on debt,
if any, incurred to finance our investments; offerings of our common stock and
other securities; investment advisory and management fees; fees payable to third
parties, including agents, consultants or other advisors, relating to, or
associated with, evaluating and making investments; transfer agent and custodial
fees; registration fees; listing fees; taxes; independent directors' fees and
expenses; costs of preparing and filing reports or other documents of the SEC;
the costs of any reports, proxy statements or other notices to stockholders,
including printing costs; our allocable portion of the fidelity bond, directors'
and officers'/errors and omissions liability insurance, and any other insurance
premiums; direct costs and expenses of administration, including auditor and
legal costs; and all other expenses incurred by us or Apollo Administration in
connection with administering our business, such as our allocable portion of
overhead under the administration agreement, including rent and our allocable
portion of the cost of our chief compliance officer and chief financial officer
and their respective staffs.
Duration
and termination
The
continuation of our investment advisory and management agreement was approved by
our board of directors on March 24, 2008. Unless terminated earlier as described
below, it will remain in effect from year to year if approved annually by our
board of directors or by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of
our outstanding voting securities, including, in either case, approval by a
majority of our directors who are not interested persons. The investment
advisory and management agreement will automatically terminate in the event of
its assignment. Either party may terminate the investment advisory and
management agreement without penalty upon not more than 60 days' written notice
to the other party. See "Risk Factors—Risks relating to our business and
structure—We
are dependent upon AIM's key personnel for our future success and upon their
access to Apollo's investment professionals and partners."
Indemnification
The
investment advisory and management agreement provides that, absent willful
misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of its duties or
reckless disregard of its duties and obligations, AIM and its officers,
managers, partners, agents, employees, controlling persons, members and any
other person or entity affiliated with it are entitled to indemnification from
Apollo Investment for any damages, liabilities, costs and expenses (including
reasonable attorneys' fees and amounts reasonably paid in settlement) arising
from the rendering of AIM's services under the investment advisory and
management agreement or otherwise as an investment adviser of Apollo
Investment.
Organization
of the investment adviser
AIM
is a Delaware limited partnership that is registered as an investment adviser
under the Advisers Act. The principal executive offices of AIM are at 9 West
57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
Patrick
Dalton is primarily responsible for day-to-day management of our investment
portfolio. He is an employee of our investment adviser and receives a
compensation package from it that includes a base salary and variable incentive
compensation based primarily on our performance. The dollar range of
equity securities purchased and beneficially owned by Mr. Dalton in Apollo
Investment is $50,001 - $100,000.
Board
Approval of the Investment Advisory and Management Agreement
At
a meeting of our board of directors held on March 24, 2008, the board, including
our directors who are not "interested persons" as defined in the 1940 Act, voted
to approve the continuation of the investment advisory and management agreement
between us and AIM for another annual period in accordance with the requirements
of the 1940 Act. Our independent directors had the opportunity to consult in
executive session with their counsel regarding the approval of such agreement.
In reaching a decision to approve the continuation of the investment advisory
and management agreement, our board of directors reviewed a significant amount
of information and considered, among other things:
|
·
|
the
nature, extent and quality of the advisory and other services provided and
to be provided to us by the investment
adviser;
|
|
·
|
the
investment performance of us and our investment
adviser;
|
|
·
|
the
reasonableness of the fee payable by us to the investment adviser in light
of comparative performance; expense and advisory fee information, costs of
the services provided, and profits realized and benefits derived or to be
derived by the investment adviser from its relationship with
us;
|
|
·
|
the
potential for economies of scale to be realized by the investment adviser
in managing our assets and the extent to which material economies of scale
may be shared with us; and
|
In
approving the continuation of the investment advisory and management agreement,
our board of directors, including the directors who are not "interested
persons," made the following determinations:
|
·
|
Nature, Extent and Quality of
Services. Our board of directors received and considered
information regarding the nature, extent and quality of the investment
selection process employed by the investment adviser. In addition, our
board of directors received and considered other information regarding the
administrative and other services rendered to us by affiliates of the
investment adviser and noted information received at regular meetings
throughout the year related to the services rendered by the investment
adviser in its management of our affairs. Our board of directors also
considered the backgrounds and responsibilities of the investment
adviser's senior personnel and their qualifications and experience in
connection with the types of investments made by us. The board noted
recent additions to the investment adviser's personnel and the investment
adviser's commitment to providing us with qualified investment and
compliance personnel. Our board also considered the financial resources
available to the investment adviser. Our board of directors determined
that the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the
investment adviser are adequate and
appropriate.
|
|
·
|
Investment
Performance. Our board of directors reviewed
the long-term and short-term investment performance of Apollo Investment
and the investment adviser, as well as comparative data with respect to
the long-term and short-term investment performance of other
externally-managed business development companies. Our board of directors
concluded that the investment adviser was delivering results consistent
with our investment objective and that our investment performance was
satisfactory when compared to comparable business development
companies.
|
|
·
|
The reasonableness of the fee
payable by us to the investment adviser. Our board
of directors considered comparative data based on publicly available
information and information provided by a third party retained to provide
comparative data on other business development companies with respect to
services rendered and the advisory fees (including the management fees and
incentive fees) of other business development companies as well as our
operating expenses and expense ratio compared to other business
development companies, including business development companies with
similar investment objectives. Based upon its review, the board of
directors concluded that the fees payable under the investment advisory
and management agreement are reasonable compared to
other business development companies and in light of the
services provided by the investment adviser and the costs to the
investment adviser of providing such services. In addition, our board of
directors concluded that our expenses as a percentage of net assets
attributable to common stock are reasonable as compared to other business
development companies.
|
|
·
|
Economies of
Scale. Our board of directors considered
information about the potential of the investment adviser to realize
economies of scale in managing our assets, and determined that at this
time there were no economies of scale to be realized by the investment
adviser and that, to the extent any such material economies of scale were
to be realized by the investment adviser, our board of directors would
seek to have such economies of scale shared with
us.
|
Based
on the information reviewed and the discussions above, our directors (including
those directors who are not "interested persons") concluded that the terms of
the investment advisory and management agreement, including the fee rates
thereunder, are fair and reasonable in relation to the services provided and
approved the continuation of the investment advisory and management agreement
with the investment adviser as being in the best interests of Apollo Investment
and its stockholders.
In
view of the wide variety of factors that our board of directors considered in
connection with its evaluation of the investment advisory and management
agreement, it is not practical to quantify, rank or otherwise assign relative
weights to the specific factors our board considered in reaching its decision.
Our board of directors did not undertake to make any specific determination as
to whether any particular factor, or any aspect of any particular factor, was
favorable or unfavorable to the ultimate determination of our board of
directors. Rather, our board of directors based its approval on the
totality of information presented to, and reviewed by, it. In
considering the factors discussed above, individual directors may have given
different weights to different factors.
ADMINISTRATION
AGREEMENT
Pursuant
to a separate administration agreement, AIA furnishes us with office facilities,
equipment and clerical, bookkeeping and record keeping services at such
facilities. Under the administration agreement, AIA also performs, or oversees
the performance of, our required administrative services, which include, among
other things, being responsible for the financial records that we are required
to maintain and preparing reports to our stockholders and reports filed with the
SEC. In addition, AIA assists us in determining and publishing our net asset
value, oversees the preparation and filing of our tax returns and the printing
and dissemination of reports to our stockholders, and generally oversees the
payment of our expenses and the performance of administrative and professional
services rendered to us by others. Payments under the administration agreement
are equal to an amount based upon our allocable portion of AIA's overhead in
performing its obligations under the administration agreement, including rent
and our allocable portion of the cost of our chief compliance officer and chief
financial officer and their respective staffs. Under the administration
agreement, AIA also provides on our behalf managerial assistance to those
portfolio companies to which we are required to provide such assistance. Either
party may terminate the administration agreement without penalty upon 60 days'
written notice to the other party.
For
the fiscal years ended March 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006, AIA was
reimbursed $3,162, $2,237 and $1,017, respectively, from Apollo
Investment on the $3,450, $2,437 and $1,470, respectively, of expenses accrued
under the administration agreement.
Indemnification
The
administration agreement provides that, absent willful misfeasance, bad faith or
gross negligence in the performance of its duties or reckless disregard of its
duties and obligations, AIA and its officers, managers, partners, agents,
employees, controlling persons, members and any other person or entity
affiliated with it are entitled to indemnification from us for any damages,
liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and
amounts reasonably paid in settlement) arising from the rendering of AIA's
services under the administration agreement or otherwise as administrator for
us.
LICENSE
AGREEMENT
We
have entered into a license agreement with Apollo pursuant to which Apollo has
agreed to grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use the name
"Apollo." Under this agreement, we will have a right to use the Apollo name, for
so long as AIM 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
"Apollo" name. This license agreement will remain in effect for so long as the
investment advisory and management agreement with our investment adviser is in
effect.
CERTAIN
RELATIONSHIPS
We
have entered into the investment advisory and management agreement with AIM. Our
senior management and our chairman of the board of directors have ownership and
financial interests in AIM. Our senior management also serve as principals of
other investment managers affiliated with AIM that may in the future manage
investment funds with investment objectives similar to ours. In addition, our
executive officers and directors and the partners of our investment adviser,
AIM, serve or may serve as officers, directors or principals of entities that
operate in the same or related line of business as we do or of investment funds
managed by our affiliates. Accordingly, we may not be given the opportunity to
participate in certain investments made by investment funds managed by advisers
affiliated with AIM. However, our investment adviser and other members of Apollo
intend to allocate investment opportunities in a fair and equitable manner
consistent with our investment objective and strategies so that we are not
disadvantaged in relation to any other client. See "Risk Factors—Risks relating
to our business and structure—There are significant potential conflicts of
interest which could impact our investment returns."
We
have entered into a license agreement with Apollo, pursuant to which Apollo has
agreed to grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use the name
"Apollo." In addition, pursuant to the terms of the administration agreement,
AIA provides us with the office facilities and administrative services necessary
to conduct our day-to-day operations. AIM is the sole member of and controls
AIA.
We
have in the past and expect in the future to co-invest on a concurrent basis
with other affiliates, subject to compliance with existing regulatory guidance,
applicable regulations and our allocation procedures. Certain types of
negotiated co-investments may be made only if we receive an order from the SEC
permitting us to do so. There can be no assurance that any such order will be
obtained.
CONTROL
PERSONS AND PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS
As
of August 31, 2008, there were no persons that owned 25% or more of our
outstanding voting securities, and no person would be deemed to control us, as
such term is defined in the 1940 Act.
The
following table sets forth, as of August 31, 2008, certain
ownership information with respect to our common stock for those persons who
directly or indirectly owned, controlled or held with the power to vote, 5% or
more of our outstanding common stock as of that date and all officers and
directors, as a group. Unless otherwise
indicated,
we believe that each beneficial owner set forth in the table had sole voting and
investment power over such securities.
|
|
|
Percentage
of
common
stock
outstanding
|
AIC
Co-Investors LLC(2)
|
Beneficial
|
879,075
|
*
%
|
JPMorgan
Chase & Co.(3)
|
Beneficial
|
27,076,610
|
16.4%
|
All
executive officers and directors as a group (11 persons)(4)
|
Beneficial
|
134,381
|
*
%
|
_________________
* Represents
less than 1%.
(1)
|
All
of our common stock is owned of record by Cede & Co., as nominee of
the Depository Trust Company.
|
(2)
|
AIC
Co-Investors LLC is a special purpose
entity related to AIM. The address for AIC Co-Investors LLC is 9 West 57th
Street, New York, NY 10019.
|
(3)
|
Based
on regulatory filings JPMorgan Chase & Co., 270 Park Avenue, New
York, NY 10017, retains (a) sole voting power to vote or direct the
vote as to 21,086,111 shares, (b) shared power to vote or to direct the
vote as to 4,994,531 shares, (c) sole power to dispose or to direct the
disposition of 20,517,599 shares and (d) shared power to dispose or
to direct the disposition of 6,177,689
shares.
|
(4)
|
The
address for all officers and directors is c/o Apollo Investment
Corporation, 9 West 57th Street, New York, NY
10019.
|
The
following table sets forth the dollar range of our equity securities
beneficially owned by each of our directors as of August 31, 2008. (We are
not part of a "family of investment companies," as that term is defined in the proxy rules under
the federal securities laws). Our directors have been divided into
two groups—interested directors and independent directors. Interested directors
are "interested persons" as defined in the 1940 Act.
|
|
Dollar
Range of Equity
Securities
in Apollo
Investment(1)
|
|
Independent
Directors(2)
|
|
|
|
Claudine
B. Malone
|
|
$ |
100,001
– $500,000 |
|
Frank
C. Puleo
|
|
$ |
100,001
– $500,000 |
|
Carl
Spielvogel
|
|
$ |
50,001
– $100,000 |
|
Elliot
Stein, Jr.
|
|
$ |
100,001
– $500,000 |
|
Bradley
J. Wechsler
|
|
$ |
500,001
–
$1,000,000 |
|
Interested
Directors
|
|
|
|
|
John
J. Hannan
|
|
$ |
500,001
– $1,000,000 |
(3) |
(1)
|
Dollar
ranges are as follows: None, $1—$10,000, $10,001—$50,000,
$50,001—$100,000, $100,001—$500,000, $500,001—$1,000,000 or over
$1,000,000.
|
(2)
|
Mr.
Tsai died on July 9, 2008.
|
(3)
|
Reflects
pecuniary interests in AIC Co-Investors LLC. Mr. Hannan disclaims
beneficial ownership of shares held by AIC Co-Investors
LLC.
|
PORTFOLIO
COMPANIES
The
following is a listing of each portfolio company or its affiliate, together
referred to as portfolio companies, in which we had an investment at June 30,
2008. A percentage shown for a class of investment securities held by
us represents the percentage of the class owned and does not necessarily
represent voting ownership. A percentage shown for equity securities, other than
warrants or options, represents the actual percentage
of
the class of security held on a fully dilued basis. A percentage shown for
warrants and options held represents the percentage of a class of security we
may own assuming we exercise our warrants or options after dilution. See
the financial statements to this base prospectus and any accompanying prospectus
supplement for information regarding the fair value of these securities and for
the general terms of any loans to the portfolio companies.
The
portfolio companies are presented in three categories: "companies more than 25%
owned," which represent portfolio companies with respect to which we directly or
indirectly own more than 25% of the outstanding voting securities of such
portfolio company and, therefore, are presumed to be controlled by us under the
1940 Act; "companies owned 5% to 25%," which represent portfolio companies with
respect to which we directly or indirectly own 5% to 25% of the outstanding
voting securities of such portfolio company or with respect to which we hold one
or more seats on the portfolio company's board of directors and, therefore, are
deemed to be an affiliated person under the 1940 Act; and "companies less than
5% owned," which represent portfolio companies with respect to which we directly
or indirectly own less than 5% of the outstanding voting securities of such
portfolio company and with respect to which we have no other
affiliations. We make available significant managerial assistance to
our portfolio companies. We generally request and may receive rights to observe
the meetings of our portfolio companies' board of directors.
Name
and Address of Portfolio Company
|
|
Nature
of its
|
|
Title of Securities Held by
Apollo Investment
|
|
Percentage of
Class Held (1)
|
|
Companies
More Than 25% Owned
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AIC
Credit Opportunity Fund
c/o
Apollo Investment Corporation
9
West 57th Street
New
York, NY 10019
|
|
Asset
Management
|
|
Common
Equity/
Equity Interests
|
|
100%
|
|
Grand
Prix Holdings, LLC
(Innkeepers
USA)
340
Royal Poinciana Way
Suite
306
Palm
Beach, FL 33480
|
|
Hotels,
Motels, Inns & Gaming
|
|
Preferred
Equity,
Common
Equity/
Equity Interests
|
|
99.60%
95.60%
|
|
Companies
5% to 25% Owned
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
None
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Companies
Less Than 5% Owned
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AB
Acquisitions UK Topco 2 Limited (Alliance Boots)
4th
Floor, 361 Oxford Street
Sedley
Place
London,
W1C 2JL
United
Kingdom
|
|
Retail
|
|
Subordinated
Debt/
Corporate
Notes,
Bank
Debt/
Senior
Secured Loans
|
|
—
|
|
A-D
Conduit Holdings, LLC (Duraline)
835
Innovation Drive
Knoxville,
TN 37932
|
|
Telecommunications
|
|
Common Equity/
Equity Interests
|
|
5.20%
|
|
Advanstar
Communications, Inc.
641
Lexington Avenue
8th
Floor
|