Trinity Capital Inc., a specialty lending company that provides debt and equipment lease financing to growth stage companies backed by technology banks, venture capital and private equity firms, announced the closing of $250 million, in aggregate, of new capital from two concurrent private offerings.
Upon the completion of these transactions, Trinity began operating as an internally managed business development company (BDC) pursuant to its election to be regulated as such under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The company expects to elect for tax purposes to be treated as a regulated investment company or RIC.
The private offerings included the sale of 8,333,333 shares of its common stock for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $125 million and the sale of $125 million in aggregate principal amount of its 7.00% Unsecured Notes due 2025.
Immediately following these closings, Trinity used a portion of the private offerings proceeds in combination with the conversion of approximately $146 million of limited and general partnership interests to acquire Trinity Capital Investment, LLC, Trinity Capital Fund II, L.P., Trinity Capital Fund III, L.P., Trinity Capital Fund IV, L.P. and Trinity Sidecar Income Fund, L.P. (collectively, the “legacy funds”) and all of their assets, including their investment portfolios (the “Legacy Portfolio”). Trinity’s senior management team, led by CEO Steven Brown, comprised the majority of the senior management team that sourced and managed the Legacy Portfolio. As of Sept. 30, 2019, the Legacy Funds had combined total assets of approximately $473 million.
“We are very excited to announce this transition to a BDC and to create a permanent source of capital as we continue to grow,” said Brown, Chairman and CEO of Trinity. “This represents a major milestone in the continued growth of Trinity, and we look forward to maximizing value for our shareholders and to continue creating value for our portfolio companies and industry partners.”
Since 2008, the Legacy Funds provided debt and equipment lease financing to growth stage companies across industries primarily located in the United States and funded approximately $846 million in investments.
The team at Trinity is made up of people that know what it’s like to found a company, patent an idea, raise venture capital and scale a business.
“We personally invest our time, experience and resources — in addition to our capital — to help our portfolio companies succeed and accomplish their goals,” said Kyle Brown, President and Chief Investment Officer of Trinity. “We understand the early stage and emerging growth world and we are known to jump in and help out with a more than money approach when things don’t go according to plan.”
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company, acted as sole placement agent and initial purchaser for the private offerings.