PROPOSAL 1: ELECTION OF TRUSTEES
At the Annual Meeting, shareholders of the Company are being asked to consider the election of eight trustees of the Company. Pursuant to the Company’s Third Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust and Second Amended and Restated Bylaws, the number of trustees on the Board may not be fewer than either the minimum number required by the Delaware General Corporation Law or three, except for a period of up to 60 days after the death, removal or resignation of a trustee pending the election of such trustee’s successor, or greater than twelve. Trustees of the Company are elected annually for a term of one year, and serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders and until their successors are duly elected and qualified. The Board is currently comprised of eight trustees. Each trustee below has been nominated for election by the Board to serve a one-year term until the 2022 annual meeting of shareholders and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified: (i) Michael C. Forman, (ii) R. Blair Thomas, (iii) Sidney R. Brown, (iv) Gregory P. Chandler, (v) Richard I. Goldstein, (vi) Kathleen A. McGinty, (vii) Charles P. Pizzi and (viii) Pedro A. Ramos.
Each trustee has agreed to serve as a trustee if elected and has consented to being named as a nominee. No person being nominated as a trustee is being proposed for election pursuant to any agreement or understanding between such person and the Company.
A shareholder can vote for, or withhold his or her vote from, any or all of the trustee nominees. In the absence of instructions to the contrary, it is the intention of the persons named as proxies to vote such proxy FOR the election of each of the trustee nominees named below. If any of the trustee nominees should decline or be unable to serve as a trustee, the persons named as proxies will vote for such other nominee as may be proposed by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Company. The Board has no reason to believe that any of the persons named will be unable or unwilling to serve.
Information about the Board and Trustee Nominees
The role of the Board is to provide general oversight of the Company’s business affairs and to exercise all of the Company’s powers except those reserved for the shareholders. The responsibilities of the Board also include, among other things, the oversight of the Company’s investment activities, the quarterly valuation of the Company’s assets, the oversight of the Company’s financing arrangements and corporate governance activities.
A majority of the members of the Board are not “interested persons,” as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), of the Company or FS/EIG Advisor, LLC, the Company’s investment adviser (“FS/EIG Advisor”) and are “independent” as defined in Rule 5605(a)(2) of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC. These individuals are referred to as the Company’s independent trustees (the “Independent Trustees”). Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act defines an “interested person” to include, among other things, any person who has, or within the last two years had, a material business or professional relationship with the Company. The members of the Board who are not Independent Trustees are referred to as interested trustees (the “Interested Trustees”).
The Board is currently comprised of eight trustees, six of whom are Independent Trustees. The Board has determined that the following trustees and trustee nominees are, or if applicable will be, Independent Trustees: Ms. McGinty and Messrs. Brown, Chandler, Goldstein, Pizzi and Ramos. Based upon information requested from each trustee concerning their background, employment and affiliations, the Board has affirmatively determined that none of the Independent Trustees has, or within the last two years had, a material business or professional relationship with the Company, other than in their capacity as a member of the Board or any Board committee or as a shareholder. If each of the trustee nominees is elected, the Board will be comprised of eight trustees, six of whom will be Independent Trustees.
In considering each trustee and the composition of the Board as a whole, the Board seeks a diverse group of experiences, characteristics, attributes and skills, including diversity in gender, ethnicity and race, that the Board believes enables a trustee to make a significant contribution to the Board, the Company and its shareholders. These experiences, characteristics, attributes and skills, which are more fully described below, include, but are not limited to, management experience, independence, financial expertise and experience serving as directors or trustees of other entities. The Board may also consider such other experiences, characteristics, attributes and skills as it deems appropriate, given the then-current needs of the Board and the Company.