Part I
In this annual report in Form 10-K, except as otherwise indicated, the terms:
“Partnership,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Special Value Continuation Partners, LP, a Delaware limited partnership;
“TCPC” refers to Special Value Continuation Fund, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, for the periods prior to the consummation of the Conversion described elsewhere in this report and to TCP Capital Corp. for the periods after the consummation of the Conversion;
“TCPC Funding” refers to TCPC Funding I LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;
The “Advisor” refers to Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and the investment manager; and
“General Partner” and “Administrator” refer to SVOF/MM, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, the general partner of the Partnership and an affiliate of the Advisor and administrator of TCPC and the Partnership.
The Partnership is a Delaware limited partnership formed on July 31, 2006 and is an externally managed, closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. On April 2, 2012, we elected to be treated as a business development company (“BDC”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) (the “Conversion”). Our investment objective is to achieve high total returns through current income and capital appreciation, with an emphasis on principal protection. We seek to achieve our investment objective primarily through investments in debt securities of middle-market companies, which we typically define as those with enterprise values between $100 million and $1.5 billion. While we intend to primarily focus on privately negotiated investments in debt of middle-market companies, we may make investments of all kinds and at all levels of the capital structure, including in equity interests such as preferred or common stock and warrants or options received in connection with our debt investments. Our investment activities will benefit from what we believe are the competitive advantages of our Advisor, including its diverse in-house skills, proprietary deal flow, and consistent and rigorous investment process focused on established, middle-market companies. We expect to generate returns through a combination of the receipt of contractual interest payments on debt investments and origination and similar fees, and, to a lesser extent, equity appreciation through options, warrants, conversion rights or direct equity investments.
Investment operations are conducted in the Partnership, either directly or in one of the Partnership’s wholly owned subsidiaries, TCPC Funding I, LLC (“TCPC Funding”) and TCPC SBIC, LP (the “SBIC”). TCP Capital Corp. (“TCPC”) owns 100% of the common limited partner interests of the Partnership. TCPC has also elected to be treated as a BDC under the 1940 Act. The General Partner of the Partnership is SVOF/MM, LLC (“SVOF/MM”), which also serves as the administrator (the “Administrator”) of TCPC and the Partnership. The managing member of SVOF/MM is Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC (the “Advisor”), which serves as the investment manager to both TCPC and the Partnership. Most of the equity interests in the General Partner are owned directly or indirectly by the Advisor and its employees.
Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC
Our investment activities are managed by the Advisor. The Advisor is a leading investment manager (including specialty lending to middle-market companies). The Advisor is a Delaware limited liability company and is registered as an investment advisor under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. As of December 31, 2015, the Advisor had in excess of $6.4 billion in committed capital under management, approximately 25.8% of which consists of TCPC’s committed capital, and a team of over 80 people including investment professionals and other personnel that focus on operations, finance, legal, and compliance, accounting and reporting, investor relations, information technology, and administration. The Advisor was founded in 1999 by Michael E. Tennenbaum, Mark K. Holdsworth and Howard M. Levkowitz, and its predecessor entity, formed by the same individuals, commenced operations in 1996. Mark K. Holdsworth and Howard M. Levkowitz along with David Adler, David A. Hollander, Michael E. Leitner, Philip M. Tseng, Rajneesh Vig, and Lee Landrum constitute the Advisor’s active partners (the “Advisor Partners”). The Advisor Partners have significant industry experience, including