Changes in laws or regulations governing our operations may adversely affect our business or cause us to alter our business strategy.
We and our portfolio companies will be subject to applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations. New legislation may be enacted, or new interpretations, rulings or regulations could be adopted, including those governing the types of investments we are permitted to make, any of which could harm us and our stockholders, potentially with retroactive effect. Additionally, any changes to the laws and regulations governing our operations relating to permitted investments may cause us to alter our investment strategy in order to avail ourselves of new or different opportunities. Such changes could result in material differences to the strategies and plans set forth herein and may result in our investment focus shifting from the areas of expertise of our Investment Advisor’s investment team to other types of investments in which the investment team may have less expertise or little or no experience. Thus, such changes, if they occur, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.
Over the last several years, there has been an increase in regulatory attention to the extension of credit outside of the traditional banking sector, raising the possibility that some portion of the non-bank financial sector will be subject to new regulation. While it cannot be known at this time whether these regulations will be implemented or what form they will take, increased regulation of non-bank credit extension could negatively impact our operations, cash flows or financial condition, impose additional costs on us, intensify the regulatory supervision of us or otherwise adversely affect our business.
Our business is subject to increasingly complex corporate governance, public disclosure and accounting requirements that are costly and could adversely affect our business and financial results.
As a publicly traded company, we incur legal, accounting and other expenses, including costs associated with the periodic reporting requirements applicable to a company whose securities are registered under the 1934 Act, or the 1934 Act, as well as additional corporate governance requirements, including requirements under the Sarbanes Oxley Act, and other rules implemented by the SEC. Also, we are subject to changing rules and regulations of federal and state government as well as the stock exchange on which our common stock is listed. These entities, including the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the SEC and the NASDAQ Stock Market, have issued a significant number of new and increasingly complex requirements and regulations over the course of the last several years and continue to develop additional regulations and requirements in response to laws enacted by Congress. Our efforts to comply with these existing requirements, or any revised or amended requirements, have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, an increase in expenses and a diversion of management’s time from other business activities.
We are highly dependent on information systems and systems failures could significantly disrupt our business, which may, in turn, negatively affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.
Our business is highly dependent on the communications and information systems of the Investment Advisor. Certain of these systems are provided to the Investment Advisor by third-party service providers. Any failure or interruption of such systems, including as a result of the termination of an agreement with any such third-party service provider, sudden electrical or telecommunications outages, natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes, events arising from local or larger scale political or social matters, including terrorist attacks, and cyber-attacks could cause delays or other problems in our activities. Any of the above, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and negatively affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.
We, the Investment Advisor and our portfolio companies are subject to risks associated with “phishing” and other cyber-attacks.
Our business and the business of our portfolio companies relies upon secure information technology systems for data processing, storage and reporting. Despite careful security and controls design, implementation and updating, ours and our portfolio companies’ information technology systems could become subject to cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (e.g., through “hacking”, malicious software coding, social engineering or “phishing” attempts) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyber-attacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of service attacks on websites (i.e., efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). The Investment Advisor’s employees have been and expect to continue to be the target of fraudulent calls, emails and other forms of activities. The result of these incidents may include disrupted operations, misstated or unreliable financial data, liability for stolen information, misappropriation of assets, increased cybersecurity protection and insurance costs, litigation and damage to our business relationships, regulatory fines or penalties, or other adverse effects on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to modify our protective measures and to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures arising from operational and security risks related to cyber-attacks.
The Investment Advisor’s and other service providers’ increased use of mobile and cloud technologies could heighten the risk of a cyber-attack as well as other operational risks, as certain aspects of the security of such technologies may be complex, unpredictable or beyond their control. The Investment Advisor’s and other service providers’ reliance on mobile or cloud technology or any failure by mobile technology and cloud service providers to adequately safeguard their systems and prevent cyber-attacks could disrupt their operations and result in misappropriation, corruption or loss of personal, confidential or proprietary information. In addition, there is a risk that encryption and other protective measures against cyber-attacks may be circumvented, particularly to the extent that new computing technologies increase the speed and computing power available.
Additionally, remote working environments may be less secure and more susceptible to cyber-attacks, including phishing and social engineering attempts that seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the risks associated with cyber-attacks are heightened under current conditions.
Internal and external cyber threats, as well as other disasters, could impair our ability to conduct business effectively.
The occurrence of a disaster, such as a cyber-attack against us or against a third-party that has access to our data or networks, a natural catastrophe, an industrial accident, failure of our disaster recovery systems, or consequential employee error, could have an adverse effect on our ability to communicate or conduct business, negatively impacting our operations and financial condition. This adverse effect can become particularly acute if those events affect our electronic data processing, transmission, storage, and retrieval systems, or impact the availability, integrity, or confidentiality of our data.
We depend heavily upon computer systems to perform necessary business functions. Despite our implementation of a variety of security measures, our computer systems, networks, and data, like those of other companies, could be subject to cyber-attacks and unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction, such as from physical and electronic break-ins or unauthorized tampering. If one or more of these events occurs, it could potentially jeopardize the confidential, proprietary, and other information processed, stored in, and transmitted through our computer systems and networks. Such an attack could cause interruptions or malfunctions in our operations, which could result in financial losses, litigation, regulatory penalties, client dissatisfaction or loss, reputational damage, and increased costs associated with mitigation of damages and remediation. If unauthorized parties gain access to such information and technology systems, they may be able to steal, publish, delete or modify private and sensitive information, including nonpublic personal information related to stockholders (and their beneficial owners) and material nonpublic information. The systems we have implemented to manage risks relating to these types of events could prove to be inadequate and, if compromised, could become inoperable for extended periods of time, cease to function properly or fail to adequately secure private information. Breaches such as those involving covertly introduced malware, impersonation of authorized
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