Other
Hercules Capital, Inc.
May 11, 2020
Investment Company Act of 1940 – Section 12(d)(3)
Hercules Capital, Inc.
May 11, 2020
Response of the Chief Counsel’s Office
Division of Investment Management
Your letter dated May 11, 2020, requests our assurance that we would not recommend enforcement action to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) against Hercules Capital, Inc. (the “Company”) under Section 12(d)(3) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), made applicable to business development companies (“BDCs”) by Section 60 of the 1940 Act, under the circumstances described in your letter. Specifically, the Company proposes to organize and acquire the securities of a wholly owned and controlled subsidiary, organized as a Delaware limited liability company, (the “Adviser Sub”) that will operate as an investment adviser and register as such under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”).
Based on the facts and representations set forth in your letter, we would not recommend that the Commission take any enforcement action against the Company as described above. Because our position is based upon the representations made to us in your letter, any different facts or representations may require a different conclusion.[1]
The statements in this letter represent the views of the Division of Investment Management. This letter is not a rule, regulation or statement of the Commission, and the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved its content.
Laura L. Solomon
Senior Counsel
[1] The Division of Investment Management generally permits third parties to rely on no-action or interpretive letters to the extent that the third party’s facts and circumstances are substantially similar to those described in the underlying request for a no-action or interpretive letter. See Informal Guidance Program for Small Entities, Investment Company Act Release No. 22587 (Mar. 27, 1997), n. 20. In light of the very fact-specific nature of this request, however, the position expressed in this letter applies only to the entities seeking relief, and no other entity may rely on this position.